[X3D-Public] Web3D Timeline Demo - conversion to X3DOM

[Don Brutzman]

Forwarded to X3D public list, with permission from Johannes.
Also cc Andreas, Yvonne.

Nils you've done some excellent work - thanks for your efforts
converting the Web3D Timeline scene to Javascript/X3DOM/HTML.
Interesting approach!
http://examples.x3dom.org/x3dTimeLine/timeline.js
http://examples.x3dom.org/x3dTimeLine/timeline.css
http://examples.x3dom.org/x3dTimeLine/timestamps.txt

Please note that Anita and I added some further timeline instances
yesterday, and so if you might add them to your version for Anita's
workshop demo at WWW2012 that would be great.
http://www2012.org/
http://www2012.wwwconference.org/program/workshops/
http://events.declarative3d.org/Dec3D2012/

Web3D timeline scene source:
http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/basic/Web3dOutreach/Web3dTimeline.x3d
Version control, history:
http://x3d.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/x3d/www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/Basic/Web3dOutreach/Web3dTimeline.x3d?view=log

Other comments you may already be aware of:
- Text horizontal alignment needs adjustment so that titles and descriptions don't overlap
- You may want to add the white box I put behind each image so that only one timeline element at a time is visible

I am wondering if I should figure out some initialization code for WebFonts
in the stylesheet so that the <Text/> node works.
http://x3dom.org/x3dom/example/x3dom_text.html

I recommend that the x3dom.js player perform this task (perhaps in a predictable
way that is overridable by advanced authors) since X3D authors do expect the
availability of at least 3 fonts in any player:
http://www.web3d.org/files/specifications/19775-1/V3.2/Part01/components/text.html#Fontfamilyandstyle
> All browsers shall support at least "SERIF" (the default) for a serif font
> such as Times Roman; "SANS" for a sans-serif font such as Helvetica; and "TYPEWRITER"
> for a fixed-pitch font such as Courier. An empty family value is identical to ["SERIF"]. 

The general question of how to convert X3D ProtoDeclare + ProtoInstance markup into X3DOM
is pretty interesting.  I've been thinking about how to do this in the stylesheet.
It is possible that XSLT might allow a "deep copy" that repopulates a literal
scene subgraph for each prototype instance.  It gets further complex with IS/connect
of course.  Probably possible to pass initialization values, but still not clear
how to maintain internal ROUTEs within each prototype if they have been explicitly
copied for multiple prototype instances.  Hmmm, a worthy challenge.

Further questions & discussion welcome.  Good luck with your efforts.


On 4/3/2012 8:46 AM, Johannes Behr wrote:
> first result:
> 
> http://examples.x3dom.org/x3dTimeLine/
> 
> Some issues with the text but this is where we are going.
> The actual work to convert x3d/Proto to x3dom/json was done by nils (cced)
> 
> best regards
> johannes
> 
> On 2 Apr 2012, at 21:23, Anita Havele wrote:
> 
>> Johannes,
>>
>> Just wondering if your team has made any progress on converting the X3D timeline to the X3DOM environment.
>> Don and I refined the scene today… here’s the latest version.
>> http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/Basic/Web3dOutreach/_pages/page04.html
>>
>> Hoping we have some progress on the conversion so we can discuss the issues related moving from X3D to X3DOM environment at the www2012 conference.
>>
>> Thanks in Advance!
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Anita
>> Best regards,
>> Anita
>> ---
>> Anita Havele
>> Executive Director, Web3D Consortium   www.web3d.org
>> Phone: +1 248 342 7662
>> Fax: +1 248 457 8018
>> Skype: anita.havele
>>
> --
> Dr. Johannes Behr
> Abteilungsleiter Visual Computing System Technologies
> Fraunhofer-Institut für Graphische Datenverarbeitung IGD
> Fraunhoferstr. 5  |  64283 Darmstadt  |  Germany
> Tel +49 6151 155-510  |  Fax +49 6151 155-196
> johannes.behr at igd.fraunhofer.de  |  www.igd.fraunhofer.de


all the best, Don
-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br       brutzman at nps.edu
Watkins 270,  MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA   +1.831.656.2149
X3D graphics, virtual worlds, navy robotics http://faculty.nps.edu/brutzman