The annual ACM Web3D Conference is a major event that gathers researchers, developers, entrepreneurs, experimenters, artists, and content creators in a dynamic environment. Attendees can share and explore methods of using, enhancing, and creating new 3D Web and Multimedia technologies, such as WebGL and HTML5 (which is a hot topic in Computer Graphics), Flash/ Stage 3D, X3D, COLLADA, and the MPEG family. The conference highlights capabilities and trends in interactive 3D graphics across a wide range of applications and supports research from mobile devices up to high-end immersive environments.

The conference site is http://www.web3d2012.org/

Topics

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
 

• Modeling, processing, analysis and rendering of complex geometry, structure, and behaviors
• 3D search, shape matching and indexing
• Rendering algorithms and standardization and visualization of large data sets
• Interaction methods for online 3D content
• Interactive 3D graphics for mobile devices
• Mixed and Augmented Reality (including standardization aspects)
• Agents, animated humanoids, and complex reactive characters
• Remote rendering and streaming
• Stereo and multi-view visualization of 3D graphic interfaces
• High-performance 3D graphics for distributed environments, tele-presence, tele-operation, and 3D broadcasting
• Web, multimedia and standards integration and interoperation.

Authors are also invited to submit advances in the above technologies applied to multimedia applications in:
 

• Automotive, Security, Transport Industries
• Life sciences and healthcare
• Geospatial modeling and digital cities
• Public sector and tourism
• Cultural heritage and E-learning.

The full call for papers is at http://web3d2012.org/submission.html.

You are invited to submit your papers to the workshop. The workshop aims to encourage researchers and practitioners from both the Web and 3D graphics communities to meet and talk about an integration of interactive 3D graphics capabilities into the Web technology stack in a declarative way.

Workshop webpage: http://events.declarative3d.org/Dec3D2012/

Topics

Topics of interest for the workshop include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Declarative 3D Use-Cases and Requirements: Discussion of the use cases, where embedding 3D data in HTML using declarative approach provides significant benefit; deduction of the requirements for the D3D specification.
• Declarative 3D and DOM: Discussion of integration of 3D with existing and future W3C standards, specifically: integration of high-level scene concepts; integration with client and server side rendering services, 3D REST; integration with existing security aspects for content delivery and visualization; content portability and platform independence.
• Declarative 3D in current web browsers: Exploring how the incorporation of declarative 3D graphics can be done in currently popular web browsers (e.g., by using WebGL in WebKit or Gecko); what are the possible difficulties?
• Semantics of 3D objects in DOM: Discussion of how descriptive 3D can be combined with semantics. This includes topics such as querying and manipulation of graphical objects, mash-up from several sources, integration of RDF technology, creation of useful APIs based on web services etc
• Declarative 3D User Interface Issues: Novel interfaces and interaction methods for online 3D + HTML content; mobile 3D Web interfaces, interaction techniques; accessibility and usability of 3D Web content.

Submissions

We seek three kinds of submissions:

• Full technical papers – should not exceed eight pages in length in ACM format;
• Short technical papers and position papers – up to four pages in ACM format;
• Demo descriptions – two-page description of the application in ACM format, ideally accompanied with a link to a demo;

Submissions must be formatted using the ACM SIG Proceedings Templates. Please note that the author list does not need to be anonymized, as we do not follow a double-blind review process.

Speed and memory improvements such as X3D binary geometry compression, script sharing, geometry instancing, a new BS SDK update and many more features result in the best BS Contact ever. BS Contact 8.0 offers besides a new designed optional user interface, a game pad interface and multi-touch screen functionality. This new release gives you substantial benefits compared to former versions as it was designed with the goal of rendering speed and alocated memory optimization and comes with a download speed gain of 3D assets and scenes for content authors. So using BS Contact 8.0 can bring you performance leaps of your 3D projects in well prepared cases of more than 50 percent.

Newsletter December: http://www.bitmanagement.de/newsletter/201112.en.html

Technical release notes: http://www.bitmanagement.com/developer/contact/relnotes8.html

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) held their annual Technical Plenary and Advisory Committee (TPAC) meeting in Santa Clara California from 31 Oct through 4 November. During this important week-long event, the Declarative 3D (DEC3D) Community Group (http://www.w3.org/community/declarative3d) of the W3C conducted two meetings on the topic of collecting use cases and building requirements for natively embedding 3D scenes in a web browser.

