[x3d-public] Fwd: Blender 2.8 X3D support is making progress

Thu Mar 19 10:34:29 PDT 2020

Happy to forward (with permission) this recent email discussion regarding Blender 2.82a improvements supporting X3D.

One followup reported Monday, the new Blender and also a new dev release for Meshlab have been tested satisfactorily using X3DJSAIL command-line invocation for producing X3D viewpoint capture images and simple STL import/export.

* [x3d-public] consider renaming local variables in X3DJSAIL to support JSweet transpiler;
   X3DJSAIL release tests many new libraries
   http://web3d.org/pipermail/x3d-public_web3d.org/2020-March/011892.html

There is a lot of work still to do with Blender, but turning this corner means that much more is now possible with X3D.

It will be great to use x3d-public list for discussing conversion issues and Blender Maniphest efforts to ensure that the best possible support for X3D versions 3 and 4.

Having fun with X3D Blender!  Meshlab too!   8)

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Blender 2.8 X3D support??
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2020 08:07:35 -0700
From: Don Brutzman <brutzman at nps.edu>
Organization: Naval Postgraduate School (NPS)
To: Michalis Kamburelis <michalis.kambi at gmail.com>, Nicholas Polys <npolys at vt.edu>
CC: sebastian ullrich <sebastian.ullrich at sensegraphics.com>, Christophe MOUTON <christophe.mouton at edf.fr>

Yes great to hear progress is again occurring!  8)

1. Nicholas and Michalis: *respectfully request permission* to push this thread to x3d-public in order to best encourage archival followups, increased usage and steady improvement.

Similarly recommend we post to x3d-public for all subsequent Blender export/import discussions.

----

2. See past references at Web3d.org > PARTICIPATE > Projects Wish List, Item #5b

	https://www.web3d.org/projects/wish-list

Blender import/export (open-source C++)
- announcement, https://www.web3d.org/news-story/improved-blender-import-x3d-scenes
- email thread, http://web3d.org/pipermail/x3d-public_web3d.org/2015-June/003412.html
- Blender task, https://developer.blender.org/T44758
    (last post by Seva was 2015, now closed)

There are multiple recent Maniphest Tasks, which is a great sign.
========================================
Blender advanced search for "x3d" in Maniphest task:
https://developer.blender.org/search/query/6BI4QE1m3Lm5/#R

T71801: blender is geting error exporting x3d

T66534: X3D export in 2.80 does not save texture

T49799: X3D .wrl file import failure

T71424: X3D VRML2 importer throws ZeroDivisionError when trying to import a certain KiCad file

T68452: X3D export broken for meshes with modifiers

T69115: Material missing on X3D export

T51865: Add generic precision option for text-based formats exporters (e.g. X3D, OBJ...)
========================================

2. Attached is default Blender box which occurs when you create a new General model.

X3D validator log is clean, only authoring warnings:

--------- X3D Validator checks commenced for BlenderDefaultBox.x3d ---------

Performing well-formed XML check...
Checking file:/C:/installs/BlenderDefaultBox.x3d...
Well-formed XML check: pass

Performing DOCTYPE check...
[X3dDoctypeChecker] success: valid XML declaration found.[X3dDoctypeChecker] success: final X3D 3.0 DOCTYPE found.

Performing DTD validation...
Checking file:/C:/installs/BlenderDefaultBox.x3d...
XML DTD validation: pass

Performing X3D schema validation...
Checking file:/C:/installs/BlenderDefaultBox.x3d...
XML schema validation: pass

Performing X3D regular expression (regex) values check...

Performing X3dToClassicVrml.xslt conversion check...

Performing X3D Schematron check...
<X3D profile='Immersive'> is defined, but nodes in scene have actual profile='Interactive' [/X3D, info]
Missing X3D filename in meta tag, should appear as <meta name='title' content='FileName.x3d'/> [/X3D/head, warning]
Correct url for X3D file should appear in <meta name='identifier' content='http://someAddress/somePath/FileName.x3d'/> [/X3D/head, warning]
Missing name of X3D scene author in meta tag, add <meta name='creator' content='Author Name'/> [/X3D/head, info]
Missing X3D scene description in meta tag, should appear as <meta name='description' content='topic sentence plus good summary'/> [/X3D/head, info]
<Viewpoint DEF='CA_Camera'/> is missing description which is important for accessibility and usability.  Example: description='default view, rotate to examine object' [/X3D/Scene/Transform[3]/Viewpoint, warning]

--------- X3D Validator checks complete for BlenderDefaultBox.x3d ---------
--------- X3D Validator online at https://savage.nps.edu/X3dValidator ---------
====================================================

Onward...

On 3/12/2020 10:39 AM, Michalis Kamburelis wrote:
> As for animations - I don't think so. I think this is the latest
> version of the exporter in their GIT:
> https://developer.blender.org/diffusion/BA/browse/master/io_scene_x3d/
> . Exporter doesn't generate any interpolators or time sensors ever.
> 
> BTW, I found two related bug reports:
> 
> - This one https://developer.blender.org/T71801 describes the problems
> I observed in earlier Blender versions too. I have no idea why they
> seem fixed now --
> https://developer.blender.org/diffusion/BA/browse/master/io_scene_x3d/
> doesn't show any recent modifications. Well, but they are fixed :)
> Looks like some modification elsewhere also fixed this. Or I'm just
> lucky today :)
> 
> - https://developer.blender.org/T66534 here somebody already reported
> that exporting textures to X3D seems to be missing in Blender 2.8.
> 
> Regards,
> Michalis
> 
> czw., 12 mar 2020 o 16:24 Nicholas Polys <npolys at vt.edu> napisał(a):
>>
>> Great news~!
>>
>> I will grab the latest one continue testing ...
>> any indications about interpolators / keyframe animation ?
>>
>> br,
>> _n
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 10:49 AM Michalis Kamburelis <michalis.kambi at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I tested the Blender -> X3D exporter sometime in February, and it had
>>> problems (errors occurred even when exporting the simplest scene with
>>> a cube).
>>>
>>> That said... I'm happy to report that I just tested the latest version
>>> of Blender (2.82a) and the export seems to work OK!
>>>
>>> At least camera, lights, geometry and colors (at least Material with
>>> diffuseColor) are exported OK.
>>>
>>> I don't know how to configure textures yet (the way textures are
>>> assigned to materials changed in Blender 2.8, and it looks like X3D
>>> exporter looks at "Viewport Display" settings that don't allow to set
>>> texture). But maybe it's available, I just don't know how yet.
>>> (Documentation of the script in Blender 2.8 is unfortunately a TODO,
>>> https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/addons/import_export/scene_x3d.html
>>> ).
>>>
>>> That's very good news for me, and I missed this exporter badly :)
>>>
>>> This also means we will be able to enhance the exporter to include X3D
>>> v4 material features. The way materials are specified in Blender 2.8
>>> is a nice match with the new material features in X3D v4 (textures
>>> that are slots of each parameter, physical properties of materials
>>> etc.)
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Michalis
>>>
>>> czw., 12 mar 2020 o 15:08 Nicholas Polys <npolys at vt.edu> napisał(a):
>>>>
>>>> Hi all~!
>>>>
>>>> What is the latest status here?
>>>> We had noted the bugs with their community
>>>>   but I have not seen any news or update...
>>>>
>>>> br,
>>>> -n

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

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
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