Difference between revisions of "X3D version 3.4 Development"

Revision as of 21:36, 9 August 2013

X3D version 3.4 Development efforts are evolutionary improvements to the widely proven X3D Graphics architecture.

Web3D Consortium working groups currently define specification goals and requirements. We publicly reviewed these goals during Web3D 2013 and SIGGRAPH 2013 conference meetings this summer.

Topics on this list are not guaranteed to be completed - work proceeds based on Web3D Consortium Member priorities.

• Audio and video: adding royalty-free formats, aural spatialization, streamability
• Computer Aided Design (CAD) Interactive/Mobile Profile, to include:
  • CADInterchange profile, primitive/Geometry2D nodes, Extrusion, NURBS, ClipPlane, part selection/animation, 3D printing, and Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE)
• ECMAScript (Javascript) specification revision: confirm compatibility with X3D scripting
• Generalized input/output interface support: such as Virtual Reality Peripheral Network (VRPN), gesture recognition (such as KINECT), etc.
  • Some overlap with Augmented Reality Continuum (ARC) effort in X3D 4.0.
• Geospatial X3D component: spatial reference frame (SRF) and KML support, OGC 3D Portrayal, GpsSensor, OpenLayer mashups
• Humanoid Animation (H-Anim) new work items, including skeleton and skinning improvements
• Medical improvements: metadata and annotations, archival 3D medical records, potential emphasis on TBI volume visualization
• X3D Multitexture is undergoing review for correctness, completeness and conformance of rendering example scenes
• Networking: consider NetworkSensor and event-passing issues, streaming using JSON, server-side 3D topics
• Rendering: bump maps, projective texture mapping (PTM), shadows
• Security and privacy: conduct formal review to ensure that strengths and potential vulnerabilities are formally documented.
• Texturing: required or recommended formats for imagery and video (.gif .flv etc.)
• Viewing and navigation: cinematic camera control, alternative navigation types (such as PAN, etc.), Recommended navigation behaviours review

All suggestions and recommendations are welcome. Component improvements and additions are approved by Web3D Consortium members.

Backwards and forward compatibility

Thanks to careful design and insistence on implementation/evaluation, the X3D International Standard has maintained both steady growth and interoperability ever since Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) in 1997. This track record of stability and innovation is among the best in the 3D graphics industry.

X3D version 4.0 Development efforts are focused on HTML5/Declarative 3D/X3DOM and Augmented Reality Continuum (ARC) technologies, which may require architectural changes. Some new technologies may get pushed from 4.0 to 3.4 (or back again) after careful consideration by the respective working groups.

• As with all other X3D components, all work is defined in the abstract specification has corresponding file encodings (.x3d .x3dv .x3db) and language bindings (ECMAScript and Java).
• Compatibility concerns include evolutionary efforts to upgrade the X3D Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE), as described in the X3D Compressed Binary Encoding Call For Contributions.

Schedule

• X3D CADInterchange/Mobile Profile goal. Working on implementations now, target completion December 2013.
• X3D Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE) goal. Finish draft by December 2013, review completeness of geometric compression contributions.
• X3D version 3.4 goal. Review progress in one year at SIGGRAPH 2014, members decide if work continues or draft specification proceeds to ISO.