The primary outreach meeting centered on an overview presentation and demonstrations by co-chairs Johannes Behr (Fraunhofer, Web3D Consortium) and Kristian Sons  (DFKI).  Both of their teams have shown example ways to expand the capabilities of web browsers to natively display 3D scenes. A crucial emphasis is aligning 3D graphics with HTML5 in order to achieve the broadest possible adoption.  The prototype demonstrations of X3DOM (http://www.x3dom.org - pronounced "X-Freedom) and XML3D (http://www.xml3d.org) were quite compelling.  Group participants and attendees agreed that the time is right to define broad use cases and derive corresponding requirements from the larger W3C community.

Participants expect that this ongoing Declarative 3D Community Group effort will strive to become a full-fledged W3C Working Group within the year. The themes and challenges involved with Web-based 3D graphics are quite familiar to X3D authors and implementers, so this work is very appropriate. The Web3D Consortium and X3D Working Group will continue contributing to the Declarative 3D community group in its efforts to broaden 3D graphics on the Web.

The fourth international AR standards Meeting (http://www.perey.com/ARStandards/fourth-international-ar-standards-meeting/) was held in Basel, Switzerland on Oct 24-25. There were attendees representing a number of standards groups, including World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Open GeoSpatial Consortium (OGC), Khronos, and Web3D Consortium.

The future consumer demand for AR applications goes beyond the current use of geo-located points of interest. Looking at the larger “2D plus 3D” space for AR - extending location based AR to vision based. Web3D Consortium discussed their work on these new paradigms to develop standards that address the larger 2D plus 3D space for AR. The Consortium’s efforts to harmonize proven capabilities into best practices for AR and 3D graphics, implementable by multiple X3D viewers, and usable by content authors were  demonstrated.  Web3D Consortium presented X3D’s roadmap for AR and AR proposals with demos from their members - Fraunhofer and Web3D Korea chapter.  X3D, a mature, reliable and viable standard, can save considerable time for developers looking to design new AR applications. Much work has been accomplished already towards integrating AR capabilities in X3D. Current efforts are focused on harmonization of AR options, lightweight deployability, heavyweight consistency, and interoperability with AR and Web standards. As we achieve clarity on the larger strategy for AR, we plan to continue outreach and collaborate with all AR standards groups in establishing compatibility of X3D with other AR models. There is much work yet to be done to achieve synergy. Now is the time for serious AR developers to consider these essential challenges and get involved.

Web3D Consortium membership is open to companies, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals. All X3D Specification capabilities can be implemented on a royalty free basis. We look forward to further participation and collaboration by the AR community to achieve long-term success for AR content on the Web.  For information on the Web3D AR Working Group please see:  http://www.web3d.org/realtime-3d/augmented-reality-ar

The Web3D position paper is available at http://www.perey.com/ARStandards/%5BWeb3d%5DAR_Roadmap_for_X3D.pdf.

Vicomtech-IK4 (Visual Interaction and Communication Technologies Centre) is a private and non-for-profit applied research centre for Interactive Computer Graphics and Multimedia located in the Technology Park of San Sebastian (Spain). It has an international team composed by more than 90 researchers. Vicomtech-IK4 works in applied research in the following six application areas: Digital TV and Multimedia Services; eHealth and Biomedial Applications; eTourism and Cultural Heritage; 3D Animation and Interactive Virtual Environments; Intelligent Transport Systems and Engineering; Human Speech and Language Techonologies. Its research in 3D Graphics is based both in low-level APIs and in high-level standards like X3D.

The Web3D Consortium regularly publishes a newsletter covering major Consortium events and news. The Fall 2011 Newsletter has been published and distributed. If you would like to receive our newsletter in email, please sign up.

You can read the newsletter on-line at http://www.web3d.org/realtime-3d/newsletters/201109/siggraph-wrap-up.

The newsletter features stories and reports on

• Augmented reality
• HTML5/DOM interoperability
• Medical standards progress
• Commercial progress
• Korea chapter meeting