News
Download
What is 3DTop ?
Plug ins
Manual
Who are we ?
News Flash 1999:

29 February 1999
As these 3DTop-webpages are becoming quite popular, above you'll see another way of supporting 3DTop. Each time you search with it we'll get a commission, and you have a Begin-Search-Portal without the buzz, fuzz, and other stuff your eyes might get tired of.
And..... In a few days you can download the February 2000 version of 3DTop here also.



22 January 1999, oooooeps (that's Dutch for oooooops), 2000.
It's 2000, our company is still alive, without spending one cent or minute on the Y2K-problem. That's nice.
Have you ever tried using 3DTop as a Live Performance 3D-Animation package ? No ? Well, some people are doing that by jumping from flag to flag. For these purposes the newest 3DTop has adjustable speed-limits, which allows you to control the movement-speed to flags and of yourself. Also features our first human.....
Curious ? You could buy 3DTop for $10,- ofcourse. A lot of people went that way before you, secure, with their Visa or Eurocard/Mastercard.


23 December 1999
Here is our little end-of-the-year present. Hope you like it, it's the last try-out version of this 20th Century and there is still much to come, new things in this version are too much to mention here so these are the main things we think you should know about:
- Rotating objects is now done with the Alt-key instead of the Ctrl-key before. Why ? :
- You can now look up and down also by pressing the Alt-key while moving around.
- 3DTop will now automatically investigate applications for 3D-models inside them. For instance, if you have a shortcut to a program in 3DTop and the program that the shortcut (or "associated" program) points to, contains a 3D-Model in it's resource, 3DTop will load that model out of it's resource and uses that model to display the shortcut. This not only works for shortcuts but also for "associated" data-files of that program. Of course this only works when that program has a 3D-model inside it ! So, if you'd like to use that feature, write a nice and polite email to the makers of your favourite applications and ask them to take a look at this possibility. There is a slim chance that maybe someone will listen.
They can download a sample application , including the sources, that exactly does this here.


Other new stuff, like the possibility of creating several 3DTop-worlds, can be seen in the manual.
Have Fun.


16 December 1999
Next week ! Then the last try-out-version of 3DTop of this 20th Century, will be downloadable.


18 November 1999
Next update in the 3D-Model-import department.
The import-plugin now features a triangle-strip-detection algorithm which speeds-up model-drawing considerably. It is done in the true "simpletronics" 3DTop-fashion as you can see from the source-codes which is our contribution to the Open-source movement.
A Models complexity is reduced to 38 to 60% after triangle-strip detection.


5 November 1999
Major update in the 3D-Model-import department .
You can convert much more formats, and you can use textures now also! Thanks to a great shareware 3D-model converter called 3Dto3D. The model-import-plugin can interface to this program to convert all kinds of formats including their textures. Things can really look a lot more alive, while keeping the complexity relatively low. Take a look at this screenshot.
To download the latest version of 3Dto3D go to it's homepage at http://www.stmuc.com/thbaier/index.html


30 October 1999
-"Bones" (TWFKAJ,The Wizard Formerly Known As Jean) must really be having fun (the main reason why we all do this anyway) with making plug-ins for 3DTop. Here is the next one called "Timezone". He did some research on timezones, earth-rotation, planets, moons etc. and there you have it: the Earth and Moon, lit by the sun, dependant of the timezone you're in, the time of day of your computer and the season you're in. Read more about it here.
-The 3d-model-import-plugin is also updated, you can now adjust some options of the "view3ds" 3d-model-converter and you can see how long it takes for your computer-system to draw a particular 3d-model in a real-life-situation (Warning: disappointment guaranteed).


14 October 1999
The Wizard of uz, CJ Jean, updated his "from8-80" plug-in so you can start it more than once. Go here to read how to do that.
Seems a busy month, October.
A week ago we distributed the 3DTop-"Worlds" version to all registered users also. It enables them to surf to other 3DTop-Worlds (Folders) from within 3DTop. The next try-out version will contain that feature also.


11 October 1999
Updated the 3d-model-import-plug-in, so you can get information on how complex a model is. The display-quality and -speed has been improved a little bit also.


