Ok, we've all seen the amazing eco zoo site which launched recently and took 3d in flash to a new level.  Right now I'd say there are a few sleepless nights over at papervision HQ, because it turns out it was built using a different 3d engine, and one which runs about a thousand times better. The engine was either written or ported by roxik, a japanese "web designer" and he calls it "sharikura". You might remember this demo of as3 performance which it turns out was made by the same guy (and presumably using the same engine).

People who've investigated the code (it's not public but I'm guessing people have decompiled it - I've been tempted ;) report that it looks like a port of M3D, a OpenGL platform for mobile. Wherever the code comes from, it can do some amazing shit, check out the demos of full 3d with physics!. There are heaps of great things on his site, make sure you have a good look around.

Here's hoping someone convinces him to reveal his secrets or Adobe buys the code off him. I've never been too interested in papervision for a few reasons, mainly because of how poorly it runs and the fact that visually it looks pretty terrible. But damn, I want to get my hands on that engine!