http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/345230/dost-nurtures-filipino-startup-firm
DoST nurtures Filipino startup firm
By MELODY M. AGUIBA
December 18, 2011, 12:57am
MANILA, Philippines — Technology business incubator (TBI) Enterprise has adopted a startup company Filimagineers whose three-dimensional (3D) computer modeling has important markets among tourist spots and land development projects as a Filipino trailblazing venture.
A project supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) to give aid to entrepreneurial efforts in technology, Enterprise has recognized the need for 3D computer modeling in many industries that Filimagineers may serve.
“With 3D, you can walk backwards in time. It doesn’t simply show a picture. You can actually enter into a site from anywhere you are in the world. So this will be important for tourism destinations or those selling condominiums or other real estate properties,” said Dr. Luis G. Sison, Enterprise Centre for Technopreneurship director, in an interview.
Among industries that have already used 3D modeling is tourism for which Hawaii has heavily invested in to promote its tourism destinations.
“There’s just another company that works on this, Hawaii.com hotels, so you can now visit places in all of Hawaii,” said Juan Carlos Ayeng, Filimagineers founder and programmer-3D artist, in a separate interview.
An interested tourist viewing a potential tourist site in Hawaii using a 3D rendering will need a Google Earth plugin to view the sites. The plugin is readily downloadable though the website.
Filimagineers has already seized several contracts for its entrepreneurial venture which includes 3D modeling for Meridian International College in McKinley in The Fort, Gawad Kalinga, and even for Enterprise’s own use.
While the Hawaiian 3D firm is highly capitalized and backed up by tourism-oriented, government, and profit-making agencies in Hawaii, Filimagineers is seen to obtain its needed institutional support as it has also just won DoST’s Filippinovation Award.
The company may also initially work on a historical site in Intramuros as a similar tourism orientation for people that are outside the country that wish to view it before engaging in bookings.
Aside from close to real-life orientation for distant tourists, a 3D modeling may also provide the drama of a historical site with its say circa 1800s or 1900s time setting.
For Gawad Kalinga which has international supporters, an easily accessible 3D modeling of Gawad Kalinga housing communities is expected to further garner support for homeless impoverished Filipino communities.
An important factor in 3D modeling is the capability given to viewers to control where he wants to go or see in a destination — say from north to south, east to west. This is not available in two-dimensional pictures or even in moving films or videos.