8 October 1999
The Linux-programming-job-opening we had earlier, has been taken care of. But if you're interested you can still apply for a job , anyone who fits into our team will always be welcome.


1 October 1999
We now have some Dutch Fantasy-Flowers for you to cheer up your desktop. And yes, they are alive ! You'll have to give them water and they can die as easily as the flowers you have at home. Read all about it at the plug-in page.


15 September 1999
The Manual is Online !
As 3DTop is progressing nicely, the possibilities are growing endless and a lot of people are new to this unique application, we decided to put the manual online. We asked all registered users (except all new ones of the last three days), who paid for a year of free updates and a manual, for their approval and they fully support it.
We'll be making a walkthrough for all new users also. Available soon, together with the new September try-out version, which is the one that the new online-manual refers to.


31 August 1999
You're gonna like this, now it's possible to disable 3dtop temporarily and automatically when you start particular programs. This will completely free your video-card and is for when you have applications(games!) that have some problems with 3DTop.
And we finally have the transparant icons that everybody was asking us for from the beginning of 3DTop-time.
Next week available for registered users only ofcourse.


20 August 1999
Updated the import3d plugin to handle very complex 3ds-models better: the 3ds-to-bmf-converter now has 30 seconds to convert before the plug-in says "it is enough".
And, as you can see above, we have a very interesting job-opening.


14 August 1999.
Yes, we're back from the summer-vacation and now it's time for a new year of 3DTop-developments and to get underway, here is the July try-out version:
- File-objects can now have 3D-model shapes (bmf-only, use the import3d plug-in to convert from 3ds to bmf).
- You can change the size of all objects too (Shift+Left mouse button).
- Start a plug-in by double clicking on a dll.
- Rubberbox for multiple selection of objects (Ctrl + Change viewpoint, + right mouse-button for limited z).
We have some nice new things planned also, we'll tell you when it's ready.


19 July 1999
It's Cucumber-time again.
This is an English translation of a Dutch expression, which means that most of us are on vacation so there isn' t much to report here.


5 July 1999
Found it ! The ancient 3DTop made for the Atari ST, at the time called DTOP (probably had some problems with filenames beginning with a number). The date says 1985 but that isn't correct, it was made probably around 1990 or so. Completely programmed in assembler (68000) as everything of us at that time. If you have an old Atari ST you can have a big laugh by downloading the programhere and try it. Use at your own risk! It isn't functional at all, just the first try of something that was put in the freezer until 3D-graphics was fast , elegant , stable and we had some time left. At that time we were making and selling the Dame (Digital Audio Multilayering and Editing, (c) 1988) , a harddisk recording system for the Atari ST that was able to edit and mix an infinite number of 16-bit digital audio channels in fake-time (non-real-time) and record and playback stereo in real-time to a 20 MByte harddisk with an access-time of 60 ms. It had a reverb, vocoder, sampler, equalizer , etc too....


2 July 1999
Some free, no strings attached, advertisement for our great web-host www.simplenet.com for our simple proggie.
And let us not forget our local provider www.wirehub.nl for putting up with the gigabytes of downloads during
the beginning of this year at the original homepage.
Here are some features of 3DTop that we have ready and available for registered users next week:
- File-objects can now have 3D-model shapes.
- You can change the size of all objects too.
- Start a plug-in by double clicking on a dll.
- Rubberbox (Good old Atari ST/GEM term) for multiple selection of objects.
Speaking of Atari ST, we have a very early 3DTop, made somewhere in 1990 for the Atari ST, lying around somewhere. Must dig that one up and have a big laugh .


25 June 1999
PLOP. A new plug-in popped out of the hat of one of our employees.


17 June 1999
Heeeere is May! for all try-outers. Added the keyboard-control-part of the summer-vacation-version also.
These are things that were added:
- Your own personal robot. It will help you with the task of grabbing and moving objects. Press CTRL and left-click on an object.
- Possibility of grabbing hold of objects and moving them as you move around.
- Cut, copy , paste for transferring files to and from the desktop.
- Hide/show names of multiple objects at the same time.
- Change the shape of multiple objects at the same time.
- Deleted/Cut files are now moved to the recycle bin.
- cut/copy/paste/drop of folders is now possible.
- added an extra object-item with which you can "anchor" an object, called "Un"moveable. "Un" because it is still possible to move it when the little dude grabs it.
- Sky-paper now uses the background-color also.
- You can now move around with the cursor-keys on the keyboard. Pressing Shift on the keyboard while using the cursor-keys will move you left/right and up/down.
- If you drag an object and then move around with the cursor-keys the object moves together with you.
- You can use all the newest plug-ins with this version also.
Have Fun.


