FW Editor: What are your plans or objectives in the near future?
Dario Accornero: We want TNGViewer to (continue to) take roots as the standard, de facto viewer for common 3D files, while remaining an invaluable tool for our presentation customers and showing off the TNG 3D suite features with style. Users tell us we're heading in the right direction so far...

FW Editor: How and when did you start writing the code for TNGViewer? What inspired you the most?
Dario Accornero: The TNG 3D suite is an evolution of the software we wrote for http://www.immaginaria.info between 2003 and 2005. The TNGViewer code base was started in 2006, mostly inspired by the way popular media applications opened and displayed 2D files. We wanted to have the same experience opening and displaying 3D files.

FW Editor: Can you tell us more about the most important functions available in TNGViewer? Why are so important?
Dario Accornero: While we like the option to open many windows and view them independently, we truly love the way TNGViewer allows us to explore 3D presentations and scenes, without navigation limits or imposed habits generally borrowed from games. We think it's equally crucial to walk/fly within and perspectively/orthographically peek at a scene -- without changing viewing paradigms. We also believe users must be able to change said paradigms at any time, if they want to, without losing display quality: TNGViewer allows you to do all this quite smoothly.

FW Editor: Which are your favorite features? And which your favorite top scene?
Dario Accornero: We love being able to export watermark-free images and movies of live 3D scenes and objects: as always, a picture (or film) is worth a thousand words... Our favourite Top Scene, amongst the default ones, is the European Central Bank demo: a complex interactive presentation of a modern, beautiful site spanning a large area. The CoreEffect demo is a powerful testament to the TNG 3D features, with excellent performance even on ancient graphics cards.

FW Editor: Is there any special characteristic that makes TNGViewer unique? Can you tell us more about it?
Dario Accornero: Besides hassle-free drag and drop interaction, the "Top Scenes" feature probably sets TNGViewer apart from the competition. Quickly scrolling through the most important scenes gives you instant visual access to your 3D files. The caching system provides excellent performance, and you can sort your scenes in several ways by accessing the Preferences panel. Top Scenes can also be used in several windows at the same time, which is useful when your 3D collection is quite large.

FW Editor: Is your app targeted to any particular industry players?
Dario Accornero: The architectural, virtual heritage and design industries represent our core targets: many features of the TNG 3D suite were developed for specific customer needs. We provide interactive presentations to these (and other) segments: although a traditional movie/slideshow can show a project with good quality, it is very hard to beat the possibility of actually walking through/interacting with a project...

FW Editor: What shall we expect from TNGViewer in the future?
Dario Accornero: The development roadmap includes improvement in file format support as well as a port to 64-bit platforms. We are evaluating the release of a professional version, catered to the realtime industry (where only triangles matter), which would not be free but rather reasonably priced. We also considering a port to other, perhaps embedded, systems.

FW Editor: Is there any message or any tip and trick you would like to send to TNGViewer users?
Dario Accornero: We welcome absolutely all feedback and we love to receive requests and criticism, so please feel free to contact us. We encourage all TNGViewer users to take a look at the default Top Scenes, to get acquainted with the TNG 3D features. We also urge users to read the online documentation, and to explore all of the navigation options: the Help menu is your friend.