iCast v1.5

Introduction

Hi All, in this blog I'm going to talk about the new features coming in iCast v1.5!

As you can see from the screenshot above, we now have a brand new 3D engine that powers iCast (and iProp). It is based on the newest DirectX build (March 2009) from Microsoft and we have found the quality to be a lot cleaner than the previous version.

The new iCast 3D engine Includes:

- REAL isometric view ( not the previous fish eye angle )
- Uses the new (March 2009) DirectX build.

New iCast Features

- Brand New Exporter which incorporates the new features.
- Dynamic Shadows (modifiable via the Shadow Maker Pallette)
- Change Mesh Height/Weight ( modifiable via the Mesh Modifier Pallette)

iProp - Detailed Early Preview

In this blog entry I'm going to talk about some of the cool parts of iProp, our upcoming module for ImmunityCS v1.5, and how it changes EVERYTHING! .. In a good way of course! :)


What Is iProp?

iProp is an ImmunityCS module (program) that gives you a really cool way of designing props for your games / multimedia projects. It allows you to build your prop from a template called a "Prop Class" - for example, from the Inn displayed above. But by the time you're finished designing it, it could be anything of a similar shape, such as a hall, a tavern, or even something futuristic! .. Whatever you can imagine is possible to implement!

When you've finished exporting the final result, you are left with a prop comprised of animations, including a seperately handled door (or opening) animation, shadows, transparency, and layers for use in a 2D workflow (Alternatively, you can export the prop in a variety of 3D formats!)

Appearance Mode

In the screen above (Appearance Mode) you use the customizations to create a texture map for the prop. A texture map is a 2D image that is wrapped around the prop to illustrate it's details.

Other than designing the base texture, you also have lots more control! You can affect it's mesh (the 3D body) by choosing slightly different Mesh Styles or using the new Mesh Modifier!

The Mesh modifier lets you change the shape of the mesh by making it thinner, wider, taller or shorter.

This allows you to use the same Prop Class over and over again and make slight changes to the mesh so they don't look similar when placed next to each other.

Another cool feature is dynamic shadows! iProp allows you to create your own dynamic shadows using an accurate 3D algorithm. The shadows even follow the animations of the actual prop!

( NOTE: Mesh Modifiers and Dynamic Shadows are also being implemented into iCast 1.5 so you can modify characters in the same way! )

You can also apply environments (lighting) which is now a shared library. Any lights created in iCast or iProp are available between modules.

When you've finished setting up the appearance of your prop, you can move on to Preview mode.

Preview Mode

Preview Mode allows you to inspect your Prop by offering you full 3D rotation on the left side of the interface, and a scrollable display of your final texture on the right. From this mode, you can export your texture map (and or UV map) into a graphics program such as photoshop to change the texture or create entirely new ones from scratch! All you need to do is paint over the original, and import the texture back into iProp! This gives you pixel perfect control over your textures!

Layer Mode

Layer Mode is the biggest difference between iProp and iCast. iProp has replaced the "Portrait Mode" with "Layer Mode" to allow you to define how the prop should be displayed in your game / project. This is especially true for isometric based projects (if you are working in top down or side view, you can skip this mode if preferred).

The idea is to draw a polygon to represent which part of the prop should be drawn on top of characters and other parts of your game / multimedia project. The second part involves you to simply draw a square to confine and optimize a "Door" animation.

Export Mode




So that's it! Once we've finished the design of the prop and set it up with Layer Mode, we're ready to export it. With 3D, we simply choose a file format and click the Export button. If we're working with 2D, we choose how many frames we want our animation to have (8, 12, or 16) and then we click export.

The iProp 2D exporter is a very complex program that creates all the frames of your animation at a resolution of 900x900 and adds the shadows and transparancy to each of the frames. It then creates your layers (from Layer Mode) and also creates your Door animations if you've set it up. Finally, all your images are optimized and cropped before making them available to iScape and other exporters.

And here's what the final prop looks like in iScape:


.. It's never been this easy to design props -iProp even takes care of the technical side for you too!

Hope you guys are looking forward to this as much as we are!



-Mel ;)

ImmunityCS v1.5 - First Screenshots!

Everyone at Immunity has been really excited the last few months because we have been working on a fantastic new update for ImmunityCS - version 1.5.

Version 1.5 is full of new features! The biggest of all being iProp, a brand new module that allows you to create amazing quality Props for ImmunityCS. I'll talk more about iProp in my next blog (hopefully tomorrow) in detail but today I'll talk about the various interface updates and framework enhancements.