12 June 1999
New screenshot -page is up.
Updated the 3d-model-import-plug-in also at the plugin page. Read all about it.
And.... the try-out May-version will be available for download this week !


11 June 1999
By popular demand we now have some keyboard-control for moving around in the next summer-vacation-version of 3DTop.
There are some new spectacular plug-ins on their way also. And the screenshot-page will be up this saturday.


31 May 1999
3D-model-import-plug-in is here for registered users of the May-version.
The tryout May-version of 3DTop with lots of extra's is available soon to you, the try-outer. The buyer(esse)s have it since some time ofcourse.


19 May 1999
It's going fast now ! New May-version will include:
- 3dmodel import (probably as a plug-in at first).
- multiple icon-selection.
- cut,copy,paste.
- much improved drag-and-drop which makes sense now you can make multiple selections.


12 May 1999
You can now buy 3DTop on-line and secure ! Go Here.


11 May 1999
We're working towards the May-version of 3DTop.
Most important enhancement will be the introduction of ...., your own personal robot, who will help you with several tasks.


29 April 1999
New plugin available from us. look here.


17 April 1999
Here is the new 3DTop ! All new, shiny and soft. Well, the look and size is about the same, but under the hood there lies a plugin-structure that makes science-fiction become true. You aint seen nothing yet.
New pages up next week include a page that enables you to upload your screenshots or complete desktops. If you would like to upload them now already go here. Include your icon3d.dat and all paintings and bitmaps that the desktop uses. For convenience make a subdirectory for them in your 3dtop-directory from where you loaded them, and add a readme-file. And please, zip, rar or whatever all files into one file ! You are allowed to upload "only" 500K. We will add the uploads to a page manually for now.
history-pages remain online.
A quick manual can be found here.
A Plug-in-page is availablehere soon or you can make your own page like these guys.


14 April 199
This probably won't interest you, but yesterday we delivered our first in-house-developed 276 MBit/s digital audio link for transferring 128x 24-bit digital audio-channels at 48 kHz and 6x 5Mbit/s control-signals over 1 coaxial cable to a customer in Dortmund,Germany. That's what we do also.


10 April 1999
How weird can your desktop be, to tile or not to tile that is ..... your own choice.


6 April 1999
Here is a screenshot (1152x864, 134K) of some great new features of 3DTop.
By the way, didn't we mention that we are working very hard towards a very nice homepage, with layout also ? Make sure you have the shockwave-plugin for your browser !
A text-only-version will still be available ofcourse.


31 March 1999.
We're almost there. Soon, on this web-page, you can try two weeks for free or buy for 10 Euro's the next commercial version of 3DTop, but if you want you can buy it "unseen" now.
You'll get automatic updates of 3DTop and manual for one year. You can look at it as a kind of subscription.
New features already included:
-Full plug-in functionality (look for examples here).
-Markers with shortcut-keys.
-Up and Down movement.
-Floor textures.
-Sky Paper.
-Perfections.
-etc.


So, if you're a big 3DTop-fan and would like to support us by buying 3DTop now already, send your address, your email-address and the equivalent in your own currency of 10 Euro to:

Vimana BV
Alexander Battalaan 53b
6221CB Maastricht
The Netherlands

Visa and Eurocard/Mastercard credit-cards are accepted on faxnr: +31433258149 (don't forget to include amount/name/expiration-date/number/signature).

The team

What a Euro is?
Well, it wasn't our fault.
But in a few years it'll be Ok.
Conversion-tables are there for EU-money or other.

Questions ? send them to sales@3dtop.com

Copyright 1999

3DTop

The Official Home Page