Open Standards for Real-Time 3D Communication

 Improving X3D UI support: Tutorial and workshop notes from Web3D Symposium 2005

Jun 29, 2005

At the recent ACM Web3D Symposium 2005, two tutorials and a workshop addressed 3D UI issues: Engineering Virtual Environments with X3D, Techniques of Perception with X3D, and X3D UI : Toward AMD 2. The slides and supporting materials are now available online.

 Octaga Player V1.8 improves compliance with X3D standard

Jun 23, 2005

Octaga Player is a high-performance, standards-compliant 3D player that can run as a stand alone application or as a plug-in to most Internet browsers under Windows.  V1.8 adds support for running Java from Script (internal EAI), improved X3D support, support for Cube Maps, Volume Textures, local fog, local/global light amd it can now work as an Active X component within Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. The player is available for IE, Opera, Netscape, Firefox and Mozilla and is free for personal use.

 PsPad text and code editor v4.3.3 adds improved syntax highlighting and support for X3D Amendment 1

Jun 20, 2005

PSPad is a freeware text and code editor that supports multiple coding environment with syntax highlighting and macros. The new v4.3.3 adds better syntax highlighting, support of X3D Amendment 1, formating and compression of source code, code explorer of PSPad shows a scene tree of X3D files, better auto complete, and input dialogues for different nodes for easy creation of difficult node like multitexuring.
To activate X3D options:

• Go to Settings menu -> Highlighter Settings
• Select a free slot in the Custom Highlighters on the left
• Click on the “Specification” tab and select “User Highlighters: Extensible 3D X3D”
• Now you can customize the browser for preview or colors for highlighting
• The 5th icon on the toolbar willl show the code explorer for a scene tree

 Subdo 3D multimedia authoring tool adds X3D support

Jun 17, 2005

Subdo is a multimedia-authoring tool, designed for creating high performance interactive real-time 3D contents. Subdo features an easy interface that allows designers and engineers to create advanced real-time 3D contents without the need for programming. It features support for Pixel and Vertex shaders, dynamic lighting, annotations, real-time animated cross sections, and X3D export.

 RawKee v1.0 beta X3D authoring and export plug-in for Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited

Jun 07, 2005

V1.0 beta release of RawKee is an open source X3D authoring and export plug-in designed for use with Alias’ 3D animation and visual effects software, Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited. It allows content authors to generate Web3D content within Maya and export it into the industry standard X3D format. RawKee offers tools to set up X3D interactivity through RawKee’s X3D Interaction Editor and author ECMAScript through the customized use of Maya’s Attribute Editor panel. Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited.

V1.0 beta 1.0 includes support for much of the Immersive Profile of the X3D formats including the X3D MultiTexture node which makes the use of light, shadow, specular, and normal maps possible. Future versions of RawKee are expected to support NURB export, as well as provide character skinning through X3D compatibility with the H-Anim specification. It is available for Win32, Mac OS X, Linux and Irix.

Archaeology Technologies Laboratory’s Computer Visualization Manager Aaron Bergstrom says “Up until now, we’ve used VRML97 to deliver artifact surrogates through the database network. While VRML97 is a great web-based format, it lacks advanced visualization capabilities that are part of the X3D formats, such as the ability to use normal maps or the ability to store data in the X3D binary encoding. This and future versions of RawKee will allow us to take advantage of the features that X3D formats have to offer, which translates into being able to deliver high-quality artifact surrogates using decreasing amounts of bandwidth.”

The full press release (153 KB pdf) gives details on the features supported in Rawkee.

 VRML/X3D PixelTexture plug-in for 3ds Max 7

Jun 07, 2005

This plug-in enables 3ds MAX 7 to input PixelTexture data from WRL/X3D/X3DV files and use it as a bitmap. Use it in 3ds MAX, modify it and output it to a WRL/X3D/X3DV file.

 On-A-Slant Mandan Virtual Village let’s you explore native American circa 1776

Jun 07, 2005

The On-A-Slant Mandan Village uses X3D for instructing students on the cultural interactions of Native peoples who lived in the upper great plains region of the United States just prior to the arrival of the Lewis and Clark, circa 1776. The interior scene of a Mandan earthlodge was created in Maya and then exported to X3D using the Rawkee plug-in.

 Blender v2.37 popular 3D modeler, animator, and renderer bundles X3D exporter

Jun 01, 2005

Blender is the leading open source cross-platform modeler, animator and renderer. The new v2.37 bundles the area42 X3D exporter which makes it easy to use Blender as an authoring application for X3D content. The new version also adds a Soft Body system, incremental Subdivision Surface code, Force Fields and Deflection, and Transform Widgets and Tools