4 ms·

Show HN: Best Buy Uses WebGL to Create Interactive Appliances

44 points by relaunched 11y ago

relaunched 11y ago
This is a project my team has been working on a very long time and I'm really excited to see it in the wild. All the 3d urls: * 4-Door Refrigerator - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/5258309/ * Top-Load Washer - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/8822012/ * Front-Load Washer w/ Steam and Water Jets - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/4995705/
- gus_massa 11y ago
  A post with too many links is not interesting and looks spammy. I think it's better if you cherrypick two or three of them and add a small explanation. For example: * Fridge with transparent door: [link here] * Washer with additional soap container: [link here] * Complete list of all 3d pages: link here --- Also, if you have been working in this, a nice blog post about your work would be more on topic. Is this official? Differences with the previous page? Will this be integrated with the official page? Where did you get the models? Do you have to tweak the models or the WebGL support? Is there an impossible to render machine? (On the technical side, this takes almost a minute to load in my slow netbook, you should add a "loading" animation. And the color changing button is not obvious.)
  - relaunched 11y ago
    That's a great idea. A blog post about the work is in the works, but has a few hoops to jump through before I can release it. I appreciate the technical feedback as well. We are continually refining the ui/ux component. I'm very excited to show the work, but want to add the correct context so that others easily and meaningfully consume it.
- city41 11y ago
  How are the models generated? From existing assets, like a CAD file or something?
  - relaunched 11y ago
    We do a lot of work to ensure we represent the assets in as true to form as possible. However, I'll check to see if the company is okay with me answering this question and get back to you. I am comfortable saying that the work effort is not trivial.
- senna 11y ago
  How much time is 'a very long time'?
  - relaunched 11y ago
    I'll forward your question and if I can answer it, I will.
- Cakez0r 11y ago
  I don't suppose you guys have found a way to make it economical to model, texture and animate products en masse? ;)
  - relaunched 11y ago
    LoL, it is not fully automated. Unfortunately, the economics isn't something I can talk about.
    - Cakez0r 11y ago
      Figured as much. I've worked on projects before that have tried to make it work financially, but 3D capture always falls short on quality (and I'll bet the specular highlights on those appliances caused you guys many hours of fun if you tried that approach too!) and it's too expensive to hand-craft all the assets. Hope you guys make it work! It's a cool area and I'm sure you'll have clients queuing up if you can!
  - fsloth 11y ago
    If they were cooperating with the manufacturers the mesh could come as an export from the cad/cam package the hardware designers use.
- NathanKP 11y ago
  There is a minor bug: Any mouse event over the control panel, even a mouse wheel spin, causes the drum to stop and or start. This leads to strange starts and stops of the drum if you happen to zoom in while hovering over the control panel. I would expect the drum to start and stop spinning only on clicks.
  - relaunched 11y ago
    I'll make a note, thx.
- swalsh 11y ago
  This is an awesome start, but ultimately of limited usefulness to me. When I was recently shopping for a new refrigerator I really wanted one of these new fancy fridges with the larger area for produce. The problem was there was only 1 that would fit my oddly shaped space, and i wasn't sure if the dimensions listed included the hinge for the door or not (i had a cabinet above the fridge), and it was going to be tight. What I really wished I could do at the time was take out my phone, take a picture of my space, give a few measurements for reference, and have you render the new fridge in the space.
  - relaunched 11y ago
    That's a very common problem, which we encounter both in-store and online. Solving it will be key to providing the best possible customer experience; stay tuned.
- rsal 11y ago
  Great job! I really like how you added a reflection on the door of the Front-Load Washer
  - relaunched 11y ago
    Thanks for noticing the level of detail. We're really proud of the work; someone on the team has an amazing eye for detail ;-)
addedlovely 11y ago
On mobile there's no navigation back to the product page? What if I want to buy it? Be interesting to hear if this is actually useful for people or just tech for the point of tech. The zoom to see the controls I can see the benefit of, the underside of the washing machine less so!
- addedlovely 11y ago
  Just to add, nice implementation, worked smoothly on an iPhone 6.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - relaunched 11y ago
    Thanks! We're very proud of what we've built, though we're still working on it.
- relaunched 11y ago
  For now, the link to the 3d demo only renders on our dotCom proper webiste. However, the links I sent out do render on mobile web. This is a new capability that we are hoping to expand and work out some of these types of issues. However, this is only a test and [hopefully] only the beginning. As to whether or not it's useful, early indicators were positive, but only time will tell.
Zacharot 11y ago
There is no discharge port.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
edejong 11y ago
As much as I would like to be enthralled by such technology, it seems we have hardly progressed at all in the last 10 years wrt 3D web technology. For example, look at this demo of VRML shader technology which is 9 years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFz7-RbGV8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFz7-RbGV8s Now, where are the game changers?

