Open Standards for Real-Time 3D Communication

 Carina v20050927 cross-platform viewer adds support for X3D and enables multiple file formats

Sep 30, 2005

Carina is a cross-platform xVRML viewer application with support for
VRML97 and both X3D classic and X3D xml encodings.  The new v20050927 is the first to include a Windows version and X3D support. Carina uses XSL-T to convert between formats such as X3D xml to xVRML. The application knows about the transformation and, with Java enabled, will load the file as if it had a native parser specifically for that format. This opens the door for future versions of Carina to allow end-users to add transformations, and for Carina to chain them together until a format is reached that it can load. People who have written transformations from another format to X3D will be able to add those transformations to the application for directly loading those files. Downloads are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux (as source)

 Bitmanagement web site offers new case studies and discusses uses for the X3D ISO standard and MPEG4

Sep 15, 2005

Bitmanagement (a member of the Web3D Consortium Board), has updated their web site to explain the value of 3D in IT across many different industries.  The site features new case studies, many whitepapers, and online demos, all with an emphasis on ISO standard X3D and MPEG4 (X3D is the interactive component of MPEG 4).

 veLib 1.2 cross-platform framework for distributed realtime VR with X3D import/export adds support

Sep 12, 2005

The Virtual Environments Library (veLib) is a light-weight yet complete cross-platform software framework for distributed realtime virtual reality (VR) simulations offering a unified interface to input devices, spatial audio, network communication, timers, portable file I/O and more.  It features an X3D loader and exporter. The new version accelerates performance using OpenGL extensions and supports the OpenGL Shading Language.

 X3D Amendment 1 (FPDAM) ISO balloting begins, developer comments welcome

Sep 07, 2005

The ISO balloting for X3D FPDAM Amendment 1 has started and will complete on December 25. AMD1 defines several significant enhancements to the X3D abstract specification, ISO/IEC 19775 including CAD Geometry component and Interchange profile, Programmable shaders component (with bindings to GLSL, HLSL, & Cg), and 3D texturing & cubic environment texturing components.

It also adds: new matrix field type, text improvements, ability to control scoping for all light types, LOD improvements, and local (vertex-based) fog.

Interested developers are encouraged to review the FPDAM specification and submit comments to the Web3D Consortium.