Interface Refresh and "Themes"

ImmunityCS has had a major facelift. Every button has been updated with new graphics and we have implemented a precise and universal design style across all ImmunityCS modules as well as a new "Themes" feature.

Themes are presets for custom backgrounds and a unique soundset for interface elements such as clicking on buttons, scrolling through lists, dragging windows, etc. You can also turn the audio off completely for people who prefer not to have interface sounds (and of course, you can override any theme with your own background picture!).

Another cool feature is that windows create a shadow over the background which really gives the interface some nice depth to work with. This can be turned off if preferred.


The New Project Viewer

Other than the updated interface, The first obvious update is that Project Viewer is now upgraded to show your exported iProp files.

A new welcome update is that the Quick Export button now works on ALL tabs including iProp and iCast. This is now the new centralized method of exporting your content rather than doing it individually from the various modules.

Yet another update is a feature called "Content Notes". Whenever you export some content, be it a character, a music file, a prop or a scene, you can apply a note for each piece of content. This is helpful for planning your project - for example, you could have 2 versions of the same character, one that is the standard version and one that is hurt. If you need to, you can reset (delete) the notes of your current project with a handy button at the bottom of the notes panel.

Another visual update is that the icons in the list are different depending on what tab you are viewing. There are many subtle updates like this in ImmunityCS v1.5 which really make the product feel polished.

Better Project Management

There are also some improvements in the Project Management area of ImmunityCS. Minor updates include the Project menu being renamed to "File" so it feels more like a Windows program and the Modules menu item being renamed to "Launch" so it is clear that you can launch modules from it.

Another New but small update is the ability to rename Projects. But there is one cool new feature about Project Management:

Backup / Restore

ImmunityCS v1.5 can now backup and restore your projects with a single click. It saves all the content you've created and also includes your widget settings and everything to do with your project while compressing it down into a zip archive that you can backup online, or migrate to a different machine.

Similarly, you can restore a project with a single button too.

In my next blog, I'll talk about the new iProp module in detail followed by the new iCast features and iLoop interface overhaul.

Lots more to come! I hope you guys are as excited about the new ImmunityCS update as we are!

Thanks for reading!

-Mel ;)

Update, GameMaker Exporter and Company Direction

Hi all!

Thanks very much to all the early adopters who have purchased ImmunityCS and those of you who have taken the time to download the demo! We have had an unbelievable start since Thursday and would like to sincerely thank all of you who have supported us thus far.

The good news is, we haven't been slacking! We've been hard at work collecting all the early feedback for ImmunityCS, while working on new content and new features!

THE GAMEMAKER EXPORTER

Well, the GameMaker community will be happy to know that the GameMaker exporter is

 planned to be released on Friday. Even better news, it will be FREE! The actual GameMaker template is complete and we're wrapping up the exporter as we speak! ... Yes, I know it's 1:18AM! ;)

Just like the MMF Exporter, it allows you to dynamically load in your iScapes, and the GameMaker template will automatically configure the background layers and collisions providing an astonishing level of compatibility with ImmunityCS.

Also, there is a character object that is pre-scripted for you to use in your games! Complete with a custom animation controller for many movements including standing, walking, running, crouching, crouch-walking, attacking and attacking while walking. You can easily add more if you wish.

COMPANY DIRECTION

We have several goals for this year. One of the two goals I'd like to talk about in this post is our dedication to become the most universal content tool on the market. 

Our aim is to be compatible with every major 2D game engine / multimedia development tool. This includes MMF, GameMaker, Torque, Flash and Director. By Friday, 2 of these products will already have dedicated exporters, and we have many more to come.

The second goal is Content. We are focusing on creating a vast library of content for the store which will be compatible with both ImmunityCS and other popular 3D formats. We encourage you to keep an eye on the store because you will see new content products becoming available almost every day! Including freebies!

MORE SOON

More news and updates to come soon!

-Mel ;)

ImmunityCS and Content Store is now LIVE!

We're very proud to announce that ImmunityCS is now available from our new Immunity Content Store.

Simply sign up for a FREE ImmunityID and you will unlock access to Immunity Software Demos and free content!

We hope to see you there!

-Mel ;)

Official ImmunityCS Release Dates & Info

Hi All!

The official Immunity Content launch will take place on Thursday 27th November!


