[x3d-public] X3D working group meeting, 28 AUG 2020: SIGGRAPH 2020, X3D Tooltips, X3D Validator, Blender 2.90, work planning

Mon Aug 31 14:07:49 PDT 2020

Attendees: Vince Marchetti, Nicholas Polys, Dick Puk, Don Brutzman

Prior minutes

[0] X3D meeting agenda 21 August 2020: SIGGRAPH events, X3D4 progress review
     http://web3d.org/pipermail/x3d-public_web3d.org/2020-August/013443.html

Confirmed that no member-only information is included in these minutes.

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1. SIGGRAPH 2020 Review

SIGGRAPH had a big challenge to pivot to online virtual conference this year.

CARTO BOF: went well, thanks Nicholas Polys for great follow-through.  Thanks to organizer Theresa-Marie Rhyne.

- CARTO link
- Nicholas link
- Cesium is now supporting underground/underwater
- Unreal and Unity supporting Cesium tiles
- Is Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) regularizing tiles?  Deserves further engagement by a Web3D participant.

Web3D Consortium Booth experience: some good sessions with a few visitors, but overall with respect to new contacts it seemed like "pretty weak tea."

Reportedly many paper presentations were conducted in advance, with actual scheduled paper sessions consisting of speakers + session chairs providing overviews and fielding questions/answers.  It is really interesting to consider what works well (and what might need to be avoided) in our preparations for Web3D 2020 Conference this fall.

Assessments and announcements - Anita, anything to add?

[1.1] Web3D Consortium maintained a virtual booth @SIGGRAPH2020 describing everything we do.
       Visitors are welcome!
       https://twitter.com/Web3DConsortium/status/1299033176015134722

[1.2] Web3D Consortium invites you to participate in the @SIGGRAPH
       virtual exhibition with a complimentary basic registration pass.
       https://twitter.com/Web3DConsortium/status/1299035894398119938

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2. New assets and capabilities

[2.1] X3D Tooltips
       https://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/X3dTooltips.html

[2.2] X3D Tooltips provide hints and warnings for each node and field in #X3D Architecture Specification,
       providing context-sensitive support for authors.
       Links updated to latest release of X3D version 4 draft spec, XML schema, XML DOCTYPE, X3D JSON, X3DJSAIL.
       https://twitter.com/Web3DConsortium/status/1295114967402680320

Note on background colors of fields in tooltips: grey=SFNode/MFNode, yellow=X3D4 new addition.

[2.3] X3D Validator
       https://savage.nps.edu/X3dValidator
       "This Web application comprehensively checks X3D4 HTML5 model validity."

Using and testing X3D4 constructs is better supported than ever before...  We've upgraded validator to latest Java OpenJDK 14.0.2 and Tomcat 9.0.37.  Currently 9 different tests are performed, am looking ahead to adding X3DJSAIL as well.
Not yet included in X3DUOM, or these assets:  *new PBR nodes* or *Sound component nodes*.  These will be added following the next round of component reviews.  Immediately produced after each X3DUOM update: X3DJSAIL Java or X3DPSAIL Python, or X3D Ontology.

TODO check support, encourage implementation: Projective Texture Mapping (PTM)

TODO Need to highlight collection of X3D4 examples...

This just out:

[2.5] Blender 2.90 Release
       https://www.blender.org/download/releases/2-90/

[2.6] Blender 2.90 is here!
       https://twitter.com/Blender/status/1300478351153524740

Will test X3D import/export including via scripted Python invocation.  Meanwhile the following documentation page could use some updates.  Wondering who wants to be our Blender champion?

