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<DIV>Trivial pursuit time, Caligari Truspace/Pioneer use to be able to act as both a browser and authoring evironment with VRML 1</DIV>
<DIV>Probably still can.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>tc</DIV>
<DIV>Russ Kinter<BR><BR><BR>May 12, 2009 08:20:22 PM, <A class=parsedEmail href="mailto:tparisi@vivaty.com" target=_blank>tparisi@vivaty.com</A> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(102,153,204) 3px solid">What he said<BR><BR>Tony<BR><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: <A class="parsedEmail parsedEmail" href="mailto:x3d-public-bounces@web3d.org" target=_blank>x3d-public-bounces@web3d.org</A> [mailto:<A class="parsedEmail parsedEmail" href="mailto:x3d-public-bounces@web3d.org" target=_blank>x3d-public-bounces@web3d.org</A>]<BR>On Behalf Of giles<BR>Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 5:17 PM<BR>To: John Carlson<BR>Cc: X3D Graphics public mailing list<BR>Subject: Re: [X3D-Public] authoring environments and browsers: why both?<BR><BR>John Carlson wrote:<BR>> Why are there both authoring environments and browers/players? <BR>> Shouldn't a browser be able to support/deliver an authoring<BR>application?<BR>> I realize the same dichotomy has existed with HTML as well--but there <BR>> are HTML browsers which support editing, right? Is there something <BR>> missing from VRML/X3D which only authoring environments provide?<BR>Would <BR>> providing these within the context of VRML/X3D make a better standard?<BR>> <BR>A system optimized for playback is architected fairly different then one<BR><BR>made for authoring. Authoring systems are typically about flexibility <BR>with lots of extra data floating around. Browsers are typically about <BR>the fastest, smallest playback of the content.<BR><BR>Doesn't mean you can't combine them but I doubt a combined version would<BR><BR>be as performant as an optimized player.<BR><BR>A simple example from the spec would be an ElevationGrid. Its height <BR>field is not an input/output field. So a browser can in theory throw <BR>away the height data after it has generated the triangles needed. An <BR>authoring application cannot as you might wish to edit those values. <BR>Tradeoffs like this abound in the spec. Ie VRML and X3D have left many <BR>places where a browser can optimize playback by not having to honor <BR>requests for data in its original form.<BR><BR>-- <BR>Alan Hudson<BR><BR>President Yumetech, Inc. <A class=parsedLink href="http://www.yumetech.com" target=_blank>www.yumetech.com</A><BR>President Web3D Consortium <A class=parsedLink href="http://www.web3d.org" target=_blank>www.web3d.org</A><BR>206 340 8900 ext 111<BR><BR>Open Source CAN be free, as in "free puppy"<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>X3D-Public mailing list<BR><A class="parsedEmail parsedEmail" href="mailto:X3D-Public@web3d.org" target=_blank>X3D-Public@web3d.org</A><BR><A class=parsedLink href="http://web3d.org/mailman/listinfo/x3d-public_web3d.org" target=_blank>http://web3d.org/mailman/listinfo/x3d-public_web3d.org</A><BR><BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>X3D-Public mailing list<BR><A class="parsedEmail parsedEmail" href="mailto:X3D-Public@web3d.org" target=_blank>X3D-Public@web3d.org</A><BR><A class=parsedLink href="http://web3d.org/mailman/listinfo/x3d-public_web3d.org" target=_blank>http://web3d.org/mailman/listinfo/x3d-public_web3d.org</A><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></html>