Autodesk has announced COLLADA standard interoperability as part of their FBX technology. The FBX technology family of tools offers a comprehensive data interchange solution. In the same way that PDF files let you share documents with users who do not own the word processor or page layout program those documents were created with, FBX technology lets you exchange data between 2D and 3D applications.

Apple released the iPhone SDK beta 4 which now includes Xcode IDE, iPhone simulator with Open GL ES support, Interface Builder, Instruments, frameworks and samples, compilers, and Shark analysis tool. What is great about this release of the SDK for the iPhone is that Apple included something new, and an amazing new feature it is. OpenGL ES (Embedded System) is also on Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3), Symbian OS and Android. Developers should be thrilled with this new feature on the iPhone.

Harris announces the new Inscriber G7, which optimizes workflow while achieving new levels of graphics quality. Inscriber G7 uniquely integrates the functionality of multiple broadcast graphics products to provide a robust, high-performance HD/SD live-to-air solution. One part of the new Inscriber G7 is G-3D. G-3D is a 3D design module allowing users to elevate broadcast graphics design with dramatic true 3D graphics, text and real-time animations. Users can create 3D scenes from scratch, or import Collada files from 3rd party programs such as 3D Studio Max, Maya and several others.

Remi Arnaud, co-creator of the COLLADA standard, led panelists in a discussion at GDC on how COLLADA is meeting the demanding requirements of the most compelling content and creating next-generation user experiences. Watch the video online now.

Acron Capability Engineering has announced version 2.0 of their powerful 3D modeling tool Acron 3D Modeler. 3D Modeller was engineered for the Modeling, Simulation and Gaming industry. 3D Modeler supports standard 3D formats with tools made for modelers, by modelers. Version 2.0 model formats now include Collada DAE.

DAZ 3D Launches New Version of Free 3D Posing and Animation Software, DAZ Studio 2.1. DAZ Studio 2.1 is an ideal solution for professional 3D artists and hobbyists alike. Professional designers and illustrators can render compelling scenery, while gamers may effortlessly modify their own 3D avatars and characters exportable via the COLLADA file format. DAZ Studio 2.1 boasts many robust features, including a full-color OpenGL Preview, integration with the powerful 3Delight® Render Engine (compliant with Pixar’s RenderMan®) and Fast-Time™ Rendering via the user’s graphic card hardware.

The Americas Tournament of the 2009 GSMA Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition is now open! By entering your product, service, or idea, you engage in a rich industry competition led by Mobile Operators and Investors. You’ll have the opportunity to win one of two finalist slots and a trip to Barcelona, Spain, where each Marketplace finalist will compete for the Mobile Innovation “Global Champion” title. The call for entries deadline for the Americas tournament is 25 April 2008.

QNX Software Systems announced that the QNX(R) Neutrino(R) RTOS has achieved certification for conformance to the POSIX PSE52 Realtime Controller 1003.13-2003 System product standard. QNX Software Systems’ dedication to industry standards extends to other application programmer interfaces (APIs), such as the OpenGL ES 3D graphics API.

Luxology® LLC announced the availability of modo™ 302, the newest version of its award-winning, artist-friendly 3D content creation software. Modo 302 adds new natural lighting capabilities, additional layered Photoshop file support, an animation Track View, new modeling tools, and numerous other enhancements. Luxology is also making available the first version of the modo File I/O software development kit (SDK), which allows developers to import or export data directly from modo. modo 302 is available for both Mac OSX and Windows. David Vasquez of Mainland Gaming LLC. says “We are particularly impressed with modo’s new File I/O SDK, which streamlines our workflow by allowing us to export Collada content from modo directly into Terathon Software’s C4 Engine.”

Fakhir Ansari of Mentor graphics has written an article explaining and illustrating how the new Multimedia framework OpenMAX works and fits into your workflow. The OpenMAX cross-platform API enables accelerated multimedia components from different software vendors to be developed, integrated, and programmed across multiple operating systems and silicon platforms. The OpenMAX standard is made up of three levels, OpenMAX AL (Application Level), OpenMAX IL (Integration Level ) and OpenMAX DL (Development Level). OpenMAX is defined by The Khronos Group and is a new standard, but has already been embraced by several companies.

Web3D.org has announced a deadline extension for a call for papers to the 13th International Symposium on 3D Web Technology. The annual Web3D Symposium is a major event, which unites researchers, developers, experimenters, and content creators in a dynamic learning environment. Attendees share and explore methods of using, enhancing, or creating new 3D Web and Multimedia technologies, such as (but not limited to) X3D, VRML, COLLADA, Croquet, MPEG4, MPEG7, Java3D, and Canvas3D. The symposium will also focus on recent trends such as interactive 3D graphics and applications on mobile devices. Authors are invited to submit their work (short or full papers) for review by the international Program Committee. Both research and applications papers are of interest to Web3D 2008. The papers must be innovative and contribute to the advancement of 3D Multimedia technologies on the Web. For more information please visit the Web3D 2008 Symposium call for papers home page now.

Ideaworks3D Ltd, developer of the cross-platform Airplay™ native execution environment, today announced that Airplay SDK 3.5 fully supports Nokia’s new N-Gage gaming platform. Designed to reduce cost and speed deployment across multiple software environments and hardware architectures, Airplay is a cross-platform portability technology that delivers binary compatible native code across ARM-based mobile devices. The resulting application can be deployed to all supported operating systems and devices without further porting or any requirement for additional graphics rendering engines on the handset. Airplay already supports all open native operating systems in the market today, including BREW, Symbian OS (Series60 and UIQ3), Windows Mobile and Linux. Now developers and publishers can deploy to Nokia’s flagship N-Gage service using the same game source code and even the same application binary.

IMSI/Design(tm) announced the availability of TurboCAD(r) Deluxe Version 15. New in this version is Collada (DAE) File Export Support. TurboCAD Deluxe is the recognized leader in CAD for home professionals and hobbyists.

Ideaworks3D, a leading developer of native mobile technology and applications, today announced that its Airplay(TM) native execution environment has been optimised for Texas Instruments’ OMAP-Vox(TM) single-chip multimedia platform, and declared conformant with Khronos OpenKODE(TM) 1.0.

Gremedy, makers of gDEBugger V4.0 introduces gDEBugger Linux. This new exciting product adds 32bit and 64bit Linux Support, bringing all of gDEBugger’s debugging and profiling abilities to the Linux OpenGL developers’ world. gDEBugger, an OpenGL and OpenGL ES debugger and profiler, traces application activity on top of the OpenGL API, lets programmers see what is happening within the graphic system implementation to find bugs and optimize OpenGL application performance. This version also includes significant performance improvements as well as a new Textures and Buffers Viewer. This Viewer allows you to view textures, static buffers and pbuffers objects as images or raw-data in its original data format, including none RGB data formats (float, depth, integer, luminance, etc).