X3DV

Draft

Definition

The X3D ISO standard defines a runtime system and delivery mechanism for real time 3D content and applications running on a network. It supports several file format encodings and programming languages, providing unsurpassed interoperability for 3D data and significant flexibility in manipulating, communicating and displaying scenes interactively. X3D incorporates the latest advances in graphics hardware, compression and data security to provide the best performance and visual impact in an extensible architecture that supports ongoing evolution. X3D's XML-encoded scene graph enables 3D to be incorporated into web services architectures and distributed environments, facilitating the movement of 3D data between applications.

See also: AJAX3D, VRML

Software

X3D Clients

Major clients (tested by Daniel K. Schneider)

• Octaga Player. Full free X3D player for Window and Linux.

• BS Contact VRML X3D VRML/X3D. Commercial software, but 60 days of trial. A free version that includes a crawling banner is available

• Flux from MediaMachines. Free player X3D player for Windows (IE/Firefox)

Other clients

• Free WRL an open-source (GPL) X3D and VRML browser for Unix/Linux/OS X. Perl/C based. Not completely feature complete, but getting there.

• Xj3D - Java based X3D Toolkit and X3D Browser. Cross-platform, but not as fast as others.

Specialized clients

• Alpharis, a collective knowledge organization tool that uses X3D

• ManyOne is Digital Universe. Features a modified Mozilla with a flux plugin for 3D contents.

Servers

• Any web-server can serve X3D contents for stand-alone usage. You only have to make sure to configure the following mime-types:

 .x3dv  model/x3d vrml
 .x3d   model/x3d xml
 .x3db  model/x3d binary

Authoring tools

Check the web3d.org website. It has a good list of tools for X3D Development.

Combined Modeling / behaviors and scripting tools with a GUI

• Flux Studio. FREE for personal use on 14:03, 6 February 2007 (MET) ! Authoring means model, animate, and script. Imports from other applications such as Sketchup, 3ds, Maya, Blender, and Unreal.

• SwirlX3D, 129 CAN$. This is a successor of popular Spazz3D

Structure editors

• X3D-Edit X3D-Edit is a graphics file editor for Extensible 3D (X3D) that enables simple error-free editing, authoring and validation of X3D or VRML scene-graph files. Context-sensitive tooltips provide concise summaries of each VRML node and attribute. These tooltips simplify authoring and improve understanding for novice and expert users alike.
• To handcode X3D you also can use any XML editor that supports DTD or XSD, e.g. Xemacs.

Links

General

• web3D Consortium Home Page

Specification

• X3D and Related Specifications Page at web3d.org
• X3D Wiki at web3D. A nice alternative to the specification ! Hopefully this will evolve [1/2006]

Tutorials

• Extensible 3D: XML Meets VRML xml.com tutorial by Len Bullard, Aug 2003