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X3D Example Archives: VRML 2 Sourcebook, Chapter 13 - Points Lines Faces

Complex shapes are hard to build with primitive shapes (for example: terrain, animals, plants, machinery). Instead, build shapes out of atomic components: points, lines, and polygon faces. Shape building is like a 3D connect-the-dots game: place dots at 3D locations, and connect-the-dots to form shapes A coordinate specifies a 3D dot location, measured relative to a coordinate system origin. A geometry node then specifies how to connect the dots: for example, PointSet, IndexedLineSet, or IndexedFaceSet. Animation is accomplished using a CoordinateInterpolator node.

These X3D scenes are adapted directly from the original VRML 2.0 Sourcebook chapter examples. Also available: Introduction to VRML97 SIGGRAPH98 course notes.

Figure 13.16 Vaulted Ceiling
  9 X3D Scenes       Scene Descriptions
Figure 13.10 Point Set Box Corners Points in an IndexedPointSet mark the eight corners of a box. Point size is always 1 pixel regardless of distance.
Figure 13.11 Indexed Line Set Box Wireframe A simple wireframe cube drawn with IndexedLineSet.
Figure 13.12 Indexed Face Set Cube A simple solid cube drawn with IndexedFaceSet.
Figure 13.13 Indexed Face Set Lightning Bolt A 3D lightning bolt using concave faces. Compare Figures 13.13 and 17.7b.
Figure 13.14 Vaulted Ceiling Piece Creased A nonsolid vaulted ceiling piece.
Figure 13.15 Vaulted Ceiling Piece A smoothly shaded vaulted ceiling piece.
Figure 13.16 Vaulted Ceiling A vaulted ceiling piece used repeatedly to build part of a medieval building.
Figure 13.17a Morphing Cube A morphing cube shape using IndexedFaceSet and CoordinateInterpolator.
Figure 13.17b Morphing Cube Line Set A morphing cube shape using IndexedLineSet and CoordinateInterpolator. Note that constant-width lines thwart perspective rendering and lead to optical-illusion effects.

Online at http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/Vrml2Sourcebook/Chapter13-PointsLinesFaces

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Master source code archive is under subversion control at
http://sourceforge.net/p/x3d/code/HEAD/tree/www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/Vrml2Sourcebook/Chapter13-PointsLinesFaces

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Also available: current and archived nightly builds and distributions of these examples, all published under an Open-Source License.

The X3D Resources: Examples page and Savage Developers Guide provide more information about the production of this archive.