[2.7] Add-ons » Import-Export » Web3D X3D/VRML2
       https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/addons/import_export/scene_x3d.html

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3. X3D4 feature preview of upcoming activity

a. Multiple X3D4 reference pages:

[3.1] X3D Version 4 Overview
       https://www.web3d.org/x3d4

* Preview.   X3D4 Public Working Draft Specification second release for SIGGRAPH 2020 conference.
* Features.  X3D4 Highlights provides a quicklook of major features under development.
* Tracking.  X3D4 Implementations Status provides summary links tracking active efforts.
* Current.   X3D Version 4 Draft: Ready for Early Adoption! presentation for Web3D Webinars and SIGGRAPH conference, online August 2020.

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b. TODO this week: update X3D4 support spreadsheet.  All reported additions are welcome.

[3.2] X3D Node Inventory Comparison
       https://www.web3d.org/specifications/X3dNodeInventoryComparison.xlsx
       https://www.web3d.org/specifications/X3dNodeInventoryComparison.odf

The X3D Node Inventory Comparison shows node-by-node implementation coverage of the X3D Abstract Specification: validation using X3D Schema, X3D DOCTYPE, and X3D Schematron; X3D Tooltips and VRML97 node sets; plus selected open-source implementations: FreeWrl, X3DOM, X_ITE, view3dscene (Castle Game Engine), X3D-Edit and Xj3D.

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c. Upcoming topic Friday, once again.  Allowing unquoted singleton string in MFString: allowed in VRML encoding, should finish XML, check JSON

[3.3] Mantis 1320: relax requirement for quoted single-string value in MFString array
       https://www.web3d.org/member-only/mantis/view.php?id=1320

Vince recalled related issue, representation of an empty MFString array.

Brief warmup conversation follows.  We should show these cases for all encodings, including strict XML Canonicalization.

XML MFString empty array:

	string='' or string=""

XML MFString array with single empty SFString value:

	string='""' or string=""""

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d. Self-closing tags in X3DOM inside an HTML page

- Andreas had a good explanation (6 weeks ago?  track down email reference)

... kept searching but still couldn't find it.

- Not a problem in HTML5 "XHTML encoding" - check X3DOM links throughtout existing X3D Examples Archive, such as

[3.4] X3D Example Archives: X3D for Web Authors, Chapter 02 Geometry Primitives, Box Example
       https://x3dgraphics.com/examples/X3dForWebAuthors/Chapter02GeometryPrimitives/BoxExampleX3dom.xhtml

- Related issue: lower-case elements (e.g. shape box imagetexture etc.)

- Likely related to major Web browser implementations of HTML5 Recommendation's "HTML encoding" prose.

- X3dToX3dom.xslt stylesheet provides necessary syntax conversions and shows whatever we consider to be best practices.

- However explained and resolved, this will be FAQ.

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3. X3D4 Implementations review

Next week.

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4. Planned meetings

a. PBR Review, refining specification prose and clarifying emergent questions.  Ongoing with Michalis Kamburelis, spec editors.

b, Audio and Sound, assembling well-defined audio graphs.  Wednesday 0900 pacific, Efi Thanos and spec editors.

c. C/C++/C# SAI Libraries and draft specification.  Wednesday 1700 pacific, Myeong Won Lee and interested implementers.

d. HAnim validation examples review.  Wednesday 1300 pacific, Joe Williams John Carlson and Don Brutzman.  Compare unit tests to X3D Validator.

e. Web3DUX every other Monday 1015-1100 pacific.  Preparing workshop proposal for Web3D 2020 Conference.

Needed: HAnim group review of massive set of references for IEEE 3DBP activity.

[4.1] [h-anim] IEEE SA - Industry Connections (IC) 3D Body Processing (3DBP) discussion during SIGGRAPH 2020
       https://web3d.org/mailman/private/h-anim_web3d.org/2020-August/002072.html

       (lots to consider, forwarded to x3d-public for general information)

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5. Deadlines

[5.0] Web3D 2020, Important Dates
       https://2020.web3dconference.org/important-dates/

12 SEP, Web3D 2020 Conference Tutorials and ... check ...

19 SEP, Web3D 2020 Conference Industrial Use Cases and Standards Workshops

Have fun with X3D4!  8)

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