I mentioned a couple of weeks ago the program ExitReality that turns 2D websites into 3D experiences. I still haven’t managed to get it to work, but my colleague KerryJ has done a bit of a vid of it, if you want to take a look. Since then I’ve been looking around at other kinds of 3D experiences that are browser based and don’t require big downloads (ie these are about 5meg rather than 50meg). I’ve come across one that is worth a look Vivaty. It’s still in beta (isn’t everything these days?) but the thing I find most interesting about it is that it can be integrated with Facebook. I’ve been Facebooking a bit lately and have been finding an interesting way of communicating. I would like a way to separate ‘friends’ into groups (eg work and family and drinking buddies) as I don’t necessarily want my work colleagues to know the same things about me as my drinking buddies. 
I’d also like my Facebook status to be the same kind of thing as my Twitter - and for there to be only one. There’s no way in the world I’m going to be updating my Facebook status and my Twitter as well. Facebook at the moment is winning. It’s also winning because I can integrate other applications with it - like Vivaty. But as well I can play games with friends, compare our movie-watching compatibility scores and other timewasters 
. Like other virtual worlds I can also include content that I’ve got in other places (like Flickr or YouTube) on my big virtual TV or picture frame.
With Vivaty you are able to experience you and your friends (as long as your friends are also including Vivaty in their Facebook applications) in 3D. Chat, walk around, sit on the couch. It’s a nice touch and removes a lot of the issues associated with open virtual environments like Second Life where a lot of odd avatars seem to hang around. In the Facebook/Vivaty world you are just interacting with your friends, or if you want to, you can go to a social room to meet new friends.
I think this kind of integration is a winner - what we all want is our own personalised environment where all our stuff comes together. The Vivaty approach brings the 3D world into the 2D space using your pre-existing personalised Facebook.
3 Comments
Hi Jen,
I installed theVivaty app in my Facebook profile and had a bit of a play with it. I tried integrating a Youtube video in there so if you wander around in my little world you should be able to find the YouTube video we submitted for the ‘Future of the Internet Economy’ conference. Good luck with it though - it doesn’t seem to load all of the time but maybe that’s a bandwidth thing - it takes a long time to load. I can’t wait until Australia gets real broadband!
Hi Jen,
Great article. I’m a huge Facebooker myself. I’ve tried Vivaty and like it but I actually spend most of my “3D Facebook” time using another application called SceneCaster. It’s similar but quite different from both Vivaty and Exitreality. It’s more of a 3D canvas on which you can easily create amazing and elaborate 3D scenes. I find it to be a great way to express my creativity as well as also plan my upcoming home renovation. It also offers more customization options than Vivaty and also access to Google’s 3D Warehouse which is an online library of 3D content. Quite cool, indeed.
Hi Dennis, yes I’ve seen SceneCaster but haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but will. I didn’t know that it was also integrated with Facebook - I think integration makes a winner all round
Post a Comment