Web3D.org - User contributions [en]

Main Page

2009-11-17T18:28:06Z

Leodaly: Link updates

== About X3D ==
* [http://www.web3d.org/about/overview/ What is X3D]
* [http://www.web3d.org/about/faq/ X3D FAQ]
* [http://www.web3d.org/membership/join/ Get Involved!]

== X3D Working Groups ==
* [[X3D and HTML5]] public working group efforts
* [[X3D Medical]] working group efforts
* [[X3D Earth Working Group]]

== X3D Community Information==
* [[X3D Plugfest]] to improve interoperability between X3D players
* [[Upcoming X3D events]]
* [[X3D Implementations]]

== X3D Resources ==
* [[How-To Guides]]
* [[Node Reference]]
* [http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html X3D Resources] provides comprehensive links to many X3D applications, sources and capabilities
* [http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html#Tooltips X3D Tooltips] provides multilingual details on the X3D vocabulary
* [[Player support for X3D components]] and [[Tool support for X3D components]]
* [[Plug-in and browser compliance]]
* [[Recommendations for browser developers]]

== About the Public X3D Wiki ==
* [[Usage Guidelines]]
* [[How to wiki]]
* [[Create New Page]]
* [http://www.web3d.org/membership/login/memberwiki/index.php/Main_Page Web3D Members-Only Wiki]

Main Page

2009-11-17T18:25:02Z

Leodaly: External link

== About X3D ==
* [http://www.web3d.org/about/overview/ What is X3D]
* [[X3D FAQ]]
* [[Get Involved!]]

== X3D Working Groups ==
* [[X3D and HTML5]] public working group efforts
* [[X3D Medical]] working group efforts
* [[X3D Earth Working Group]]

== X3D Community Information==
* [[X3D Plugfest]] to improve interoperability between X3D players
* [[Upcoming X3D events]]
* [[X3D Implementations]]

== X3D Resources ==
* [[How-To Guides]]
* [[Node Reference]]
* [http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html X3D Resources] provides comprehensive links to many X3D applications, sources and capabilities
* [http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html#Tooltips X3D Tooltips] provides multilingual details on the X3D vocabulary
* [[Player support for X3D components]] and [[Tool support for X3D components]]
* [[Plug-in and browser compliance]]
* [[Recommendations for browser developers]]

== About the Public X3D Wiki ==
* [[Usage Guidelines]]
* [[How to wiki]]
* [[Create New Page]]
* [http://www.web3d.org/membership/login/memberwiki/index.php/Main_Page Web3D Members-Only Wiki]

Main Page

2009-11-17T18:00:30Z

Leodaly: Page link-name change and re-ordering

== X3D Community Information ==
* [[X3D and HTML5]] public working group efforts
* [[X3D Medical]] working group efforts
* [[X3D Earth Working Group]]
* [[X3D Plugfest]] to improve interoperability between X3D players

* [[X3D Implementations]]
* [[Get Involved!]]

== X3D Documentation ==
* [[How-To Guides]]
* [[Node Reference]]
* [http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html X3D Resources] provides comprehensive links to many X3D applications, sources and capabilities
* [http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html#Tooltips X3D Tooltips] provides multilingual details on the X3D vocabulary
* [[Player support for X3D components]] and [[Tool support for X3D components]]
* [[Plug-in and browser compliance]]
* [[Recommendations for browser developers]]

== About the Public X3D Wiki ==
* [[Usage Guidelines]]
* [[How to wiki]]
* [[Create New Page]]
* [http://www.web3d.org/membership/login/memberwiki/index.php/Main_Page Web3D Members-Only Wiki]

X3D Earth

2009-11-17T17:59:25Z

Leodaly: X3D Earth public wiki moved to X3D Earth Working Group: Renamed to standardize

Web3D Consortium member? Go to [http://www.web3d.org/membership/login/memberwiki/index.php/X3D_Earth_Working_Group Members-only X3D-Earth wiki]

