[x3d-public] X3D Working Group minutes 3 FEB 2023: updates and X3D4 Browser Developers Guide, X3D audio nodes review

Fri Feb 3 15:52:04 PST 2023

We meet weekly

Attendees: Anita Havele, Nicholas Polys, Dick Puk, Doug Sanden, Don
Brutzman.

Telcon information 

No Web3D Consortium member-only information appears in these minutes.

1.	X3D 2023 goals.  Our primary activities for X3D Working Group in
2023 are focused on broad and correct deployment.

a.	Encourage consistent rendering, interaction and usage for the many
tremendous capabilities in X3D4.
b.	Update ISO specifications and implementations for multiple
programming languages and file encodings to match X3D4.

The dozen corresponding standards to receive these updates are illustrated
as follows:

*	X3D Graphics Standards Relationships
*
https://web3d.org/specifications/X3dGraphicsStandardsRelationships.png

0.	MSF Proposal.  Web3D Consortium members today first discussed an
important pending proposal to Metaverse Standards Forum.

1.	X3D Node Inventory Spreadsheet.  Doug has been collecting some
excellent improvements.  He and Don will work separately on integrating
improvements to the spreadsheet.  All updates always welcome.

*	X3D Node Inventory Comparison
<https://www.web3d.org/specifications/X3dNodeInventoryComparison.xlsx>
(.pdf <https://www.web3d.org/specifications/X3dNodeInventoryComparison.pdf>
) shows node-by-node implementation coverage of the X3D Abstract
Specification: validation using X3D Schema, X3D DOCTYPE, and X3D Schematron;
X3D Tooltips and VRML97 node sets; plus selected open-source
implementations: FreeWrl, X3DOM, X_ITE, view3dscene (Castle Game Engine),
X3D-Edit, Xj3D.
*	https://www.web3d.org/specifications/X3dNodeInventoryComparison.xlsx
*	https://www.web3d.org/specifications/X3dNodeInventoryComparison.pdf

2.	X3D4 Browser Developers Guide

Doug has been assembling an excellent document for improving browsers that
seek X3D4 capabilities.  Software candidates include

*	X3D Resources: Applications, Players and Plugins for X3D / VRML
Viewing
*
https://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html#Applications

This document highlights new features and changes in X3D4 that browser
builders need to be aware of.  This collection of guidelines will continue
to improve as we together learn shared lessons in implementation and
evaluation of X3D4.

*	For Web3D Browser Developers: Web3D v3.3 to v4.0 Upgrade Guide
*
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oOyY57otrT79VP_yVOvQMmXlSWRaGTTI/view?usp=s
hare_link
*
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EodpA-CrFwZsGm52boBeYoYQmiB7H6X5TeqHI3Yu
TZA/edit

We discussed how this document will continue to evolve over time, and how
multiple browser developers might benefit from having "write permissions" to
modify it.  Candidate locations to host the document include:

a.	Google Docs is current location (not a Web3D-controlled location)
b.	Web3D wiki - old, has been difficult to use and maintain (Wikimedia)
c.	Web3D Consortium web pages (Drupal)
d.	Web3D Consortium github page (member-only editing access, open
visibility)
e.	Web3D sourceforge (maintained alongside X3D Resources and X3D Scene
Authoring Hints) with web3d.org direct access
f.	WebX3D Developers http://webx3d.org provides WordPress site, mostly
marketing and education

Web3D membership is a prerequisite for receiving edit permissions.

Doug and Don will work on transitioning to Web3D sourceforge or github
(choices e or d).

Don will re-sort the applications list in X3D Resources to first highlight
tools with X3D4 support.

Meanwhile all contributions and questions are always welcome.

3.	Audio nodes.

We have several questions recently identified regarding audio node.

*	Possible missing fields (pending response Thanos and Efi)
*	Further recommendations follow, discussed on email list (Doug Sanden
implementation efforts in progress)

a.	Removing gain field from other nodes except from Gain node (tradeoff
author brevity to implementation complexity),
b.	Remove inheritance of X3DTimeDependent node from all sound
processing nodes,
c.	Analyser node (not Analyzer) add outputOnly fields timeDomainData
and frequencyData (see Doug's post of a very interesting demo).

*	W3C Web Audio API: AnalyserNode
*	https://www.w3.org/TR/webaudio/#AnalyserNode

We will look closely at these audio issues duringnext week's X3D Working
Group call. 

4.	join Join JOIN!!!

Membership has value.  Like it or not, according to definitions by others,
we appear to be implementing large parts of a future metaverse with
HTML5/CSS3/X3D4.

*	https://www.web3d.org/member-benefits
*	https://www.web3d.org/join

Looking forward to continued steady progress together.  Have fun with X3D!
8)

all the best, Don

-- 

Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br        brutzman at nps.edu

Watkins 270,  MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA    +1.831.656.2149

X3D graphics, virtual worlds, Navy robotics https://
faculty.nps.edu/brutzman

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