xml-dev - RE: In praise of SVG

[Bill dehOra <Wdehora@cromwellmedia.co.uk>]

:> I thought it was pretty well recognized that 2D was enough simpler
:> than 3D that it didn't work that way.  Collisions don't happen, the
:> two are on different roads.  Most people don't _want_ the headaches
:> that come up in 3D modeling.

Well the thing is, if you go 3D from the start, you get 2D for free. Using a
3D system for 2D isn't that much harder than using 2D. 


:Most of what is done with SVG, Flash does fine.  What SVG does better 
:is integrate with the emerging family of lexically unified, XML
:application languages.

This is true, but this is the key value of SVG. It becomes a 'universal'
format for defining images in the XML sense. It also means you can script
over SVG with A DOM application, dynamically generate images, can embed text
as text and can start thinking about image management inter alia document
management. 

IMO the fact that SVG can do pan, zoom and animate and other gee whizz stuff
is the least interesting aspect of it. It's more impressive that in the near
future we will be able to search and query images, and reason with them,
rather than just look at them. 

The potential of SVG is enormous. But if it had 3D, we would have a
universal format for physical objects. That's a real revolution, and being
able to draw cool pictures is trivial in comparison.

-Bill

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