* [http://www.mbari.org/staff/mccann/x3d/docs/Web3D2008_X3D-Earth_Mashups_Tutorial.ppt X3D-Earth Tutorial] Presented at Web 3D Symposium 10 August 2008 in Los Angeles
* [[Examine mode behavior for exploring geospatial worlds]]

X3D Earth public wiki

2009-11-17T17:59:25Z

Leodaly: X3D Earth public wiki moved to X3D Earth Working Group: Renamed to standardize

#REDIRECT [[X3D Earth Working Group]]

X3D and HTML5 Summary

2009-11-06T18:26:12Z

Leodaly: Added link to slides

Status: these are the [[X3D and HTML5]] working-group slides presented to the [http://www.w3.org/html/wg HTML Working Group] during [http://www.w3.org/2009/11/TPAC Technical Plenary Week (TPAC) 2009].

PDF of Consortium Presentation available at [http://web3d.org/x3d/presentations/X3D+HTML5.W3cTpac-20091106.pdf].

== Family of [http://www.web3d.org/x3d/specifications X3D Specifications] ==
* X3D Abstract Specification describes basic functionality of how X3D works
* Three file formats are available
** XML (.x3d) with XML Schema and also DTD
** ClassicVRML (x3dv)
** Compressed Binary Encoding (.x3db) with geometric compression and Fast Infoset (FI)
* High-performance Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are defined for Ecmascript-264 (Javascript) and Java

== X3D Strengths ==
* Non-profit [http://www.web3D.org Web3D Consortium] maintains and extends X3D via working groups
* Set of International Standards certified over 12-year period by multiple national bodies in ISO
* Multiple implementations are available (open and commercial source)
* Numerous resources available online, including specifications themselves
* Third-generation 3D graphics language that extends predecessor Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML97)
* Long-time W3C member and contributor

== Web3D Consortium has formal liaisons and working partnerships with other key organizations ==
* [http://www.iso.org International Organization for Standardization (ISO)]
* [http://www.w3.org World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)]
* [http://www.opengeospatial.org Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)]
* [http://www.khronos.org The Khronos Group]
* [http://dicom.nema.org Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)]

== Relationships between 3D scene graphs, APIs and render layers ==
* Scene graphs are high-level declarative models about how geometry is constructed, colored and animated; these can be expressed as an XML tree
* APIs are mid-level libraries for programmers to create imperative source code about geometry and animation (various proprietary codebases, perhaps [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebGL WebGL] or [http://code.google.com/apis/o3d O3D])
* Render layers are low-level software libraries that expose the functionality of graphics hardware (e.g. [http://www.opengl.org OpenGL] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX DirectX])
* Numerous other 3D technologies exist at each these other layers, often in the form of codebases
* The X3D Specifications include both declarative models and strongly typed APIs

== Similarities between MathML, SVG, and X3D ==
* MathML describes mathematical expressions and then renders a presentation of them
* Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) describes and presents renderings of 2D shapes, with optional animation and interaction
* Extensible 3D (X3D) describes and presents renderings of 3D shapes, with optional animation and interaction
* All three languages are formally specified and have well-developed XML encodings
* Authors want to use these languages for multimedia content in HTML pages

== X3D scene graph APIs ==
* X3D Scene Access Interface (SAI) provides functionally consistent standardized high-performance APIs
* X3D SAI has Ecmascript and Java bindings, other programming languages can be added
* X3D SAI is functionally equivalent and has same expressive power as file formats (.x3d, .x3dv, .x3db)
* Document Object Model (DOM) is also legal (X3D is XML after all) but historically has been infrequently used because of low performance

== Differences with underlying render layers ==
* OpenGL, DirectX, others are used as render layers for output of X3D player which parses .x3d XML files and draws them
* Unlikely that all browsers will implement the same render layer (OpenGL ≠ DirectX)
* A Canvas3D layer might be helpful to unify calls to the underlying render layer - but how will it evolve over time?
* Not clear that Web authors are clamoring for ability to program low-level OpenGl (or similar) source code in Javascript, such models are not interoperable or composable
* X3D avoids these problems as a declarative scene-graph language available in XML

