Papervision3D

Well, I've spent the last two days having an intense training seminar in Papervision3D (taught by a coding genius, John Lindquist), eight hours a day. It was a great experience, and I think I learned more than I actually know, if that makes any sense. My personal level of action script is not up to snuff, so to speak. I have this great ocean in front of me that is action script... and I'm having a hard time getting to the island that is papervision. Or maybe I just want to go to the beach. Warmth would be nice this time of year.

In any case, I found that the files that he provided were worth the price of admission alone. Well... nearly. Although I was told to use Adobe Director (i.e. Shockwave) when I spoke to the instructor about my heart project, I'm not sure that what I want can't be done in Papervision3D.
(EDIT: later, a few things were discussed and other options within Pv3D were mentioned.)
However, is it necessary? How hard should I push for the Flash component? That is unknown. Unity3D is another highly possible choice for my development. In any case, this class was great in general. I can't wait to get some time to actually output some content.

Object (or trackball) rotation is highly doable, and I think that some masking to show inner anatomy while rotating is also a possibility. I can think of many things that would benefit from being shown from all sides with an interactive component. All of these things are very positive marks in the "why use pv3D" column. There are a few things to be considered, although the flash vs. unity3D could be debated until the end of time.

Flash in general renders everything through code. This cuts down on the graphics card interface, which can be a good thing for a lower end user. However... this cuts down on the graphics card interaction, making high polygon models very difficult to render out. Unity3D talks directly to OpenGL and Direct3D (or something similar), allowing you to use much higher polygonal models. The down side to this is that if you don't have a graphics card that supports it, you can't see the app. There are many more pros and cons, but in general Flash was not originally designed for 3D. That being said, it is a great way to introduce interactivity with a high level of penetration into the market. And the whole "not originally" blah blah is not nearly as relevant as it used to be.

Man, I think that I still need a couple of days (weeks) to truly process the wonders that are Papervision3D. So I leave you with an awesome little link by one of the masters, Den Ivanov.