[New!] Paradise Sandbox 1.1 is out!

ParadiseSandbox

Hello all!

We're proud to announce that the first public version of Paradise Sandbox is now online!

Paradise Sandbox is a real-time scene-builder & visualization tool aimed at architects and 3D hobbyists who are used to work with 3D CAD software whose output models don't have enough detail/quality for being rendered in real-time with great visual results (Trimble SketchUp, Catia[...).

Paradise Sandbox will automatically enhance your models with real-time reflections, ambient occlusion, shadows, hundred of lights, water materials... and stunning skies, volumetric clouds, thunderstorms and oceans. Also, you'll be able to change your objects's materials with a simple mouse right-click, using the built-in material database (200+ materials, which will quickly grow in the coming months)!

Main features:

Full-featured world editor
Import from more than 45 file formats
High-quality render client real-time
AAA hybrid rendering pipeline and state-of-the-art post-processing effects
200+ built-in materials
Stunning physically-based oceans, skies and volumetric clouds
PRO version at a hobbyist price: 59.95€ until 30th November (99.95€ after launch offer)
FREE version
Finally, mention that a lot of major features are planned for the following 1.X version iterations, including:
Timeline-based animation/path system
High-quality offline render system
Volumetric terrain with editing capabilities

Website: http://paradise-sandbox.com/

ParadiseSandbox

To all people who has experimented extrange behaviours: run it as administrator.

The installer doesn't set write permisions to subfolders so as soon as it tries to write any data (imported file, project, etc) it will not work as expected. That will be solved in the very next version.

Xavier

pilou

impressive!

Youtube Video

pilou

Does your ocean interact with existing volumes ? (not yet tested)
(here ocean must not exist inside the volume! )

pilou

Tested
How to move in Z the objects inside ocean? With the Plane or ...(Gizmo gives only X,Y)

Rich O Brien

Fish for dinner?

ParadiseSandbox

@Pilou
Hi and thanks for posting the videos!

@unknownuser said:

Does your ocean interact with existing volumes ? (not yet tested)
(here ocean must not exist inside the volume! )
No, not at the moment. I can imagine a couple of ways for doing but not in a standard way. If anyone is very interested about this feature, open a thread in ParadiseSandbox's forums and I'll have a deeper look to it.

@unknownuser said:

Tested
How to move in Z the objects inside ocean? With the Plane or ...(Gizmo gives only X,Y)
Just select the object (left click on it) and select the move tool in the viewport's toolbar. (Or press F/H/G -> Hotkeys: http://paradise-sandbox.com/docs/Using_Paradise_Sandbox/Hotkeys). Then you'll be able to use the visual gizmos for translating/rotating/scaling it on the 3 axis.

Alternatively you can modify the position/scale/rotation using the property editor, one time the object has been selected.

Jut for curiosity, here is a video I did some weeks ago testing some of Paradise Sandbox's features: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbpWM5rCDU8

Some background about Paradise Sandbox:

Paradise Sandbox has been in development since 4 years ago, by just one guy (me), and now it's time to having real-world feedback and quickly add great features. Also, I've the luck of having on board a very skilled web designer who is responsible from the website and user management part (server databases, etc).

So: it's not a joke when in the main page of the website I write "The Paradise Sandbox's team is always working on adding new features and improving the quality of our product. Monthly updates. Customers have direct contact with the development team and every question will be quickly solved, saving time and headaches!". There is no burocracy with this product: direct contact with the developer.

I'm also looking for a little team of artists willing to use Paradise Sandbox as betatesters of new versions and also making cool scenes with it. Of course, when I'll contract modelling services for creating a good built-in asset database, they're going to be the firsts to be asked. Also them will have access to a PRO version. If anyone is interested, contact at: http://paradise-sandbox.com/#contact.php

P.D.: Make sure to run Paradise Sandbox as administrator, I'll release a new version later today fixing this 'issue'.

ParadiseSandbox

@unknownuser said:

Ps Does it possible to run Paradise without connection of Internet ?
Yes, of course.

