[x3d-public] X3D After V3

[Leonard Daly]

I think that the WG needs to seriously consider the usefulness of all 
nodes in the current version with the intent of deprecating a number of 
them. Many of these nodes were developed as a means to make it easier to 
hand-code models or scenes. I feel that is not needed anymore because 
there are open-source modeling tools (e.g., Blender) that handle all of 
those functions. I feel it is a significant disservice to the community 
to continue with a very expansive set of nodes that are not used much. I 
would also recommend that V4 profiles be defined that do not include 
those nodes so people developing V4 browsers are not required to support 
them. It would also be necessary to have a conversion tool that updates 
content using those nodes to profiles that do not use (or support) them.,

On my (incomplete) short list:

  * Extrusion
  * ElevationGrid (I know that this provides "gravity" for WALK mode --
    a replacement capability would need to be provided)
  * Text
  * FontStyle
  * Layout (I think this has already been mentioned)

Nodes (or node categories) I think need particular investigation

  * Chaser/Damper/Follower (there are some valuable features here, but
    perhaps the capability can be improved)
  * Some of Triangle*Set
  * 2D Geometry (can SVG be used instead?)


My goal in this is to identify the nodes that are important; those that 
are used not just for educational purposes; and those that look nice, 
but are not used. I don't want to remove valuable capabilities, but to 
allow developers to be able to focus on their problem without getting 
distracted by unnecessary or duplicative capabilities. At this time, I 
am not advocating the removal of those nodes because the long-term and 
archival use needs to be considered.


-- 
*Leonard Daly*
3D Systems & Cloud Consultant
X3D Co-Chair on Sabbatical
LA ACM SIGGRAPH Chair
President, Daly Realism - /Creating the Future/
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