Thanks to a cold, I've finally had some time to play around with Shiva.

My first effort is titled "The Scout" and is simply a 3D spaceship model with a deep space themed background image and lens flare. Moving the mouse orbits the camera around the ship and using the scroll wheel zooms it in and out.

Doesn't sound like much, but it's the culmination of many hours of work, most of them spent learning how things are done in Shiva. If I had to do this over again, besides the graphics, I could probably recreated the scene in about an hour.

I'm also trying out the embedded Shiva player here for the first time. The player is rather like Flash, except where Flash is 2D, Shiva is intended for 3D. It also supports many different browsers and operating systems, with the exception of Linux 64bit, for which a player will be available with Shiva 1.9, due out soonish. If you try to install the player under 64bit Linux, it'll appear to start OK, then it'll pop-up a useless error box telling you what you already know: "Linux 64bit".

Obviously, I can't test it since I don't have a 32bit system to run it on, but it should all be fine.

For those of us with only 64bit Linux, the linked web player isn't going to work. I have however made available a standalone version of the demo which can be downloaded from the web player page, for Linux users, 32bit and 64bit.

Try out "The Scout" demo here