In order to be logged (which is not a must, you can choose 'Continue as guest user') you need an internet connection: that will generate a local license file so next times you use Paradise Sandbox it'll stay logged (and PRO is you've purchased a PRO version) even if you don't have any internet connection.

pilou

@unknownuser said:

Fish for dinner ?

Sure! If flying fishes!

Ps Does it possible to run Paradise without connection of Internet ?

Youtube Video

pilou

Cool

Zoom all when you are losted over or under in the big ocean?

Does the prog run under Vista without problem ?

Does the free version can import (dae) in an empty scene ?

Seems the Import section window don't work!
(can we import dae file by menu and not by drag and drop on this window asset who seems no responsive )

ParadiseSandbox

Let's see:

@unknownuser said:

Does the prog run under Vista without problem ?
Yeah, it should.

@unknownuser said:

Does the free version can import (dae) in an empty scene ?
Yes. In fact it's not needed to have an scene/project opened. You can import assets just by drag&drop them to the window.

@unknownuser said:

Seems the Import section window don't work!
(can we import dae file by menu and not by drag and drop on this window asset who seems no responsive )
That's not normal. Are you sure you're running "Paradise Sandbox.exe" with administrator privilegies? (Right mouse click -> Run as administrator).

Otherwise Paradise Sandbox will fail when writing/updating files since the v1.0.0 installator doesn't set up properly the writing permissions :/. The 1.0.1 version will fix that but until the moment the "administrator hack" is needed.

If you're running it as administrator, then please post at Paradise forums: http://paradise-sandbox.com/forums/ with more deatils about when it becomes unresponsive (if before or after clicking on the 'Import' button, etc) and eventually the .dae you're using in order to recreate the issue here and fix it!

Cheers,

Xavier

ParadiseSandbox

Version 1.0.1 just released! That should fix all the problems

ParadiseSandbox

Here is an step-by-step tutorial showing how to import assets from SketchUp to Paradise Sandbox:

Youtube Video

ParadiseSandbox

Here is a little example of the new "billboard-based flares" support for lights, which has been added in 1.0.2 (coming next week):

Scene build time: 10 min (mostly due to manually placing lights)
Render time: real-time, 30fps

ParadiseSandbox

Paradise Sandbox 1.0.2 has been released!

Changelog:

[Improvement] Splash-screen: new information messages have been added and the update frequency has been increased (less chances of becoming unresponsive due to large loading times). If thumbnails are not up to date the splash screen will show detailed information about the thumbs generation process
[New] New hotkey: Ctrl+S for saving current project changes
[Improvement] Network system: better error handling when server replies are mal-formed
[Improvement] 'License.txt' files placed in different folders are excluded from the resource manager. No more warnings about duplicated 'License.txt' resources.
[Fix] Moon halo not being affected by HW gamma correction.
[New] Billboard-based flares for point-lights.
[Improvement] Lights don't have anymore two colors (diffuse & specular). Only one, which is physically correct and simplier.
[New] "Ferry on the night" sample scene added to 'Sample proyect'. Showcasing billboard-based flares for point lights
[Fix] In Windows Vista and 7, if while a scene was running (viewport with 3d content) the user wanted to open a another project (File->Open) it freezes.
[New] Render system is now automatically selected based on current hardware by default (PEngine.ini). No more asks during the installation process about the graphics card vendor.
[Improvement] The 'Debug' property in the shadows setion of scenes has been removed (it didn't have any effect on release buils).
Download at http://paradise-sandbox.com/

ParadiseSandbox

Paradise Sandbox 1.1 development is coming along nicely, here is a sneak peek:

Paradise Sandbox 1.1 will be release along the last week of November, some of the new features are listed below:

Improved lens-flare effects (see above image!)
Camera orbiting behaviour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUS-Fjo9XZg
Improvements to the high-quality interactive renderer. Photo-camera mode.
This is the last month for taking advantage of the 40% discount offer!

More info at: http://paradise-sandbox.com/

Xavier