ImmunityCS - Standard £34.99

The Standard version of ImmunityCS offers the full range of Immunity tools to create awesome multimedia content. You should purchase ImmunityCS - Standard if you intend to distribute your final project as freeware or shareware. You must also include a made-with-immunity banner in your final projects.

ImmunityCS - Pro £69.99

The Pro version of ImmunityCS allows you to distribute your content as freeware, shareware or commercial without the need for Immunity banners or other credits.


We hope to see you all sign up next thursday for access to the Immunity Demo and other freebies!

-Mel ;)

ImmunityCS - Just Days away!

Hi All!

We've now completely settled on a v1.0 release. As we speak the first batch of CDs are out being printed and we are expecting them back shortly .. The Content Store is on standby right now so we're waiting on a few more things to sort out before we go live!

I can't stress how excited we are right now! There's possitive vibes all over the office and we simply can't wait to get it out to you guys!

More news early next week on final pricing and a more solid release date!

-Mel ;)

Xwrap v1.8 - Mac Version & New Feature!

Xwrap v1.8 is here!

We now have A Full MAC VERSION of the Xwrap software!

We also have a new feature! You can now wrap ENTIRE Websites! This is great for converting web 2.0 apps into Mac native applications!

I have thrown 3 quicktime movies together to show you the types of things that are possible with Xwrap! Check out the movies and the new DEMOS (both PC and MAC ) here:

Immunity Xwrap WebSite (Scroll to the bottom!)

Thanks a lot guys, and stay tuned for more Immunity Updates! .. I can hear some news about CS about to emerge! ;)

Immunity Xwrap v1.5!

Immunity Xwrap v1.5 has been out for quite a few weeks now and for those of you who don't know, it offers some awesome new features!

Xwrap now allows you to wrap ANY Web applet into a native Mac OS X application!

Now if you think about this, this is massive! The possibilities are endless! We are now enabling Web Developers of any nature the ability to easily port their favourite Web Applets, be it Flash, Director Shockwave, Java, or any other mac-compatible Web Applet to the Mac as a NATIVE application.

NOTE: Forget about converting your old Flash projects with Adobe AIR! You will have to recode all the actionscript so it is compatible with v3.0, as well as a host of other options and settings you need to go through - With Xwrap! just select the applet and you're pretty much good to go! No Modification to the applet is required!

Xwrap allows you to easily wrap the web applet into a full blown application ready to be distributed to the Macintosh platform inside a handy Universal binary ( Both PowerPC and Intel based macs! ).

BIG UPDATE:

Stay tuned this week because Xwrap 1.8 will be released with support for wrapping ENTIRE websites into the application. We have also developed a MAC version of the Xwrap program so it will soon be available for both Windows and Mac OS X users!

We've got more Immunity News over the next few weeks to announce so make sure you stay tuned! This is a VERY exciting time for us!

-Mel

Immunity Xwrap!

Hi All!

In the gaps of beta testing and bug fixes for CS, we have created another Windows program. 

Introducing.. Immunity Xwrap!

Xwrap is a very useful utility for any Java Developer who creates games and apps in the form of Web Applets.

Xwrap 'wraps' the java app with our Immunity Xwrap Framework and converts it into a NATIVE OS X Application! 

This is no interface-improved version of Jar Bundler either! As well as the ability to add custom 512x512 icons which appear in the finder, dock and your application dialogs; Xwrap allows you to set controls over the screen resolution, which types of windows to use, whether to use full-screen mode, and more!

Check out the features and download the FREE demo at:

http://www.immunityxwrap.com

Have fun!

-Mel ;)

ImmunityCS reaches BETA

YES! IT'S TRUE!

After almost 2 solid years of work, we're almost ready to launch ImmunityCS!

We're really excited about the software and we think it's going to change the way you create content FOREVER!

At the moment the BETA is internal which means we have recruited some BETA testers who will be actively testing it until we finalize the Immunity Content Store.

It's almost here!

-Mel

iCast Lighting Environments

iCast Lighting Environments

Another cool thing about iCast is that we have built in Lighting Environments! Not only does it come with loads of presets, but it also allows you to build your own! Once you've made your light map, it gets added to the preset list so you will always be able to access them in any other character you design!

.. I put together this diagram to show you guys the workflow:


Click on the picture to make it bigger!


Where we're at with iCast

We've pretty much added all the features we planned to add (And more!), which means all I need to do is program the export process .. Shouldn't take too long! ;)

We're getting closer!

-Mel ;)

iCast Portrait Builder

iCast Portrait Builder

This section of iCast allows you to build portraits / avatars for your games / multimedia projects.

