TriOviz, la technologie 3D développée par les français du studio Darkworks (qui avait en charge I am Alive jusqu'à ce qu'Ubisoft leur retire le projet) a été acceptée dans l'IPP (Integrated Partners Program) d'Epic Games. Cela signifie que la technologie est désormais disponible pour tout développeur qui souhaiterait acquérir une licence Unreal Engine 3.

L'avantage de la technologie est d'être compatible avec les TV 3D à 3000€, mais également avec des lunettes bicolores d'antan, ce qui est un gros avantage pour les joueurs peu fortunés. Cela est dû au fait qu'il n'y a pas besoin de dupliquer l'image (ce qui, en plus, ne fait pas baisser le framerate) car la technologie joue simplement sur le depth-of-field, la géométrie et la position des personnages dans la scène. Le développeur assure également que l'ajout de cette technologie dans un jeu ne dure pas plus d'une semaine (et ne fait donc pas exploser les budgets).

Le communiqué complet se trouve dans la suite de la nouvelle.

PARIS & CARY, N.C., October 5, 2010 – Darkworks, the Paris-based action adventure game developer and video game tools provider, today announced that TriOviz for Games SDK has been accepted into Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 Integrated Partners Program (IPP).

“Darkworks is already a recognized leader in the console 3D video game space,” said Alexis Arragon, TriOviz Product Manager at Darkworks. “Partnering with an industry leader like Epic Games is a huge boost for us and it happens at a time when game developers are looking to create robust 3D experiences to meet growing consumer demand. With this relationship, Epic and UE3 licensees will have 3D stereoscopic capability at their fingertips.”

The TriOviz for Games SDK leverages existing three-dimensional graphics information in-game to greatly enhance depth-of-field (DOF), geometry volume and position as well as characters within a scene. This approach negates the need for rendering multiple images, so TriOviz for Games runs at full frame rate on consoles, enabling developers to maintain the resolution, performance and game play integrity of their AAA console games while running in 3D stereoscopic mode.

“TriOviz and Unreal Engine 3 were used to ship Batman : Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition in stereoscopic 3D on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, so this is proven technology.” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “What I like about the latest version of TriOviz is that, with their offering, our engine can support not only the highest quality solution for customers with the latest 3D TVs, such as a PlayStation 3 with a Sony Bravia 3D TV, but also a colored-glasses 3D solution for customers who don’t have a 3D-capable TV. This means users of TriOviz-licensed games can experience stereoscopic 3D no matter what their budget and the efforts that developers puts into making the great 3D experience isn’t limited to a small audience of early adopters. Combining the best 3D SDK for games with the power of UE3 gives our licensees a huge advantage in enabling AAA 3D experiences for their entire audience.”

TriOviz integration is streamlined and can be implemented very quickly, requiring approximately one week to enhance a game with 3D. Integrating the SDK is much like incorporating a shader, so most development teams already have the tools and expertise needed to implement TriOviz seamlessly.

TriOviz will be available to all UE3 licensees via Epic’s support site, the Unreal Developer Network (udn.epicgames.com), next month.