[x3d-public] X3D Specification Relationships diagram

[Leonard Daly]

There was a time when the "holy-grail" of X3D was to be included in 
every browser so it would not be necessary to download and install a 
plug-in for it to function. Several years ago X3DOM came along and 
provided a means to not only play X3D in a browser without a plugin, but 
it also had some integration with HTML/DOM. This was a major step to 
realizing that early initial hope.

Now it appears that the effort is to have X3D run stand-alone. I come to 
this conclusion based on the number of languages that are on the list 
below to have a standardized binding to the SAI, the lack of DOM as an 
API as one of those listings, and the  lack of concrete progress on 
determining how to integrate X3D into an HTML environment while handling 
HTML events, CSS, and node name collisions (i.e., Script).

Meanwhile there never seems to be enough people and time to work on the 
existing issues involved in V4 and clean up from V3.x. Very little work 
has been done to understand and investigate integration of other 
technologies (e.g., A-Frame and XML3D being the most notable ones) into 
the structure of X3D. Also no significant work has been done to 
investigate what is necessary to VR requirements and how X3D could meet 
those. X3D is woefully behind the time in the appearance of geometry as 
it really only has uniform colors and texture maps.  It is missing 
techniques such as advanced/alternate lighting models, bump maps, 
reflections, shadows, ambient occlusion, physically based rendering, and 
others. (For example, see the THREE.js documentation on what it provides 
at https://threejs.org/docs/index.html#api/materials/MeshPhongMaterial). 
It is also important to address VR now because the current plans call 
for AR to be part of V4.1 and there is a lot of overlap.

I do not know what to make of this extensive expanding of X3D when 
current work is so resource limited right now.


Leonard Daly




> Following discussions, the editors have decided to also produce a 
> separate C language binding for X3D.   Languages and editors:
>
> a. Dick Puk, Roy Walmsley, Don Brutzman and John Carlson, EcmaScript 
> 19777-1
> b. Dick Puk, Don Brutzman, Roy Walmsley and John Carlson, Java       
> 19777-2
> c. Roy Walmsley and Myeong Won Lee, C          19777-3
> d. Roy Walmsley and Myeong Won Lee, C++        19777-4
> e. Myeong Won Lee and Roy Walmsley, C#         19777-5
> f. Masaki Aono, John Carlson, Brutzman, Walmsley, Python     19775-6
>
> Attached please find updated draft revision to the X3D Specification 
> Relationships diagram reflecting this change.
>
> Roy we will need to initiate ISO New Work Item Proposals (NWIPs) as 
> part of the formal commencement of work for each project.
>
> A new multilingual playing field is emerging... pretty exciting!
>
> On 8/8/2017 8:16 AM, Don Brutzman wrote:
>> Some very interesting progress on X3D SAI implementations is being 
>> presented during our ISO meeting at Virginia Tech Advanced Research 
>> Center (VTARC) in Alexandria VA this week.  This work is part of ISO 
>> Standards Committee (SC) 24 Working Group 6, convened by Dr. Dick Puk.
>>
>> In addition to existing X3D implementations for JSON, JavaScript and 
>> Java, additional programming-language binding implementations are 
>> emerging.  Slidesets to follow.
>> [...]
>>
>> Attached please find draft revision to the X3D Specification 
>> Relationships diagram.  Change summary:
>> - split out C++/C# into separate documents and add Python, reflecting 
>> above changes.
>> - note that NumPy scientific libra data types (http://www.numpy.org) 
>> are needed to add strict typing to Python.
>> - note Java v8 expected as new baseline (supporting lambda functional 
>> programming).
>> - note Object Model for X3D (OM4X3D) expected to become part of 
>> future X3D Abstract Specification.
>> - note that changes are needed for X3D Scene Access Interface (SAI) 
>> 19775-2 that relax need for Browser object and allow standalone 
>> programming APIs.
>>
>> Needed: any external version dependencies expected for JavaScript, 
>> C++ C#, Python.
>> Needed: ISO referencing of Python, NumPy.
>> https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1535702/python-not-a-standardized-language
>>
>> Currently approved version of this diagram is maintained along with 
>> schemas and other specification-support assets at
>>
>>      X3D Specifications: Schema and DOCTYPE Validation
>>      http://2014.web3d.org/specifications
>>
>> For those who care to join, we will discuss both C++/C# and Python 
>> implementations, plus standards drafting, on *Thursday 08-0830 
>> Eastern (0500 Pacific, 1300 GMT)*.  As usual, we will use the Web3D 
>> Member Teleconference line.
>>
>>      http://www.web3d.org/member/teleconference-information
>>
>> All feedback welcome.  These and any subsequent draft changes will be 
>> reviewed by the X3D Working Group, likely in 2 weeks (Wednesday 23 
>> August).
>
>

-- 
*Leonard Daly*
3D Systems & Cloud Consultant
LA ACM SIGGRAPH Chair
President, Daly Realism - /Creating the Future/
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