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   RE: [xml-dev] VRML 1.0 and the HTML Killers

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X3D is doing fine.  You should check out Vizx3D, Flux 
and the Xj3D open source libraries.

The notion of 'killer apps' that have a 'serious impact' 
is dead.  It doesn't work like that anymore.  Pretty much 
everyone is in a niche these days and the questions to 
ask are, do they interoperate with other niches in the 
ecosystem, and are they conformant with the standard.  The 
first question can be hard to answer, but the second 
question can be easy if the process and the originating 
organization do a complete job resulting in conformance testing 
and test marks.  That makes the whole 'business' 
process for citing and procuring them much easier.

http://www.web3d.org/x3d/presentations/web3d_futures_apr04.ppt 

Should provide an overview of what X3D and the W3DC are 
doing these days.  As always, walk up the URL for 
more general information.  The W3DC is reorganizing to 
align itself better with the way most consortia operate 
today although it will maintain the VRML list without 
moderation, and keep the fees for professional members 
moderate ($100) rather than being an 'invitation-only' 
consortium.

I also wrote an article on X3D for xml.com last year.  
It's in the archives somewhere.

HTML will never die.  Gencoding never does.  There 
should always be that easy to learn, easy to apply 
vocabulary that gets jobs done fast.  If there is a 
struggle in X3D or real-time 3D in general, it is 
the complexity of creating it and that as much as 
the problems of client conformance are what keep 
3D on the Web, in the niche.  Graphics are simply 
hard to do, and real time 3D is the toughest of 
all.  We have a lot of work to do to get to 
Drag Drop and Go.  

If you like modeling, any help you can provide would 
be greatly appreciated.  The fellow you would 
want to work with is Alan Hudson who is the 
Xj3D master.  Keith Victor of Virtock Technologies 
is the creator of Vizx3D.  There are other neat 
tools in the freeware areas but you can find out 
all of this at the website above.

len


From: David Megginson [mailto:dmeggin@attglobal.net]

Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:

> VRML 1.0 wasn't an ISO standard.

Did any of the later (i.e. ISO) versions of VRML have any serious impact on 
the Web or the tech world in general?  I remember the 3D-on-the-Web thing 
flaring up and then quickly fizzling out in the mid-to-late 1990s.  VRML 1.0

is still around as a platform-neutral exchange format -- the 3D modelling 
tool's equivalent of Rich Text Format -- so it's fair to argue that that 
version did have a small-but-measurable impact.

I'll be happy to be shown to be wrong.  I love 3D modelling, and I liked the

idea of publishing 3D models on the Web in an open format -- if there's a 
lot of action out there that I'm missing, I'll be grateful for pointers.

Also, I should note, to be fair, that XML-on-the-Web idea fizzled just as 
fast as 3D-on-the-Web did.  All of the supposed client-side HTML killers[*] 
in the late 1990's either died quickly (VRML, XML, ActiveX controls), are on

life support (Java applets), or have found niches and learned to cohabitate 
peacefully (Flash, JavaScript, PDF).


All the best,


David

[*] On the public Web client, that is; obviously, some of these have 
vigorous existances elsewhere, and others survive inside corporate
firewalls.




 

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