Srikanth Subramaniam (srikanth++at++eng.radiance.com)
Fri, 18 Aug 1995 10:04:41 -0700
Thanks for your input on Radiance's Ez3d.
I am new to this list, so hope this hasnt been discussed already: Have you
real-time guys considered VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) as a
unifying format? The rest of the world is going gaga over VRML, and it has
become the format of choice for 3D on the Internet. I heard that CAD companies
are considering it as a standard data exchange format.
VRML goes (or will go) much beyond a 3D modeling format. After all, VRML
browsers are also (supposed to be!) real-time. VRML is a subset of the Open
Inventor format. In addition to basic face sets, materials, textures, and so
on, it also supports LOD. Whatever's not supported can be done thru Info nodes
(eg: time of day, object priority, etc). And if some aspects of VRML are not
suitable for high-end real-time, you could take a subset. VRML 2.0 will also
support behaviors, interaction, 3D sound, and so on, which are also useful for
high-end real-time.
Parsers for VRML are available in Public domain. What's more, any Open Inventor
loader should also work with VRML, so Performer is already in on it.
While it is true that many OpenInventor/VRML files can be non-optimal and
non-realtime, optimized geometry (with LOD) can be represented in VRML - the
latter kind is only kind real-time people deal with anyway. In other words,
Performer scenes can be represented as VRML ****without any loss in
performance.***
This will allow the high-end real-time community to make use of the thousands
of clip-art objects that are popping up on the Web these days, and be part of
the "mainstream" while not sacrificing performance. These clip objects are not
the traditional animation-type objects with zillions of polys. These are
specifically geared toward 3D Web browsers and are quite optimal.
The other advantage is that your tools/toolkits will be a natural upgrade path
for people or corporations who want to go from toys to "real" VR - will be good
business for Performer, Coryphaeus, Paradigm, and others (as well as Radiance,
which is trying to straddle both ends!). In fact, that will be a good marketing
strategy for SGI to sell their high-end to a broader market.
It will be informative to hear why VRML may not be appropriate. I can post the
VRML specification on this mailing list if there is interest. Else look at
http://www.sgi.com/Products/WebFORCE and follow links from there.
-Srikanth
-- -Srikanth___________________________________________________________________ Srikanth Subramaniam srikanth++at++eng.radiance.com Radiance Software Intl tel: (415) 324-9658 1726, Francisco Street fax: (510) 848-7613 Berkeley, CA 94703 http://www.radiance.com/~radiance ___________________________________________________________________
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