Open Standards for Real-Time 3D Communication

 BS Contact Geo for GIS visualization using X3D to be released in October 2006

Jun 26, 2006

BS Contact Geo enables the visualization of geographic information, enhancing third-party hardware and GIS software products via the integration of interactive and Internet ready real-time 3D technology. mobile information services. The software, now in beta, will be release at Oct 10, 2006 at the Intergeo fair for geodesy, geo information and land management.

 BS Exporter for Blender improves performance, animation, and lighting

Jun 14, 2006

The BS Exporter for Blender is a free export plug-in for the popular open-source 3D authoring package, Blender 2.37a and above.  It supports real-time shadows, static radiosity lighting, dynamic particle effects, multi-texturing, normal and environment maps, movie textures, animation and custom interaction scripting from within Blender itself. This lets you use Blender as a complete authoring application for quality Web3D content using the extensions of BS Contact VRML/X3D. It exports to both the XML and VRML Classic encodings of the X3D standard.  The new release enhances performance, improves support for animation, improves lighting and adds support for the node PointSet.

 ECMAScript and Java bindings to X3D reach ISO status, Binary encoding advances to Final Committee Dr

Jun 14, 2006

The ECMAScript and Java language bindings to X3D are now officially ISO-ratified standards.  These languages can be used both for internal scripting (script nodes) and for external application access.  The X3D Binary encoding has been approved as a Final ISO Committe Draft.  The compressed binary encoding for X3D is an open, compact file format for rapid delivery and encryption of 3D data.  It provides advanced compression of 3D data to shorten the transmission time of models and scenes across a network and a data encryption scheme to protect sensitive model information. Compressed binary X3D files may be referenced from files using other X3D encodings, and may itself reference other X3D files encoded using other X3D encodings.

 KML2X3D translator from Google Earth KML format to X3D

Jun 13, 2006

Media Machines has released the KML2X3D translator utility to convert files in the Keyhole Markup Language (KML), the modeling format for Google Earth, into X3D, the ISO-ratified, royalty-free open standard file format to represent and communicate 3D scenes using XML.  Once in X3D, content creators can add animation, lighting, shaders, special effects and behaviors to create powerful presentations, interactive advertisements and even fully immersive walk throughs of virtual environments.  Content creators can also take advantage of the Google 3D Warehouse, a vast storehouse of models that Google provides for free.  By using the browser built into Google Earth, a link on a Google Earth map can launch an X3D scene to create a kind of mashup to view more detail, such as an immersive building walkthrough set in a rich street scene. KML2X3D is available for Windows.

 X3D gains momentum as Octaga and Demicron join the Web3D Consortium

Jun 09, 2006

Octaga AS, a major provider of authoring and viewing tools for X3D and MPEG-4 ISO standards, and Demicron AB, a leading developer of interactive Java-based X3D and rich media solutions for the Web, have joined the Web3D Consortium to assist in developing and promoting the X3D specification. The Web3D Consortium will showcase these technologies as well as other commercial and open source X3D projects at the SIGGRAPH 2006 Tech Talks.

 New resources on Web3D.org - Weblog, Case Studies, Models, Wiki, Open Source Projects

Jun 09, 2006

We have added several new resources to the Web3D.org website.

• The X3D Community Weblog is written by community members and gives voice to their visions and technical work with X3D.  This past weeks post was from Aaron Bergstrom on “The future of the RawKee X3D Exporter for Maya”
• In the X3D Case Studies we try to present real world problems that are solved by X3D solutions.
• The X3D Sample Models section offers a wide range of models that you can use to test out the various viewers. Many of the models are open source so they can be useful for learning how to code X3D
• The X3D Wiki is a growing list of nodes and concepts for X3D - any Consortium member can add to the wiki
• The Open Source Projects page lists the X3D projects that are open source and in development and looking for contribution from other developers

Members and non-members are invited to contribute to these resources.

 ExtremeTech reviews three 3D web browsers and advises to “Wait for X3D and Vista”

Jun 09, 2006

ExtremeTech takes a look at three 3D browsers that are used for something other than gaming: 3B, Browse3D, and SphereXPlorer.  The article starts out by noting that “3D web isn’t dead, an XML format called X3D--a free run-time architecture that can “represent and communicate 3D scenes and objects using XML"-- is starting to take hold. You can find more info about it from The Web3D Consortium which is very active in its efforts to add one more dimension to the web as we know it. There’s even a mobile browser for X3D, so that you could, for example, navigate around a city you’re visiting on your handheld PC.”

It concludes by saying:
“The future of 3D web browsing holds great promise, but none of the 3D browsers we looked at were particularly compelling. Sure they’re fun to take out for a spin, but they don’t really offer serious enough advantages over standard 2D web browsers to make you convert. They were also all lacking in either stability or design. Final Thoughts: Wait for X3D and Vista”. 

A future article on ExtremeTech will look at X3D viewers.

 Neanderthal fossil artifacts scanned and saved as X3D for archaeological visualisation and annotatio

Jun 06, 2006

Neanderthal humans were once common throughout Europe, but died out some 30,000 years ago. The Neanderthal Studies Professional Online Service has a growing collection of texts and digitized Neanderthal remains such as skulls, teeth and tools The projects uses a Virtual Archaeological Tool Set for 3D visualisation and measurement of archaeological scans and imagery.  The ArteCore component features X3D support for high resolution polygonal scans and examination of the remains’ virtual high resolution representations without touching and damaging the priceless originals.

 Calling all creators of incredible, awe inspiring X3D content!

Jun 01, 2006

We want to see your best X3D content and if possible, share and brag about your work at Siggraph this summer. If you have exciting cross platform X3D content to share with the world, submit your proposal by June 8, and you may be invited to discuss and demo your content and/or your product at our Siggraph Tech Talk, August 2, 2006 from 3:00 - 5:00 PM at the Boston Siggraph Conference. You will be given a maximum of 20 minutes to present your work. Expect to show approximately one slide of your production pipeline documenting the tools used going from your concept to the final product. Feedback will be available during the last half hour of the session. Note that there will be a live rehearsal either on July 31 or August 1st.

Currently scheduled:
- Bitmanagement
- Demicron
- Digital Archive Network for Anthropology and World Heritage
- EDF (Electricite De France) R&D
- L-3
- Media Machines
- Octaga
- Planet 9
- Planet-earth.org
- SenseGraphics H3D
- vcom3D
- Yumetech

Before June 8, submit a proposal of interest to our Executive Director: rita.turkowski (at) web3d.org. Include screen shots and a description. Rita will contact you by June 14th with a formal guideline to follow to submit your product or content for formal jurying by a select panel of X3D experts and judges.