Mission Statement
The Away Foundation is a non-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) that promotes openness, innovation and participation in and around freely available software resources.
The Away3D engine is The Away Foundation’s widest used software resource, receiving regular updates and maintenance. Parallel resource projects also managed by The Away Foundation include Away Physics, the AWD format and Away Builder.
Each of The Away Foundation’s resource projects are developed by a resource team comprising a small group of individuals who provide core development and support services to the community, and an extended group of contributors who donate time and effort to the continued development and support of these projects.
The Away Foundation is primarily focused on the development and maintenance of tools and libraries used in the production of high-performance graphical content, and seeks to promote the value of open standards and open source software to a broader audience.
Justification
Over the course of the last 5 years, the Away3D engine has expanded from a small personal project to one of the largest open source 3D frameworks in use on the web. Many companies rely on this framework for publishing graphically advanced sites, games, applications and widgets. As a result, we have seen the widespread proliferation over the years of many innovative online projects that have benefitted from Away3D’s free and open approach to software development.
With today’s increased focus from online and mobile industries on games and applications with high-performance graphical content, Away3D is providing a more important role than ever in the area of 3D content production, through a familiar, high-level framework and set of tools that are available for free and carry no licensing restrictions.
By establishing a set of free and open software resources in this manner, The Away Foundation encourages streamlined production processes and workflows across many different platforms, offering associated companies and communities increased levels of productivity, diversity and quality. The necessary work to achieve and sustain these resources is made possible through the work of The Away Foundation, which provides core development and support to its managed resources, and offers companies and communities a membership program through which donations and support can be administered.
Goals
The primary goals of The Away Foundation comprise:
- The development, documentation and management of free tools and free, open-source libraries.
- The provision of an enduring structure through which intellectual property is collated, financial contributions are distributed, and leadership and support is administered.
- The building and maintenance of freely available online resources that provide access to associated libraries, tools, knowledge centres and forums.
- The building and maintenance of development networks comprised of companies and / or individuals that collaboratively extend functionality, fix bugs, create demos and write support material.
Benefits
The targeted benefits of The Away Foundation comprise:
- Free, open source software resources for general use in the creation of high-performance real-time graphics on the web and mobile devices.
- A network of support structures for community involvement in the building and maintenance of such resources.
- Freely available support material and forums that distribute associated knowledge to an expanding network of community professionals.
- Freely available tools and formats that assist community professionals in their content workflows, and integrate with existing tools, both commercial and free.