44 points by relaunched 11y ago

This is a project my team has been working on a very long time and I'm really excited to see it in the wild. All the 3d urls: * 4-Door Refrigerator - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/5258309/ * Top-Load Washer - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/8822012/ * Front-Load Washer w/ Steam and Water Jets - http://esd.bbystatic.com/3d/4995705/

gus_massa 11y ago
A post with too many links is not interesting and looks spammy. I think it's better if you cherrypick two or three of them and add a small explanation. For example: * Fridge with transparent door: [link here] * Washer with additional soap container: [link here] * Complete list of all 3d pages: link here --- Also, if you have been working in this, a nice blog post about your work would be more on topic. Is this official? Differences with the previous page? Will this be integrated with the official page? Where did you get the models? Do you have to tweak the models or the WebGL support? Is there an impossible to render machine? (On the technical side, this takes almost a minute to load in my slow netbook, you should add a "loading" animation. And the color changing button is not obvious.)
- relaunched 11y ago
  That's a great idea. A blog post about the work is in the works, but has a few hoops to jump through before I can release it. I appreciate the technical feedback as well. We are continually refining the ui/ux component. I'm very excited to show the work, but want to add the correct context so that others easily and meaningfully consume it.
city41 11y ago
How are the models generated? From existing assets, like a CAD file or something?
- relaunched 11y ago
  We do a lot of work to ensure we represent the assets in as true to form as possible. However, I'll check to see if the company is okay with me answering this question and get back to you. I am comfortable saying that the work effort is not trivial.
senna 11y ago
How much time is 'a very long time'?
- relaunched 11y ago
  I'll forward your question and if I can answer it, I will.
Cakez0r 11y ago
I don't suppose you guys have found a way to make it economical to model, texture and animate products en masse? ;)
- relaunched 11y ago
  LoL, it is not fully automated. Unfortunately, the economics isn't something I can talk about.
  - Cakez0r 11y ago
    Figured as much. I've worked on projects before that have tried to make it work financially, but 3D capture always falls short on quality (and I'll bet the specular highlights on those appliances caused you guys many hours of fun if you tried that approach too!) and it's too expensive to hand-craft all the assets. Hope you guys make it work! It's a cool area and I'm sure you'll have clients queuing up if you can!
- fsloth 11y ago
  If they were cooperating with the manufacturers the mesh could come as an export from the cad/cam package the hardware designers use.
NathanKP 11y ago
There is a minor bug: Any mouse event over the control panel, even a mouse wheel spin, causes the drum to stop and or start. This leads to strange starts and stops of the drum if you happen to zoom in while hovering over the control panel. I would expect the drum to start and stop spinning only on clicks.
- relaunched 11y ago
  I'll make a note, thx.
swalsh 11y ago
This is an awesome start, but ultimately of limited usefulness to me. When I was recently shopping for a new refrigerator I really wanted one of these new fancy fridges with the larger area for produce. The problem was there was only 1 that would fit my oddly shaped space, and i wasn't sure if the dimensions listed included the hinge for the door or not (i had a cabinet above the fridge), and it was going to be tight. What I really wished I could do at the time was take out my phone, take a picture of my space, give a few measurements for reference, and have you render the new fridge in the space.
- relaunched 11y ago
  That's a very common problem, which we encounter both in-store and online. Solving it will be key to providing the best possible customer experience; stay tuned.
rsal 11y ago
Great job! I really like how you added a reflection on the door of the Front-Load Washer
- relaunched 11y ago
  Thanks for noticing the level of detail. We're really proud of the work; someone on the team has an amazing eye for detail ;-)

addedlovely 11y ago

On mobile there's no navigation back to the product page? What if I want to buy it? Be interesting to hear if this is actually useful for people or just tech for the point of tech. The zoom to see the controls I can see the benefit of, the underside of the washing machine less so!

addedlovely 11y ago
Just to add, nice implementation, worked smoothly on an iPhone 6.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- relaunched 11y ago
  Thanks! We're very proud of what we've built, though we're still working on it.
relaunched 11y ago
For now, the link to the 3d demo only renders on our dotCom proper webiste. However, the links I sent out do render on mobile web. This is a new capability that we are hoping to expand and work out some of these types of issues. However, this is only a test and [hopefully] only the beginning. As to whether or not it's useful, early indicators were positive, but only time will tell.

Zacharot 11y ago

There is no discharge port.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

edejong 11y ago

As much as I would like to be enthralled by such technology, it seems we have hardly progressed at all in the last 10 years wrt 3D web technology. For example, look at this demo of VRML shader technology which is 9 years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFz7-RbGV8s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFz7-RbGV8s Now, where are the game changers?