As one of the first commercial projects to use Away3D Lite, Away Media teamed up with creative agency Cocomino to produce a 3D minisite in Flash for chip manufacturer Qualcomm, in order to promote their latest line of Smartbook devices.

My Dream Device is a simple online editor that allows users to view and create 3D sculptures out of the various pieces of hardware that are supported by Qualcomm technology. everything from satellite dishes to  sat navs can be used as the building blocks for creating your own ‘dream device’.

Using a simple drag and drop system combined with a movement mode selector, objects can be manipulated in 3D to position them in any arrangement. Away3D Lite was used to keep the interface responsive even after many items have been added to the stage. A simple 3D collision system was built specifically for the site to assist the positioning of objects next to each other.

Once created, a sculpture can be saved to the gallery for any other visitor to view and rate. Deeplinking allows users to link directly to their own creations from another website, and users can automatically email to a friend or post their creation on Facebook.

Away Media was responsible for all frontend and backend development, with Cocomino providing design and management expertise. The site was recently awarded an Adobe site of the day award - a great achievement for all those involved! To create your own sculpture, visit http://www.mydreamdevice.com.

Away Media has recently been involved with CBBC in the development of an online interactive story for the kid’s TV show My Almost Famous Family. The show tracks the highs and lows of the Swann family as they try to make it as a band, and the recently launched online story continues the narrative with a series of minigames based around the children of the family as they attempt to form a breakaway group and win the local battle of the bands tournament.

The entire game is located in a 3D ‘map’ of events as they unfold, with various mishaps and discoveries along the way unlocking new content. The user is drawn into the narrative with a clever use of webcam video of the band seen as if they were communicating directly with you, and it is here where the main story unfolds. Each event is punctuated by either a video clip or minigame, with the latter requiring the user to perform a task that allows the story to advance to the next stage.

Each minigame can be completed fairly easily so that no one game is a barrier to progressing through the story, however for those who like a more competitive edge, results and highscores are logged and users can revisit a game at any stage to try and improve on their personal best. There are also some nice touches in the story where the results of your completed tasks are used directly with the narrative.

Away Media’s role in the project was primarily the development of the global navigation and game shell, with the 3D map using a mixture of Away3D Lite and native Flash 3D. The minigames were contracted separately and integrated into the main site with the help of the Away Media development team, who also looked after all server communication, asset loading, video playback and control interfaces. The end result is an engaging interactive story that treads new ground for the online portal of a TV show, mixing live action video with interactive flash games in a seamless and convincing manner. Check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/myalmostfamousfamily/

The Tomorrow Mural is a collaborative online art piece that allows anyone to contribute by uploading an image and/or message for their vision of the future. Commissioned by Intel, the site has various ways to interact with the content submissions as the database grows.

As you begin, spacey bleeps and widdles float out of your speakers, as if you’re about to enter some sort of online isolation tank. Once in, the emphasis is placed as much on casual browsing as contributing to the content - you can sort and search messages using many different categories including, colour, popularity, geo-location, submission time etc. Each set of search results are presented in a 3D interface that allows messages to be browsed individually at your leisure.

The concept was developed by MRM Worldwide, with Away Media providing Flash development and 3D expertise. Launched around the end of August, contributions have been flooding in from all over the world for the last few months, with the overall outlook being surprisingly positive! Certainly, i would recommend a browse to anyone who required a few minutes of contemplative relaxation amidst the typically hectic buildup to Christmas

Doritos have recently launched an online campaign called ID3, which revolves around a prize draw that participants can enter by playing and completing the flash game at http://id3.doritos.co.uk/. All packets of doritos have a code printed on them allowing you to gain access to the game. You can also get a free passcode by going to http://id3.doritos.co.uk/codeclaim.php, although using one of these will only allow you to play the game, not enter the draw.

The site was another collaboration between  Rehab Studio and Away Media, with Upset TV, providing the excellent live action sequences that plunge you straight into an undercover gangster bust-style scenario, complete with dodgy east-end accents and evil secretive bosses.

Away Media’s role within the project was to develop two 3d minigames that had to seamlessly integrate with the main cinematic sequences. Away3d was used to great effect, taking advantage of some of the advanced shading options, and relying on frustum culling to make possible the use of the large gameplay areas. The 3d physics library Jiglib was used for collision detection.

