X3D Scenarios and Case Studies:
Real World Applications - Real World Solutions
X3D has a strong presence internationally and throughout many different industries. From healthcare science to oil exploration, X3D is being deployed for many important as well diverse uses. Our goal is to explore the very multi-faceted nature of X3D from an industry perspective.
If you have a case study using X3D, please submit it for review.
Configurator for online visualization of technical products
Bitmanagement Software GmbH and Airbus team up to develop X3D based configurators!
According to Martin Schwarz of Bitmanagement, configurators and Airbus is a very hot topic right now!
Visualization of Statistics in Virtual Reality
Computers often function merely as typewriters for the output of info in 2D. Printed diagrams show the consequences. To use it some results are often shown in a different factor. The outcome is a falsified representation and limited comparability with the results, which are presented in the right factor.
EADS Innovation Works metadata management system based on X3D
While the tool chain and data management is very strict in later phases of aircraft design, there is a plurality of tools and data formats in preliminary development. This allows greater flexibility and creativity, but is hard to handle. EADS challenge was to develop a concept how to set up a metadata management system, which allows consolidation of information from heterogeneous data sources for collaboration, authoring, searches and easy reusability.
A brief excerpt from the customer requirements:
- view CAD data without CAD-System, based on an existing conversion process
- link documents with 3D representation of objects using Drag&Drop
- retrieve and add metadata from/to model parts
- view and change design configurations
- comment design configurations and objects using their 3D representation
SenseGraphics H3D API
You have some nice 3D models but you are missing one major thing; without being able to touch the objects, you don’t really get the feeling of presence, immersion and control that you wish. The problem is you have no or little programming experience but would love to add haptics to your virtual world. Your problem is the complex programming needed to be able to render both graphics and haptics in the same scene and then make sure that the visual and haptics experience agrees.
Arena of Major German Football Club in 3D - Live on the Internet
The German club HSV wanted to fully visualize it’s home stadiumin real-time, interactive 3D (using BS Contact VRML/X3D) for club members and fans. They needed near photo realitic quality and have it be delivered via internet.
The German club HSV worked with Web3D member company Bitmanagement Software GmbH so that online visitors to the arena can fly through the vast structure with complete freedom, touring areas otherwise off-limits to the public e.g. they may visit the club’s virtual museum with its many trophies and tributes or explore the rooms of the star players. Spectator boxes and rooms may be booked online and events arranged by an agency via the integration of booking systems and the virtual arena. It is planned to host virtual social meetings with avatars in the 3D arena with the new multi-user solutions developed from Bitmanagement.
Octaga, Shell Oil and Ormen Lange
The oil company Shell will be the operator for Norway’s biggest gas production field Ormen Lange by October 2007. The field will supply the UK with one third of the country’s total gas demand. Ormen Lange will be developed with seabed installations at depths of between 800 and 1100 meters. With complex electrical and mechanical equipment permanently installed at such great depths, the need for visual training systems is obvious. The client had a strong focus on safety and needed a training system for the crew to perform operations for installation and maintenance.
Shell and FMC Technologies worked with Octagawho developed a detailed X3D-based simulation for their subsea equipment. In the simulator the user can watch operations and procedures from any point of view or follow a guided presentation. The user can at any time switch seamlessly between the two modes. This resulted in a flexible and informative solution. The client had high demands to the level of detail. The Octaga Player makes it possible to render highly detailed geometry combined with advanced animations and interaction. Octaga created a customized user interface which combines text, diagrams, buttons and sliders with 3D graphics using standard X3D components.
Reconstructing Highway A2 in the Netherlands in X3D
The traffic situation in the Nederland’s, one of Europe’s most crowded country is critical, and the road authorities need to solve this situation as efficiently as possible. This implies using efficient communications tools to address the affected parties. The road connecting Amsterdam and Utrecht, the A2, will be expanded in the time period from 2006 to 2010. During these four years the road will be widened from today’s situation with 2x3 lanes to 2x5 lanes. PSI Bouw, the main contractor for this project, wanted to show how the construction process would influence people living along the A2 highway.
The large number of people affected by the building process called for an easy deployable web solution that offered individual users the possibility to see what their own neighborhood would look like during this period. A static solution would not meet these demands, so a real-time 3D presentation with 4D functionality was suggested.
A streaming solution for the web using Octaga Player technology and X3D, is being delivered by Octaga and their Dutch partner Cadvisual Group.
3D Laser Scanning for 3D Models
Accurate, high-resolution 3D city models are increasingly in demand for defense and security applications as well as civilian needs for urban planning and conservation.
In an urban planning project Planet 9 Studios used terrestrial 3D laser scanning to document Watts Towers, a Los Angeles folk-art landmark, and create a real-time X3D visual interface to the structure’s engineering conservation database.
Iraqi Checkpoint training using virtual humans to learn cultural gestures
The Department of Defense’s Joint Advanced Distributed Learning (JADL) Co-Lab launched a program to train military personnel in Iraqi Arabic language and culture for interactions at vehicle checkpoints in Iraq. They recognized that cultural protocol and gestures have a significant impact on the meaning of words.
Using X3D and the Humanoid Animation standard, Vcom3D created re-usable virtual humans capable of custom gestures, actions, facial expression, visual cues and lip-synchronized speech. Students learn by performing representative tasks while communicating with virtual characters that speak Iraqi Arabic and exhibit culturally appropriate behaviors.
Real-time high resolution 3D Atlas for leading publishing house
Bertelsmann, one of the world’s leading publishing houses, wanted to develop a comprehensive 3D world atlas for consumer use. They needed a solution that could render massive amounts of geographic data to 3D in real-time. They also wanted the Atlas to integrate with other media types including audio, video, and web pages.
Bitmanagement developed a 3D Atlas using BS Contact Geo and X3D. End-users have the freedom to explore in real-time, all areas of the globe in super-high 3D resolution by zooming in to specific locations and flying over accurate, real-world terrain.