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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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