The draw is to remain open until the end of September, so there is still time to enter! As an added bonus, there is a easter egg to be found inside the warehouse minigame. When you encounter the forklift truck, press the keys ‘up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, enter’ to unlock drive mode…

The site was recently included in Board’s top 5 picks of the month for August 2009 following it’s FWA site of the day award on the 11th August.

Toyota have recently launched the English version of their minisite for the new Verso. Based around a series of minigames, the Verso minisite was built as a collaboration between Rehab Studio and Away Media for the Brussels branch of the media agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

Away Media were responsible for the development of the minigames, which included some 3d elements that were created using Away3d. Each game integrates with the rest of the site using video shorts that play after completing one of the game tasks. Games developed by Away Media include the Luggage game, Personal storage, Driving dynamics and Harmony.

The entire site is built to be localised and has already been translated into French & Dutch for the Belgian version which can be found here.

The financial institution Morgan Stanley have recently released information on a new online product called the Morgan Stanley Matrix. This required an eye-catching microsite for the product launch, which was built as a collaboration between Away Media and Morgan Stanley.

The site takes an immersive approach to a 3d environment, navigating between areas by flying through space in a similar manner to the site for the well known digital agency Nitrogroup.

The project was built using Awaybuilder, one of the more recent features of the Away3d engine. The Awaybuilder framework allows a seamless workflow between 3d modeling packages and Flash, enabling menus and site areas within a 3d space to be positioned and updated with ease. As a result, camera movements can be executed with pinpoint accuracy, allowing for some very nice effects - particularly with textfields.

The 3d menu text uses vector based shapes to render, another recent feature addition to Away3d. The crisp text outlines it allows are quite an improvement from text as bitmap textures. Frustum culling is used to keep framerates high even though the entire 3d scene contains many elements, thanks to the early-outs it allows for objects outside the viewing frustum.

The BBC Sport website have recently released the Formula 1 Circuit Guides as part of their F1 coverage for the 2009 season. This application was a joint commission between Away Media and Monterosa Productions for the BBC, and allows you to view the 17 F1 circuits on the 2009 calendar in interactive 3d.

Away3d was used for all the 3d areas of the application, with deserved special mention to the extrusion tools that allowed accurate and fast renders of track surfaces, racing lines, pit lanes and all smaller locater tracks seen in flyby, driver’s lap, and circuit information sections. Fast culling of objects in the more detailed flyby sections was used to keep framerates at acceptable levels, with frustum clipping activated to minimise render artifacts on the ground.

The application currently allows users to view the first 3 circuits on the calendar, but the remainder will be added as the season progresses, as well as extra content relating to post-race analysis. The noticable difference betwen this and other online circuit guides is the sheer level of detail in the information presented - you get driver’s commentary for flyby laps, images and editorial comments on famous corners, gear and speed indicators, time section markers, racing line indicators, and in the driver’s lap section, information about throttle, brake, g-force, steering angle and speed, all displayed in real time. With it’s excellent presentation, ease of use and depth of content, it should provide something for die-hard fans and F1 newbies alike.

Last week saw the launch of the new version of Intel’s ITManager gaming experience: IT Manager 3 : Unseen Forces. The premise is a simple one - you are an IT manager charged with running an office whose success relies on your ability to keep things running smoothly.

Away Media acted as 3d consultants on the project, assisting MRM Worldwide to achieve the best possible 3d experience with the Away3d engine. The game takes advantage of a lot of Away3d features to produce something never before seen in a Flash game - highly detailed interactive 3d scenes running at a smooth pace.

Starting with only 3 floors, you can work your way up to bigger and better offices by providing the best technical assistance to the company. Performance is linked to a number of different scoring systems, including your mystical ITChi level which reacts to the overall competence of your actions. Get this above a certain point and you’ll achieve “ITChi enlightenment”, a nirvana-like state in which everything turns a calm blue, and special power-ups are awarded.

The game requires that you register a username and name of your virtual company before commencing battle with your evil computing nemesis. For login details, go to  http://itmanager3.intel.com.