Dear Web3D Community,

As we reach the midpoint of 2026, we're excited to share the remarkable progress our consortium has made in advancing open standards for real-time 3D communication. The first half of this year has been marked by significant technical achievements, growing community engagement, and preparations for our upcoming annual conference.

X3D STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT

Our Standards Working Group has been exceptionally productive during the January-June period. Key accomplishments include:

X3D 4.1 Specification Updates: Continued refinement of the draft X3D 4.1 specification with enhanced support for modern rendering pipelines and improved interoperability with emerging web technologies.  Participation and membership have value!

glTF Integration: Significant progress on seamless integration between X3D and glTF formats, enabling better workflows for 3D content creators and developers.

HAnim: Advanced development of draft H-Anim 2.1 specification continues, with weekly progress.  Areas of activity include new HAnimPose node, design of Coveroid for apparel, Avatar compatibility with Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF) working group, definition of motion capture (MOCAP) markers for tracking and motion generation, Level of Articulation (LOA) 5 for addition of "fused" bones and cartilage, plus more.

Geospatial: New data visualization with X3D, glTF and OGC 3D Tiles. Through the Cesium Ecosystem Grant, the Web3D Consortium is enabling X3DOM to stream massive geospatial datasets—terrain, photogrammetry, buildings—directly into declarative X3D scenes. This work strengthens alignment across X3D, glTF, and OGC 3D Tiles, creating a seamless, vendor‑neutral pathway from data acquisition to web deployment. For users, this unlocks scalable digital twin experiences, richer metadata‑driven visualization, and a more interoperable 3D ecosystem built on open standards that will endure.

WORKING GROUP HIGHLIGHTS

Humanoid Animation (HAnim): Advanced development of H-Anim 2.1 specification, focusing on improved rigging standards and motion capture data integration for virtual humans and avatars.

Geospatial:  Enhanced geospatial component specifications to support large-scale terrain visualization and X3D integration with OGC 3D Tiles. More details in this Blog 

X3D Ecosystem SIG: This public special interest group documents and tracks the issues and roadblocks facing integration of X3D content across diverse domains, including pipeline, authoring and conversion tools. The group looks to examine and solve real-world problems with existing X3D conformance.  

Recent work: 

• Maya MaterialX Compound Nodes as X3D Shader Fields. Further details are provided in this Blog
• Collaborative 3D Scenes with IIIF Manifests. Further details are provided in this Blog
• RawKee Exporter Updates: RawKee4Blender, Roadmap, and MaterialX. Further details are provided  in this Blog

AI and X3D  SIG:  This Web3D open special interest group is focusing on enhancing 3D graphics, improving user experiences, and driving innovation across various industries through the application of AI and the Web3D Standard scene graphs. The x3d_mcp project provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for generating, validating, and converting valid X3D content using assets and tools developed for the official X3D International Standards. 

x3d_mcp initiative exposes X3D capabilities to LLMs via the Model MCP. It generates spec-compliant X3D scenes in XML, JSON, and ClassicVRML encodings, with full validation against the ISO/IEC 19775 standard. Further details are provided in this Blog 

Web of Worlds: Web3D members are leading the Web of Worlds Initiative a Metaverse Standards Forum WG. This group is setting the spatial web vision, X3D/Web3D provides the open 3D standard to build it, and the Metaverse Standards Forum coordinates the broader ecosystem so everything interoperates across platforms and industries.  Further details are provided in this Blog 

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Technical Webinars: Our series of technical webinars attracted participants globally, covering topics from X3D basics to advanced shader programming.

Educational Outreach: Expanded partnerships with universities and technical institutions to integrate X3D standards into curriculum for computer graphics and web development courses.

Open Source Contributions: Growing ecosystem of X3D tools and libraries, with notable contributions to X3DOM and X_ITE frameworks.

LOOKING AHEAD: WEB3D 2026 CONFERENCE

Save the Date: 13-15 October  2026 | Doha, Qatar

We're thrilled to announce that preparations are well underway for Web3D 2026, our annual international conference. This year's event promises to be our most ambitious yet, featuring:

• Cutting-edge research presentations on real-time 3D graphics
• Industry showcases of Web3D applications across sectors
• Hands-on workshops and tutorials
• Networking opportunities with global 3D web community
• Competitions

MEMBERSHIP & PARTICIPATION

Our consortium continues to grow, welcoming new members from industry, academia, and the open-source community. We encourage organizations and individuals passionate about open 3D web standards to join us in shaping the future of real-time 3D communication.

Get Involved:

• Join our working groups
• Contribute to standards development
• Participate in community discussions
• Attend our webinars and events
• Visit www.web3d.org for more information on membership and participation opportunities.

RESOURCES

• Website: www.web3d.org
• Standards Documentation: www.web3d.org/standards
• Community Forum: Engage with fellow developers and researchers
• Public Mailing lists: www.web3d.org/community/public-mailing-lists
• Join Working Groups: www.web3d.org/working-groups
• GitHub Repositories: Access open-source tools and examples: github.com/Web3DConsortium

We extend our gratitude to all consortium members, working group participants, and community contributors who make our mission possible. Your dedication to open standards continues to drive innovation in 3D web technologies.

We look forward to an equally productive second half of 2026 and seeing many of you at Web3D 2026 in Doha!

For more information, contact: info@web3d.org

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