== Simple X3D and HTML5 examples ==
Detailed example source is provided on the [[X3D and HTML5 examples]] page.
* X3D scene as external reference (Anchor link)
HTML source: Here is my <a href='[http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/HelloWorld.x3d HelloWorld.x3d]' title='Link to new X3D document'>[http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/HelloWorld.x3d HelloWorld example]</a> in X3D.
* X3D embedded in object tag
[http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/HtmlObjectTagForX3d.html HTML Object Tag for X3D] shows how to place X3D objects within an HTML page
* HTML5 with embedded X3D as mixed-namespace document
[http://www.X3Dom.org X3Dom] demonstration


== X3DOM.org implementation ==
* Open Source, Javascript / WebGL based
* Needs Firefox/WebKit nightly builds
* Runs without any plugin
* Can be easily modified while evolving
* Needs XHTML encoded data, one line script per XHTML

== X3DOM.org functionality ==
* Searches for existing <X3D xmlns= > and creates scenegraph from DOM Tree
* Creates canvas with WebGL-Context for rendering
* Monitors changes with DOM Level 2 events (DOMNodeRemoved, DOMNodeInserted, DOMAttrModified)
** DOMAttrModified [http://www.x3dom.org/?p=242 buggy] in WebKit !!!
* Supports simple interaction (HTML events on 3D Object) and navigation

== X3DOM.org status ==
* 3 work-months of development
* Manageable Code Size (~5000 Lines JavaScript Code, ~1000 Lines GLSL Shader Code)
* Support well defined Subset of X3D
** Interchange Profile + Inline, Scripting, Text nodes
** No Scripting or Prototype on the X3D side
* Dynamic X3D content
** Support for n:m FieldToField ROUTEs, TimeSensor + Interpolator + Follower nodes

== X3DOM.org solution considerations ==
* Provides an experimental open-source runtime – not the ultimate solution
** Feature Limitations: e.g. no access to spatial audio or video texture layer
** Performance Limitation: Javascript/WebGL can only handle models up to ~200.000 Triangle right now
* Standardization and native implementations are needed
** Support for SAI/X3D-Plugin in addition to the WebGL-Render backend will be next iteration
** Final deployment solution best as part of browser
** X3D community has multiple open-source C/C++ codebase [http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html resources] available

== Lessons learned from years developing the [http://freewrl.sourceforge.net FreeWrl] X3D player ==
* Experience: FreeWRL was originally interpreted Perl with specialized "C" functions. Hoped that hardware would improve faster than size of models; that was not the case.
* Interpreted was not the way to go, rewritten in C for performance
* Differing OpenGL capabilities: X3D Browsers can handle these, so older models can run efficiently on new hardware (write once, run anytime; even VRML1 models from NASA run fast now)
* X3D models are not tied to specific hardware, can run over OpenGL-ES, OpenGL-3.2, DirectX11, older standards like OpenGL-1.0...
* OpenGL requires significant programming skills. Don't know why the average web author would want to code in OpenGL.
* What does FreeWRL require from Web browser or window? An OpenGL Context (i.e. a number); mouse and keyboard events, window size events, that's about it.

== Action items for X3D and HTML5 ==
* Ensure proper X3D references in HTML5 specifications - what happened, what happens next?
* How to allow X3D scene to either reserve screen space or float over the page? Presumably CSS, X3D elements include the class attribute
* X3D version 3.3 draft is considering SVG and HTML as source for image textures; how to pass events?
* X3D compression will likely evolve to use Efficient XML Interchange (EXI)
* Web Accessibility is a future interest
* Continue to document correct integration and best practices for X3D and HTML5


== Conclusions ==
* X3D Graphics is a natural fit for HTML5
* We want to maximize capabilities and deployment
* Further collaboration welcome