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<p>Please read this all of the way through before commenting.</p>
<p>There is lots of interest in providing for the display of 3D data
in the browser. This includes both "flat" 3D (3D monoscopic
displayed) and stereoscopic displays (aka VR or immersive).
Libraries such as X3DOM, Cobweb, THREE.js, and Babylon.js have
pretty much addressed flat 3D. <br>
</p>
<p>There are several active efforts to address the VR display. All
of the work supports both flat & VR displays. Some of the
efforts are procedural (e.g., WebVR, THREE, etc.) and others are
declarative (e.g., X3D, A-Frame).<br>
</p>
<p>The larger community is beginning to realize the need for a
single declarative means for handling the display, animation, and
interaction of 3D content. Most of the community is not a member
of the Consortium, and many are not familiar with X3D (in any
form). There already is a proposed path that starts with A-Frame.
The discussions as to what the declarative language will look like
and how it will work will be extensive and probably contentious
(at least at times). There are a lot of very large players
(Google, especially) involved so it is important to resolve
difficult issues first before people (and organizations) become
too entrenched.</p>
<p>All of that was introduction to the main point: What do you
(meaning the reader) think are the essential characteristics of
X3D when running in an HTML page? I know that the answer is not
everything because (1) as a standard, X3D does not run in the web
page; (2) X3D supports multiple encodings, some of which are not
HTML compatible (e.g., binary ones); (3) X3D has Profiles and
Components and no browser supports all Profiles and Components.
There are several other reasons that the answer is not everything,
so that doesn't count.</p>
<p>I can think of several things that are important. I'm not sure if
these are essential, or how to quantify or better state them<br>
</p>
<p>1) long-lasting (read and display 20 year old stuff)<br>
2) extensible</p>
<p>Other items that might be important to people<br>
3) modeling <br>
4) feature-rich (at least in some areas)<br>
5) platform-neutral<br>
6) volume displays (not just surfaces)<br>
</p>
<p>I am looking for a collection of items that are so important to
X3D that if removed, you would not have X3D, and when present you
would recognize it as X3D or at least a close relative. I would
expect the list to vary from person to person, but I also expect
some characteristics to be present in many people's list. The
items on your list are likely to reflect your personal interest
and work with X3D and other 3D content. <br>
</p>
<br>
<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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