X3D CAD

X3D CAD Working Group

The X3D CAD Working Group is now entering its third generation of development effort. Following many years of steady progress by Web3D members, we transitioned our efforts to the Web3D Public X3D Wiki. Further work continues.

Our current activities include:

• Consolidating past achievements with CAD Geometry Component in X3D
• Continuing implementation of the X3D Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE) for reduced file size and faster loading performance
• Continuing the implementation and evaluation of Boundary Representations (B-REPS) in X3D
• Considering the use of Macro-Parametric Translation for conversion of many CAD formats into X3D
• Building a set of example models to confirm correct operation and encourage the evolution of best practices

Working group co-chairs are

• Don Brutzman, Naval Postgraduate School USA
• Hyokwang Lee, PartDB and Web3D Korea Chapter
• Marc PETIT, Electricite de France (EDF)

Resources

• The X3D CAD Component summary slideset describes current and planned capabilities
• Current X3D specification status is recorded at CAD Component changes for X3D v3.3
• Survey report TC184 Visualization Requirements for X3D CAD evaluates X3D suitability for CAD
  • Corresponding ISO response ISO TC184/SC4 Comparison Report evaluating COLLADA, X3D, 3D XML, JT, and U3D

• Prior work, still continuing: Boundary Representations (B-REPS)
  • X3D-BREP project status
  • X3D-BREP_Draft_specification

• Work in progress: X3D CAD Macro-Parametric Approach for Translation
• E-mail list for Web3D CAD working group members: cad@web3d.org

Events and Meetings

We hold teleconferences every other week at alternating times for Korea-USA and Korea-Europe discussion.

• Korea-USA : 17:00 PDT 2nd Wednesday (09:00 KST 2nd Thursday)
  • Next meeting : Oct 12 Wed 17:00 PDT (Thu 09:00 KST)
• Korea-Europe : 10:00 FST 4th Monday (17:00 KST 4th Monday)

Several Web3D presentations at SIGGRAPH 2011 covered CAD topics.

• Lee, Hyokwang (PartDB): CAD to X3D Conversion with CAD Assembly Structure
• Keil, Jens (Fraunhofer): Extending X3D for AR/MR Apps includes multiple slides (6 7 14-19 24-25 29-31 38 51) demonstrating industrial CAD applications of Augmented Reality

Next Steps and Future Work

• Update this wiki to include all aspects of a working group charter
• Design a cool logo, both in 2D and 3D! A special prize will be awarded to whoever wins working-group approval for their design.