[x3d-public] X3D and Occuli

[doug sanden]

Lauren,

no links or hard info. But an observation: various forms of stereovision have been around and available for decades. It doesn't 'take over' because it adds little new information. Even in a 3D scene, turning or shifting a single camera, in combination with the human brain's ability to integrate a 3D scene, means you don't need binocular vision. Some percent -5 to 15% ?- of the adult population don't see stereo well anyway. And web3d practitioners have been through all the previous 'next-big-thing' stereo technologies - anaglyph, shutter screen (techtronix), mirror stereoscope, LCD shutter glasses (crystal eyes) - and simpler versions of HMDs - all of that is still available. And didn't take over the world. So projecting a bit into the future, yet-another-stereovision-device likely won't take over the world either, even if its a bit higher quality.

Having said that, being able to navigate using smart phone/HMD IMU (inertial measuring unit), and using the viewport center as the cursor/pickray might be the handiest part of the current HMD push, as seen by the user. So Step 1 for browser developers: have a navigation mode where the cursor stays in the viewport center. Lets call that CENTER POINTER MODE. You don't need HMDs or stereo for that, and can even use a mouse (just don't draw its cursor - use viewport center). An awkward part of that: if you have a menu in your graphics window -a HUD / heads up display menu that pops up-, you would need a strategy so the user can use the CenterPointer to point to a button on the menu before clicking something. The HMD gurus say ideally to freeze the menu in 3D space. You might think of other ways. 

I don't see a conflict (yet) between oculus HMDs and X3D. I don't think oculus rift -or htc- have formal data formats they impose. Rather they have APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) so games and app developers can program against those APIs to render their content from their favorite format. Which for some developers -like us- might be x3d. Facebook might have some other format in mind, and that's where we may see a separation- but presumably once people have an HMD then they can play games or (with web3d browsers that support the HMD) view x3d.

-Doug

>
> I didn't get the original post for some reason, but I'm glad this was
> reposted, as I am also very interested in how these technologies with
> work together. It is expected that there is going to be a huge push for
> Occulus on Facebook during the next 5 years, and we all know what that
> means. I can say (for good reasons) that X3D could have been the chosen
> format (and I think it came close), but it would appear that a last
> minute decision was made in favor of Occulus hardware. Nevertheless,
> any relevant links or information on how that will work with X3D would
> be welcome.. Thank you, Lauren
>
>
>
>> Len,
>> I've been looking at that myself - oculus rift, htc- and it seems a bit
>> fiddly to configure the code -you render to fbo buffers instead of
>> screen backbuffer, then hand those buffers to the hmd api for a second
>> stage of rendering. And the hmd acts as a 6dof input device. Popup
>> menus should freeze in 3d space and - unlike a mouse - the center of
>> the viewport is cursor/pickray. But nothing theoretically impossible
>> and all the x3d content would stay the same.
>> Doug
>>
>>>
>>> Hello
>>>
>>> What is the status for playing X3D/VRML97 content on Occulus class
>>> devices? I read at the Bit Management site that it was supported on
>>> their Contact Stereo client. Other than it is supported, I've no
>>> details.
>>>
>>> 1. Others?
>>> 2. Problems?
>>> 3. Costs?
>>> 4. Hosting?
>>>
>>> There is a considerable stash of works and labor in our catalogs as
>>> well as concepts we worked on that X3D can easily support if the money
>>> to develop the content is there.
>>>
>>> Somewhere in the meme plagues, I saw something that said "No Bad VR",
>>> Have the brave new devs locked out X3D content? ;)
>>>
>>> len
>>>
>