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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:17.8pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:#515F5C'>Thanks to NIH 3D Print Exchange, t</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>hese significant improvements to the Blender 3D authoring tool for importing X3D brings increased functionality and performance. <a href="http://3dprint.nih.gov/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://3dprint.nih.gov/" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0D58F6;text-decoration:none'>Blender</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>is a popular open-source 3D authoring tool written in C++ that includes support for import and export of #X3D scenes. X3D is the third-generation successor to the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:17.8pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black'>Vsevolod (Seva) Alekseyev</span></b><span class=apple-converted-space><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'> </span></span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>is a lead programmer at the<span class=apple-converted-space> </span>National Institutes of Health (NIH)<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black'><a href="http://3dprint.nih.gov/"><span style='color:#0D58F6;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;text-decoration:none'>3D Print Exchange</span></a><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>. He has contributed significant improvements to the Blender source code for importing X3D. Support now includes all of the <b>geometry nodes from Rendering and Geometry3D components, image and pixel textures (including primitive geometry), TextureTransform to shift 2D image texture coordinates, Lighting component (PointLight DirectionalLight SpotLight) and Viewpoints, which are essential for scene navigation.</b> These improvements have been released as part of the Blender source trunk in time for the annual<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><a href="http://www.blender.org/conference"><span style='color:#0D58F6;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;text-decoration:none'>Blender 2015 Conference</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'> </span></span><span style='border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>which runs 23-25 October 2015 in<span class=apple-converted-space> </span>De Balie, Amsterdam.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:17.8pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>Seva reports: “It is great to develop expanded support to a larger subset of the X3D standard. Future work might handle advanced textures, scene animation and user interactivity, if there increasing is community demand out there.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:17.8pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>Dr. Darrell Hurt is Chief of the Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) at NIH and a member of the Web3D Consortium Board of Directors. He notes “Blender is important. This dramatic increase in functionality and performance brings value to the NIH 3D Print Exchange program and the larger 3D printing industry.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:17.8pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'>Anita Havele is Executive Director of the Web3D Consortium. “We are proud of how NIH is always innovating. Our members also support a public community with the<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://www.web3d.org/projects/wish-list"><span style='color:#0D58F6;text-decoration:none'>Project Wish List</span></a>. We invite companies, research institutes and individual professionals to<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://www.web3d.org/join"><span style='color:#0D58F6;text-decoration:none'>join the Web3D Consortium</span></a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>and make a difference.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:17.8pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'><a href="http://www.web3d.org/news-story/improved-blender-import-x3d-scenes">http://www.web3d.org/news-story/improved-blender-import-x3d-scenes</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:17.8pt;background:white;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif";color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif"'>Best regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Caflisch Script Pro Regular","sans-serif"'>Anita-Havele<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif"'>Executive Director, Web3D Consortium <a href="http://www.web3d.org/"><span style='color:blue'>www.web3d.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Palatino Linotype","serif"'>Phone: +1 248 342 7662 Fax: +1 248 457 8018<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>