I guess if it's just for interchange, Michalis and Cecile are correct; you can use Shape nodes all you want. It just won't render the way expected in a compliant X3D player (you'll likely see seams). And I guess wrapping it in a PROTO would make it really explicit that you are trying to do something else. So maybe this will just work.<br>
<br>Tony<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 9:57 AM, Michalis Kamburelis <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:michalis.kambi@gmail.com" target="_blank">michalis.kambi@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">Dave A wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
So, this means that no X3D player could really understand the modern(?)<br>
concept of a mesh with several materials (actually, modelling programs<br>
been making them for a long time, was something I faced on the Max to<br>
X3D exporter).<br>
<br>
I think it's time for a new node to be added to the spec!<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
I see your point, but I also like the current simplicity of X3D.<br>
New Material => new X3D Shape, this makes implementing rendering easier, as you only need to change GPU (OpenGL etc.) state before each shape.<br>
<br>
The bottom line is: GPUs do not understand a concept of a submesh, I mean: you have to split your 3D objects into chunks that have the same material to pass them efficiently to OpenGL/Direct3D. This splitting *must* happen somewhere: in the X3D exporter from 3ds/Blender (in the current situation with simple X3D Shape) or in the X3D browser (if we add a submesh support to X3D Shape).<br>
<br>
That is not to say that I am against extending X3D to add submeshes, I guess I'm "on the fence" here. I just don't think it's something critical... Like Cecile and me mentioned: you can use PROTOs to make something like this yourself, using X3D Shape underneath.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
Michalis<br>
</font></span></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Tony Parisi <a href="mailto:tparisi@gmail.com" target="_blank">tparisi@gmail.com</a><br>CTO at Large 415.902.8002<br>
Skype auradeluxe<br>Follow me on Twitter! <a href="http://twitter.com/auradeluxe" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/auradeluxe</a><br>Read my blog at <a href="http://www.tonyparisi.com/" target="_blank">http://www.tonyparisi.com/</a><br>
<br>Read my book! <i>WebGL, Up and Running</i><br>
<a href="http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920024729.do" target="_blank">http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920024729.do</a><br><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/144932357X" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/dp/144932357X</a><br>
<br>