[x3d-public] X3D minutes16 July 2020: final assessment for X3D4 draft specification publication

[Don Brutzman]

Attendees: Doug Sanden, Anita Havele, Vince Marchetti, Nicholas Polys, Dick Puk, Don Brutzman

Prior inputs: Michalis Kamburelis.

Please stay safe and vigilant out there!  We are all important to our families and to each other.

Confirmed: no member-only info is present in these minutes.

We meet at our regular time and Zoom coordinates, Friday 08-0930 pacific (your time zone may vary).

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1. *Participation Information*

[1] Web3D Teleconference Information
     https://www.web3d.org/member/teleconference-information

Please use the following link for all Web3D Consortium Meetings.

Join URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81634670698?pwd=a1VPeU5tN01rc21Oa3hScUlHK0Rxdz09

Meeting ID: 81634670698      Meeting Password: 483805

One tap mobile
     US (New York) +1 929 205 6099,,(nine-digit number from Join URL above)#
     US (San Jose)  +1 669 900 6833,,(nine-digit number from Join URL above)#

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2. *Web3D Consortium Webinar*

Anita discussed schedule planning and described ongoing preparations, with a lineup that is looking impressive.

Dates: 3-6 August 2020, agenda announcement soon.

Good progress continues, and a new website is now being unveiled:

[1] WebX3D
     https://webx3d.org

Please contact her if you wish to present and share a summary of work.

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3. *Web3D 2020 Conference*

IMPORTANT: get your papers (long or short) and posters submitted please!

*Deadline is 27 July* which is 10 days away - so get going this weekend, no more excuses!

Due to abbreviated reschedule and SIGGRAPH publishing requirements, no deadline extension is expected.

Follow-on deadlines are more leisurely for preparing tutorials, workshops, and additional special events.

Website addresses:

[2] Web3D 2020 Virtual Conference: 3D for a Hyperconnected World
     http://2020.web3dconference.org
     http://2020.web3dconference.org/important-dates

This is a major chance to influence others, completing 25 years of progress sets the stage for another 25 years of progress.  No, really!

Write, write, write, write, write, write, write...

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4. *Sound Component*

Separate minutes this week described sound component specification progress.  We expect a nearly releasable version at the end of next week.

Please see those minutes.  Major news:  W3C Audio API has been advanced to Candidate Recommendation (CR).

[3] [x3d-public] X3D Specification Editors: Audio and Sound, 15 July 2020
     http://web3d.org/pipermail/x3d-public_web3d.org/2020-July/013311.html

[4] Web Audio API
     W3C Candidate Recommendation, 11 June 2020
     Latest published version: https://www.w3.org/TR/webaudio/
     Editor's Draft version:   https://webaudio.github.io/web-audio-api/

Release of examples and updates to validation tools is about to commence.

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5. We are preparing for public release of X3D4 specification.

Last year's release:

[5] X3Dv4 Draft Specification available to public now! 19 July 2019
     https://www.web3d.org/news-story/x3dv4-draft-specification-available-public-now

Available:
	.zip in github
	.pdf review document is generatable via Adobe Acrobat XI.

The pdf may be useful for some reviewers.  Pretty interesting: a total of (gulp!) 758 pages but only 6MB in size, all hyperlinks work and pretty easy to navigate.  We will consider whether this is a useful product for review.

We can update the release page [2] and will provide .zip to match.  No objections heard yet regarding pdf, please consider potential benefit for review.

We are working to release all this to Web3D Consortium members next Friday 24 July, if working group is ready to release.

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6. Specification readiness review

[6] Mantis Issues List
     https://www.web3d.org/member-only/mantis/view_all_bug_page.php

We will perform triage on what is needed to publish, focusing on MUST HAVE to best enable broad review and implementation.

a. glTF and PBR (major change! ready for broad review and multiple implementations)
b. Sound component (adding node descriptions from Efi's draft document, will be at ~90%)
c. Mantis 1255 Projective Texture Mapping (PTM) (working in FreeWrl and X_ITE, maybe others?)
d. Mantis 1281 TwoSidedMaterial deprecated (tested, working in Castle Game Engine and FreeWrl)
e. Mantis 1273 Inline https support
f. Mantis 1262 Inline refresh
g. Mantis 1258 Layout component deprecation, yes or no?
    Following discussion: NO, implemented by Castle Game Engine, X_ITE/Titania, FreeWrl)
h. Mantis 1182 BooleanToggle
i. Mantis 1183 IntegerTrigger
j. Mantis 1303 WebMercator - yes we will update this

Accepted, also noted with pleasure the following handy-dandy cheat sheet:

[7] X3D Event Utility Nodes: Field Event Diagrams
     http://x3dgraphics.com/examples/X3dForWebAuthors/Chapter09-EventUtilitiesScripting/X3dEventUtilityNodeEventDiagrams.pdf	

j. node index
k. version content (these are housekeeping for Dick and Don)

Great news this past week: as noted above W3C Audio API has been elevated to Candidate Recommendation (CR), a high level of maturity.  Our next focus on audio is getting out a Web3D 2020 paper, implementing/sharing examples, and Web3D 2020 tutorial.

Great news: aligning with glTF PBR means that we don't have to re-invent or re-legislate hard-core 3D graphics capabilities.  Rather we happily ride above glTF with confidence that everything is renderable.  Doug mentioned a number of interesting capabilities that glTF community can answer.

Not proposed or currently planned in X3D4.0: Khronos Universal Textures, Draco compression or OGC/Cesium tiles (for terrain).  These are likely wonderful topics for future discussion and potential adoption.  Having a strong basis for glTF in X3D4 makes all of these advanced capabilities directly actionable.

Many many issues are compete.  Today Dick and I noted that there are still a number of "blue" issues that are likely complete but still pending final review of validations, examples and implementations.  We will not be cutting any corners, specification editing and issue resolution will continue steadily until done.

Anything else critical?  Last call prior to snapshot publication... much satisfaction on teleconference today.

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7. X3D4 Pages will be a weekly review item from now on.  Group discussion always helps.

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

[12] X3D4 Highlights, provides a quicklook of major features under development.
      http://www.web3d.org/x3dv4-highlights

PBR summary fixed, HTML5 integration updated.

[13] X3D4 Implementations Status, provides summary links tracking active efforts.
      http://www.web3d.org/x3dv4-implementations
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Thanks for all participation and review, an important milestone approacheth.  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