Re: request for guidance: centralized extensibility for HTML5 using X3D graphics

Henri Sivonen wrote:
> On Feb 18, 2010, at 16:47, John A. Stewart wrote:
> 
>  > However, the Web3D Consortium also wishes to address the millions (or 
> tens/hundreds of millions) of graphics capable devices out there that 
> currently do not, or will not support WebGL.
> 
> What's the relevance of the above sentence to "centralized extensibility 
> for HTML5"? Do you envision extended HTML5 UAs that support X3D but not 
> WebGL?

HTML5 UAs that support 3D natively will not want to worry about what
low-level rendering API is available on each and every platform, be it
WebGl, OpenGl, DirectX, perhaps some hypothetical future version of
DirectX implemented in Javascript, O3D, or any number of other APIS.

Similarly page authors will not want to worry about what rendering API is
available on each different platform.  Rather they want to add 3D graphics
to their HTML pages and just have it work.

The variety of commercial and open-source plugins show that X3D players
can be built on a variety of different rendering layers.  Indeed, the
X3DOM approach shows that X3D players can be built on a variety of
different rendering layers, even _all of the APIs at the same time_.
http://x3dom.org/x3dom/doc/x3dom-fallback-model.pdf
That should be rather interesting to UA builders...

We enthusiastically support WebGL and the other APIs too.

So we think that X3D is suitable for both web browsers and web authors.

>  > Whether the solution is X3D, or some subset of X3D, or even another 
> graphics language is of relatively little consequence; we just wish to 
> work with the W3C and produce an open standard for platform-agnostic 3D 
> models.
> 
> How do you see the relationship of an open standard for 
> platform-agnostic 3D models and HTML5?

X3D is an open standard for platform-agnostic 3D models.
It is well designed, well implemented, and a good fit for HTML5.

Thanks for your questions Henri.

http://www.web3d.org/x3d/wiki/index.php/X3D_and_HTML5
http://www.web3d.org/x3d/wiki/index.php/X3D_and_HTML5_Summary
http://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/html5/HTML5RecommendationAdditionsForX3D.html

all the best, Don
-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br           brutzman@nps.edu
Watkins 270   MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA  work +1.831.656.2149
X3D, virtual worlds, underwater robots, XMSF  http://web.nps.navy.mil/~brutzman

Received on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 16:51:52 UTC