RaySupreme lets you create 3D images by typing

German developer BrainDistrict has released RaySupreme: a new application that enables users to create simple 3D scenes by typing in descriptions in plain English.

The video above shows a user typing in commands like “a dining chair left of the table, facing the table”, which seems to bring in assets from a built-in library.

(Cutely, you can then type in things like “it is 1928 AD” to change the style of the models used.)

Screenshots on the website also suggest you can type in commands like “move the table 40 cm forward and 60 cm left” to control the position and relative scale of objects in the scene.

Like Scribblenauts for 3D
How well this works for anything that isn’t a generic interior scene is a matter of conjecture.

Presumably, it’s like playing Scribblenauts, and the software will ignore words that it doesn’t recognise – but we can’t find any information on BrainDistrict’s website as to how many words that is. [Updated below.]

A range of conventional 3D tools
If you don’t want to use the Text-to-3D system, RaySupreme has a range of conventional 3D tools, including a complete node-based texture editor.

Judging by the video, the render engine won’t be winning any prizes for speed, though [Update: BrainDistrict says that the screen capture slows it down]; and animation is confined to motion paths and camera animation.

Still, it’s a cute little application, and at $39.99, it isn’t an expensive one. RaySupreme is available now for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Read more about RaySupreme on the BrainDistrict website

Read an introductory tutorial on using RaySupreme
(Includes more detail on how the Text-to-3D system works)

Update: We’ve been in touch with BrainDistrict founder Markus Mönig, who tells us that RaySupreme’s database contains 90 models, confined to interior and street scenes, but that users can create and upload their own.

The database also contains 45 materials, which can also be assigned to both objects and sub-objects through the Text-to-3D system. (For example: “a shiny plastic table. The legs of the table are black.”)

BrainDistrict aims to extend the system to “true outdoor scenes” and add physics and keyframe animations by the third quarter of this year; and to focus on characters after that.

A holodeck experience for non 3D pros
According to Mönig, RaySupreme was created with the aim of creating “a solution which makes 3D accessible for everybody … a kind of ‘holodeck’ experience where non 3D pros can create scenes”.

“The long-term vision is that one day you can describe the movie Casablanca in text, then render it out to different time periods or cultures [like in the style of] Japan in the 16th century or America in the 21st century.”

“We know this is a very ambitious project, but it is fun … and we hope many users see it the same way.”