Time for the screenie:


.. And you can get great results like this:


.. and this:



Not bad huh?

-Mel ;)

iCast .. Behind The Scenes!

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH iCAST

Hi All!

I know that in the last week we've been updating like crazy! We're finally getting a lot closer to launching .. But I wanted to show off our crown jewels today! Presenting ..iCast!

We cannot describe the technical nightmare we went through over the last year to put this together! LOL

We first previewed iCast at CC07 and it was very much in its infancy.. We didn't have a character of our own to use at the time, so we used a proof-of-principle approach with some freebies we found around the net! LOL The screenshot above shows Mathias! Our warrior who comes FREE with iCS! ;)

The above screenshot shows iCast's "Appearance" Mode. In this section of the software, you can put together the character's appearance by customizing aspects of their body. For example, the skin layer is selected in the above screenshot. It is possible to add effects to each of the customizations independantly such as ADD, DARKEN, TRANSPARENCY, etc. You can then choose an environment to use as a light map. The above example shows our standard lighting map on the character, but we have LOADS built in too!

You can preview the character's animations, check out different viewpoints, and free rotate them to get a closer look.

Of course, there is a Preview mode, where you can even export the textures, load them up in your favourite graphics package and fine tune the texture map yourself! You can then load it back into iCast before exporting ALL the animations out with a simple click!

.. And yes! The MMF Exporter will take all these animations, package them into an Immunity Object, and you can simply drag and drop it into your 0wn project! You don't even have to waste time importing the frames!

IT'S ALL DONE FOR YOU! ;)


We can't wait to show you more! .. Stay tuned!

MMF2 Exporter - It's awesome!

THE IMMUNITY MMF2 EXPORTER

Now here is something for all the MMF guys to get excited about! The immunity MMF2 Exporter makes it unbelievably easy to start making some seriously awesome games!



In a nutshell, here's what it does:

• Can Export fully animated characters (Actors) that you can use by dragging them into your own MMF2 file. (More about exporting characters later!)
  
• Can Export Music.
• Can export levels (Scenes) - complete with background, collision engine, layer engine and top background layer!
• Includes an (optional) pre-scripted MFA template to get you started right away!

EXPORTING iSCAPE

Probably the only 'downer' when we first showed off ImmunityCS at the click convention was when you save an iScape scene, you would need to manually modify it to create layers, etc. to suit your game / project.



After thinking about this original flaw, we head back to the studio and starting working on how to make it as streamlined as possible. This is when we came up with the new features for iScape that would allow us to create collision detection inside of the program (instead of you having to code it in MMF yourself!), automatically creating the layers for the scene, and providing a pre-coded character and background layer engine to take advantage of it all!

I feel we did a great job in delivering this feature! Making games have never been this easy!


THE TEMPLATE MFA

Inside the Template MFA is an "Immunity" Loader Object. All you need to do at this point is type the name of the level you want to load and the filename of the music you want to play.

If you are using iCast characters, there will be a seperate Immunity Object to drag them into your scene. The concept is the same, just type the name of the character, and it will be loaded with your game!


QUICK NOTE

The MMF2 Exporter was made with our Widget system! Everything that this exporter does was made possible via the ImmunitySDK! We plan on seeing more exporters show up for different development software such as Flash, Director, etc.


We've got loads more to show you guys soon! Stay tuned!

iSDK v1.0 - It's HERE!

Hi All!

Today, the ImmunitySDK is available at our affiliate forum here.

If you are good at scripting with Multimedia Fusion 2, you can sign up as a software affiliate to get exclusive access to the kit and start creating some great widgets!

THE SDK

It comes with:

- ImmunitySDK VE (Virtual Environment)

- Documentation (In high quality PDF format!)

- Commented MFA Examples

- Pre-Coded MFA Template

The SDK VE is a program that allows you to test your Widgets inside of the ImmunityCS interface! It's a great way to get involved with CS without having to buy any software, or make any financial investment! It's a fantastic opportunity for any MMF user!

WHAT IS POSSIBLE

With the SDK, you can create software as powerful as our main modules (iCast, iLoop, iScape, etc.). It has access to the same content libraries and user projects. The SDK will allow you to create small widgets such as calculators, or larger software that can be used to create exporters, extra content creators and more! Your imagination is the only limit!

