often we use data file formats with our applications and never really think about what they are made of or where they came from…. we just want to accomplish our tasks and seldom take the time to really appreciate what they are…. Yes its is hard to be very interested in a opentype or word doc or a photoshop file for something other than its content but the the story of the .DAE file….. the Collada DOM….. THAT IS WORTH TALKING ABOUT…..
I’ll try and break it down simple and quick to avoid being boring…
The Collada file was born from the R&D at sony to be a file format for the PS3 and PSP…. the idea behind it was it would be a means to move 3D models, designs and animation between almost any app and to almost any device… This is nothing short of absolutely amazing… you can design one model…. and now you can put that 3D model into another design app and then put it into websites, console video games, mobile devices, computer apps….. I just love when things come together like this…. it reminds me of when I was a kid trying to integrate all my various toys together… mechano and lego and various other construction toys… I was always running into snags with lego… there would be something I would know I could do with mechano quick and easy…. but with lego I was just always frustraited…. but Mechano wasn’t as pretty as lego it lacked the color and humanity that lego was so powerfully embracing that made it such a wonderful toy… but the things you could make out of mechano were powerful and functional in a way lego could never do…. looking back on it I should have made joints by drilling bolt holes in some legos…. then I would have really had something awesome….
Collada is supposed to make design applications and programing languages work together… dramatically expanding the range and scope of workflow for designers like me or people making video games or architects or engineers or anyone who draws in 3D on a computer… and when you think about it that is pretty exciting.
the khronos group now owns and runs the open source project and is working on making it better.
but it is already really great… The Collada file is a math output of what you have modeled… but also will hold information for surface material, transparency, physics, material properties (softness, density, weight) and lots of other things…..
Not the full range of Collada is supported by papervision3D…. that would be impossible as it was designed to make games for the ps3… and as you know those are pretty complicated… the fact though that it has connected so many dots is something I can be into… very into connection… its a physical actualization of so many dreams for designers and at the same time its a huge door opening for 3D…
there should be a Collada day…. this should be celebrated