Chicago (IL) - In April of this year, German developer group .theprodukkt released a full-featured first person shooter with a file size of 96 kByte. Now the group has released the technology behind the game : A complex 3D presentation and modeling tool in 64 kByte.

If you are convinced that complex applications automatically have to occupy a gazillion megaBytes of harddisk space, then .kkrieger should have the done the job changing your opinion. While theprodukkt’s first person shooter is impressive, werkkzeug1 takes the approach to fit an application in a compact package one step further. The tool released Wednesday, is the basic technology which allowed the creation of .kkrieger and enables users to build high-end 3D presentations, complete with modeling and texturing features as well as audio.

In contrast to .kkrieger, werkkzeug1 is not software which you can try during your lunch break. It is what the developers call a "serious tool" to create non-interactive animations. Learning to use the software and create 3D presentations requires significant but rewards the user with a result he most likely could not have achieved otherwise.

To start, animations can be created from the ground up or imported from Softimage or Lightwave. Werkkzeug1’s features include WYSIWIG authoring, a fast and capable 3D engine, a texture and mesh generator, image post processing, JPG import, particle systems, a simple spline editor and a timeline to arrange animations. Included are also a player software and real-time rendering and playback of animations within the editor.

According to Dierk Ohlerich, lead programmer of .theprodukkt, werkkzeug1 is an early version of the authoring tool of .kkrieger, which was developed with werkkzeug3. "Werkkzeug3 is not stable enough to release it to the public," he said. The first generation of the software does not offer some features such as interactivity, but has moved beyond a prove of concept : "It is a fully functional tool."

Ohlerich believes that especially digital artists will like the tool to create 3D animations : "Werkkzeug1 is really not just a tool you use on the side but rather a main application you work with every day," he said. One indication for that claim is that the software does not follow any traditional trends or integrates standards. "We are breaking standards in an extreme way." This would allow werkkzeug1 more functionality than it would do otherwise.

People intending to use werkkzeug1 should count on spending some time with the tool. A first look through the tutorial reveals that even simple presentations require several hours of work, depending on the richness and details complex animations could take up to several months to create. In turn, the flexibility and the control of werkkzeug offer impressive flexibility.

So far, theprodukkt offers its software as some sort of demonstration of its technology it has been developing for several years. According to Ohlerich, some day the group intends to offer a commercially available 3D authoring tool. "We are still a few years away from that point," he said.

Have I mentioned that werkkzeug1 is available as a free download  ?