Re: [www-vrml] Tim BL Is Baffled, Too

["George Birbilis" <birbilis@kagi.com>]

> Yes. I agree, but it really doesn't have to be this way. POV-Ray worlds
are far more economically written than VRML or X3D. I am sure that X3D could
be made much more simple to write. (I have to say I'm still not convinced
XML was the way to go.)

Hi Miriam,
if you want to spec your own X3D-lite syntax (in XML) and provide a document
that shows 1-to-1 examples on how to convert that to the official X3D
syntax, I can make you (for free) an easy to use tool for Windows to convert
your XML-based syntax to X3D syntax (and possibly vice-versa too if your
X3D-lite covers all aspects of X3D [which isn't necessery though if you just
care to do one way conversion from your simplified syntax to X3D legal
syntax])

for example that would solve your annoyance with Texture Coordinate nodes
etc., since you'd be writing in your own style

I prefer your syntax to be in XML too cause it easies my creating a
document-type-definition (or XML Schema) out of your syntax and reuse an
existing XML parser like MSXML (which is preinstalled with Internet Explorer
5+ or maybe even earlier ones) and possibly XSL/XSLT (an XML transformation
language using itself XML syntax too) to do the transformation from X3D-lite
to X3D

Jeff Sostein is on a similar path with XVRML (http://xvrml.net/), not sure
though if he has made it simple enough syntax to suit you. If he has and you
care to provide some XVRML->X3D matching examples I can start writing a
converter for XVRML to X3D (do check their site in case they have such
already)

btw, the Shaders group for X3D is doing a great job and some of the things
you were listing as missing (shadows, reflections etc.) will be easy to do
with custom shaders (see BitManagement's site for some examples on shiny
metal objects in X3D etc. [speaking of shaders, DirectX / Direct3D SDK from
MSDN has some nice "fur" shader example if anyone cares to check it out and
implement similar in X3D])

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Birbilis <birbilis@kagi.com> [Microsoft MVP J#]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ QuickTime VCL and ActiveX controls (for PowerPoint/VB/Delphi etc.)
+ Plugs VCL and ActiveX controls (InterProcess/Internet communication)
+ TransFormations, VB6 forms to ASP.net WebForms convertion
http://www.kagi.com/birbilis
+ Robotics
http://www.mech.upatras.gr/~robgroup
........................................................................

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