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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">The message was originally sent to
x3d-public and x3d. Based on the responses, I think this
conversation is best held on the Public mailing list. If you don't
receive the public announcements and wish to participate, please
let me know.<br>
<br>
Leonard Daly<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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<p>I have been struggling with this topic for several months --
what is the purpose of X3D in the electronic ecosystem of the
21st century. The Consortium says that "X3D is a royalty-free
open standards file format and run-time architecture to
represent and communicate 3D scenes and objects using XML" [<a
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.web3d.org/x3d/what-x3d">http://www.web3d.org/x3d/what-x3d</a>].
As an ISO standard, X3D needs to have a long shelf-life, contain
3D models, animation, and interactivity; and communicate this
within and between systems using XML. To do this effectively, it
needs to stay current with industry practices while maintaining
an ability to communicate information from the past.</p>
<p>There is no question about X3D's handling of old data. To my
knowledge there is no other 3D system that can display models,
animation, and interaction from 15+ years ago. In the Internet
age where half-life appears to be around 18 months, that is a
remarkable achievement. <br>
</p>
<p>X3D has not kept up with current practices in modeling,
animation, rendering, or interaction. Work on the most recent
update to X3D (V3.3 - 2013) started back in 2009 and the
document was mostly completed in 2010. The most advanced feature
is 3D volume rendering. Work on particle systems and physics is
several years before that. The standard for animation of any
model is with bones and rigs - whether that model is a
character, a tree, or a machine. All current renders use shaders
(code that runs on a graphics card) to create highly realistic
(or fantastic) surface appearance. Work on upgrading interaction
to support mobile devices (including multi-touch),
head-mounted-displays including game controllers, paddles, LEAP
interfaces, and other specialized devices is just beginning.</p>
<p>So back to my question -- what is X3D for? In 20 years time
will the only content for X3D be 35 years old? Current content
not created explicitly for X3D won't work because X3D does not
support much more than static modeling.</p>
<p>I have collected several choices. These are described below in
more or less least to most complex (aka work). There are a lot
of other options, more towards bottom of the list. If you have
other contributions, please feel free to state so along with
what you think it would take to get there from X3D V3.3.</p>
<p> 1) X3D is for static models only (no texture). This is a very
good match. There are just a few things that X3D doesn't handle
and most of those are having to deal with interchange with other
formats.<br>
2) X3D is for static models + appearance. X3D needs to expand
to make full use of appearance shaders of all sorts.<br>
3) X3D is for models including animation. X3D needs to expand
to include at least the current practice of skeletal structure
plus rigging (attaching surface weights to various joints). This
is not H-Anim, but broader as it includes models that are not
even at all human, human-like, animals, or even "living".<br>
4) X3D is for runtime display. X3D needs to include all major
3D formats. It needs to run AND use interface mechanisms of all
major platform types, including phones/tablets, HMDs, desktops,
etc. It needs to run in a browser: it needs to run as an app.<br>
5) X3D is everything. Well, think about that for a moment. That
means all of the above need to be done. It also needs to be
widely adopted, and this needs to be completed in the next 12-18
months. It would probably take a team of 20-50 people working on
a specification, implementations, conversion, integration
applications, marketing, etc. to accomplish this. Advocates for
this choice need to have a reality check.</p>
<p>Given that we have maybe 7 part time people (right now) where
does X3D go?<br>
</p>
-- <br>
<div class="moz-signature"><font class="tahoma,arial,helvetica san
serif" color="#333366"> <font size="+1"><b>Leonard Daly</b></font><br>
3D Systems & Cloud Consultant<br>
LA ACM SIGGRAPH Chair<br>
President, Daly Realism - <i>Creating the Future</i> </font></div>
<br>
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<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
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<br>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<font class="tahoma,arial,helvetica san serif" color="#333366">
<font size="+1"><b>Leonard Daly</b></font><br>
3D Systems & Cloud Consultant<br>
LA ACM SIGGRAPH Chair<br>
President, Daly Realism - <i>Creating the Future</i>
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