DX Studio 3.0

Unlike Blend, you can’t export to Silverlight, but DX Studio is able to export its own Java-based content for the Web, though clients may baulk at asking users to download yet another Web plug-in, and excluding Mac users.

What really sets DX Studio apart from Blend, though, is a number of features that will be of particular interest to game designers. At a basic level, these include built-in camera controls. By default, the camera object that is created whenever you create a new scene is tied to the W, S, A, D and arrow keys, while rotating the camera during runtime involves pressing and holding the right mouse button. The camera properties can be further edited or scripted to add interactive functions such as following a character or object.

There’s a new procedural terrain generation tool in version 3, based on height-map values. It’s simple and feels clunky, but you can quickly customise a unique terrain, using blended textures and generator algorithms to determine the appearance of the landscape. For more dynamic environments, DX Studio is capable of adding an effect plane to 3D scenes, then applying generators such as a rippling water effect, or video to the plane. Again, this is a case of drag-and-drop, but the end result can be highly effective if it has been set up properly.

Another innovation is 3D-positioned sound effects, while for simple facial animation, morph targets offer control of expressions at the vertex level. The integrated PhysX and Bullet physics and collision-detection engines have been enhanced, allowing you to use rigid-body dynamics, pivots, cloth, character controls and, new for version 3, vehicles in your game design. Another incentive for gamers is the engine’s ability to load resources in the background without interrupting playback.

For beginners, DX Studio offers a helping hand with scripting. As well as an integrated de-bugger, if you type in a keyword, such as ‘var’ to declare a variable, the editor will automatically drop down a list of different options available to that keyword. There’s also a decent number of demo files and tutorials to get you up and running, so it’s well worth investigating the freeware version, at least.