SELLING / DISTRIBUTING WIDGETS

When you want to create your widget, you need to announce it in the affiliate forum. An Immunity Mentor will then approve it. This is required to make sure that our affiliates are not competing against each other and therefore ends up in a more dynamic community, as well as more profit for the affiliate if they choose to sell it commercially in our Content Store.

Once the Widget has been created, you must then submit it to an Immunity Mentor so they can test the Widget and make sure it is safe for other users to install. Once the Mentor has verified the Widget, you can then choose to sell it commercially or have it freely available (FREEWARE). We will host it for free on our content store and send you royalties every month!

THE RULES

The only stipulation is that you are not allowed to host your Widget anywhere else other than our content store. You can advertise it anywhere, but the download must point back to the Immunity Content Store. If the Widget is FREEWARE, this works out even better for the affiliate as we handle all the bandwidth and we pay the fees! ;)

I hope to be seeing many of you sign up for our Software Affiliate Program!

The ImmunityCS SDK ..

Hello all!

I know it's been a while since we have posted, the truth is that we have been working crazy hours for the last few months overcoming various technical obstacles but the good news is that we're back on track ..

Today we're announcing some details on our MMF based SDK ..

FEATURES:

- No need to buy iCS. The SDK emulates the ImmunityCS program environment so you can fully test your widgets without having to purchase the software. Even though it would be nice if you do! LOL

- Includes Template .mfa to get you started

- Comes complete with documentation (as you would expect!)

- Open to all Software Affiliates who want to start creating great Immunity Widgets!

- Can access the iCS library to grab project resources such as music, graphics and animations.

HOW TO START CREATING WIDGITS:

- You must become an Immunity Software Affiliate. Visit out affiliate forum here to sign up. It's FREE!

- When creating widgits, you MUST adhere to the security and performance guidelines stated in the documentation.

- Your widgits MUST be approved by an Immunity Mentor before publishing it anywhere. Even if it is freeware.

and the most important question of all ..

WHEN WILL IT BE AVAILABLE?

The SDK will be available before the launch of iCS. We aim to have it available very soon - though remember the initial version will be an alpha and updates are likely to be regular.

I hope to see loads of you sign up for the Software Affiliate program!

-Mel

Collisions

Hi guys!

We have recently presented at the Click Convention 2007! :) We had a great time there, and some really awesome feedback. There were some great projects shown and we hope that all of you who attended enjoyed our presentation and live demo. We feel the response was very positive at CC07 and have taken some valuable feedback away with us ..

On with the iCS updates .. We're revamping iScape even more with new features! The only slightly negative piece of feedback we recieved was to do with the fact that when levels were exported from iScape, there was no automatic way of setting up the layers when you deployed it into your multimedia development program .. NOW THERE IS - AND MORE!

We've taken exporting to a massively new level. Our MMF exporter will be included as STANDARD and not as an add-on. Not only can you export your levels DIRECTLY, your levels will have custom-made background collisions, Auto-Layering, Environments, and more in a .mfa file. 

You will be able to add new levels and characters by simply saving them into your game's Root folder. And our MFA template will be able to access them. You have the base AND CONTENT of a quality game built for you, so you can concentrate on the Code Tweaking and finer details!

Here's an early screenshot of our New Collision Mode in iScape:

You simply left click to apply collision areas, and right-click to delete them. This information can be passed to MMF so all of the work is done for you!

-Mel ;)

The iLock Widget

Announcing Widget number 3 .. The iLock Widget!

The iLock widget allows you to easily lock out your immunity application to uninvited guests! Need to rush to the toilet quickly? Need to leave your PC, but you havn't yet saved your immunity project? Now you can simply activate your immunity-lock.

You will be presented with the screen above that allows you to either enter (or change) your password. Your password is encrypted with blowfish, so it has very decent security built right in! ;)

More development updates soon!

-Mel

Man .. What A Dazzling Day!

So today we found out that Daz changed their stance on licensing their products. And typically, Michael 3.0 from Daz was the only thing we licensed externally in ImmunityCS.. 

Luckily, before we made the decision to go with Daz in the first place .. We were designing SEVERAL characters of our own .. 

To put everybodies mind at rest, heres one of many iCast development pictures from about 3 months ago that we left in early development before we decided to trust Daz's Content ..

The above isn't even rendered! You can even see the wireframe lines! :)

This is one of our jolly fellows .. There are plenty more, we are considering designing some new ones also but I just wanted to post this to let you guys know that we're not stranded now that Daz has changed the licenses! We're simply going back to Plan A ..

Immunity all the way!    ;)

-Mel ;)