X3D Community Blog 
August 31, 2006
Can X3D and SAI be to real-time 3D what wav files and VST are to music?
Ajax3D offers a solid beginning for server-side event-driven logic combined with a client-side rich 3D GUI in X3D. What we need in addition, is a commercial library of drag and drop components for building applications. The 3D Generation is coming of working age and starting to buy. I like free plug-ins like everyone else, but the competitive-edge is in the latest and greatest. Companies beyond the Consortium members need to support the X3D formats too. X3D and SAI have to be to real-time 3D what wav files and VST are to music.
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August 25, 2006
AJAX3D - cross-browser html object how to
Wouldn't it be lovely if we didn't have to concern ourselves with the html? So far, it remains Not Possible to present a single html object tag that provides sufficient guidance for both Firefox and IE, for instance.
The way to show active content using X3D hosted on a typical html/xhtml web browser is to use simple ecmascript to evaluate a basic browser capability check and generate a specific object element based on browser object implementation preferences and capabilities.
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August 21, 2006
What’s hot in 3D today?: Cartography, mobile, medical imaging and social networking
The hot things in 3D today seems to be anything dealing with 3D cartography, mobile, medical imaging and social networking. All of these were strongly represented at our SIGGRAPH talks. All of these areas present unique challenges and opportunities for X3D's advancement as more than an ISO standard, but as a popular real world solution to 3D communications.
August 15, 2006
X3D COLLADA SmackDown! - a contrived spectacle?
Recently there has been a lot of conversation on the public mailing lists about COLLADA and X3D. As is usual with standards discussions, there is an attempt to create a "which is better" division - kind of a World Wrestling Entertainment Smackdown between COLLADA and X3D. But I think that spectacle is artificially contrived and created in part by confusion about what goals and markets X3D and COLLADA actually target.
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