Apr 17, 2006
Xj3D is an open source X3D browser, developer library and test environment for real time 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality on the web, desktop or mobile device. The complete application toolkit has had over 50,000 downloads and has been used to prototype many extensions to the X3D spec - physics, fog, 3D textures, CAD, device abstraction, binary formats and more all began life as Xj3D extensions. A primary focus of Xj3D is conformance to the X3D spec while still maintaining high OpenGL accelerated performance. The milestone 1.0 release is available as a download for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris. It implements:
- The CAD Geometry Component: This component describes CAD specific data representations for X3D environments. It maintains CAD structural relationships in a way that facilitates reuse of the CAD data in different domains. It also maintains CAD layer relationships.
- The Geospatial Component: This component provides support for geographic and geospatial applications. This support includes the ability to embed geospatial coordinates in certain X3D nodes, to support high-precision geospatial modeling, and to handle large multi-resolution terrain databases.
- The Humanoid Animation (H-Anim) Component: The H-Anim standard specifies an abstract representation for modeling 3D human figures that will allow human figures created with modeling tools from one vendor to be animated using motion capture data and animation tools from another vendor. It allows direct access to the joint hierarchy of the human figure as well as the vertices of the geometry in a way that allows animations to be generated in a model independent manner. Xj3D Version 1.0 also supports hardware-accelerated rendering of these models and their animation.
- The Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) Component: This component defines the binary layout of a series of messages used to transmit simulation information using the DIS Standard (IEEE 1278). Often used by military applications, DIS covers a wide range of data, including entity location, velocity, and orientation, and more obscure features such as electronic warfare and supply logistics. In addition to its original focus on military simulations, DIS is also used in civilian applications.
- ECMAScript and Java scripting capabilities: X3D provides developers with interfaces to both ECMAScript and Java programs to allow greater degrees of flexibility in creating their content.
- VRML Classic, XML and Binary Encodings Support: The VRML Classic Encoding allows users to create X3D objects and animation using the technique defined in the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). The XML Encoding allows X3D files to be saved using the Extensible Markup Language. (XML) format. The Binary Encoding allows X3D files to be saved in a compact binary form. Each Binary-encoded X3D file supports all of the purposes of X3D files defined in the X3D specification and can take advantage of geometric and information-theoretic compression techniques. Xj3D Version 1.0 includes an Encodings Converter that allows users to convert from one Encoding format to another.
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