Tour the Galaxy in X3D
The X3D community blog has link to the PlanetQuest app built by the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, flagging it as a “brilliant” example of the power of the X3D open-standards 3D Web format. I’m still not convinced — though I’m still open to persuasion. The app shows off the Milky Way galaxy from various angles and is nice looking on the first go-round, but it was also totally browser-breaking, for me, and I didn’t feel like I was looking at anything terribly new. Why not build something with the same functionality in a virtual world browser along the lines of Multiverse? At least make it so the music stops playing when I close the app and the Web page. I suspect I’m running into some technical difficulties here, but I’d still like to see more. For now, I’m sticking with Celestia.
Feeds
mark,
its not an “x3d demo” your reporting about,…in fact youre “making the case for X3D capabilities” while reporting on whats actually a project done in wirefusion, a non open standard, non accelerated java based application akin to flash that adds 3d support. Its also a proprietary format/system own by one company for display of content, Demicron. Demicron does make a very good web3d app for in page 3d additions of content. Its one of the easiest and most flash like to use for authoring,and it will import/export? X3D or VRML since “they” are open standards, and work as popular interchange formats. But as a playback engine I find Wirefusion slow, unaccelerated by 3d cards, and very similar to other java (no plugin) dll driven downloaded apps, that have been around for many years. They are not fullscreen “metaverse” building solutions. and the project is not using many features of the x3d standard.
Len Bullard, if i read the post accurately, was only commenting on the pieces “presentation” and ‘visual design” as nice..not suggesting that it was a demo of what the x3d player/engines can do, only what developers using x3d should aspire to in creating design, i agree, most “programmer like dvelopers” using x3d should use the project as an example of a nice self contained web 3d piece.;) ill double check the log.
In fact there are/were VRML solar system projects(SGI 1996) done in the past decade that surpass the wifeusion project in terms of features and size/speed of 3d playback, and interface design as well (IMO). A current X3D solar system project was built by ManyOne in x3d for the flux player engine over the last years. Im not sure its online, but has been shown at tradeshows. It has many more “tech features” and higher graphic capabilities than the WF demo.
ironically ManyOne left X3D and Flux for a while to build a system using OGRE, the engine that is behind MULTIVERSE, that “initiative” has seemed to fail , and Ive yet to see a project using Ogre at that level.
Though i also think the WF demo is nice, its nothing that shows off x3d players abilities, in that i agree.
but dont confuse it with the file formats used, or the capabilities of the players/engines used.
X3D is a 3 level iso standard, only the first, simplest one(interchange) was utilized by this wirefusion project(if it was at all-btw- im not even sure a x3d/or vrml file was imported into wirefusion at all to create this project, no way to tell from the “3d” galaxy shown in the project;)
Hey, just tryin to keep bloggin accurate;)
larryr
c3
i created all the content at
http://www.thex3dxperience.com all x3d/ or some fx3d(encrypted ,extended-x3d) demos, showing lots of features of the flux player for x3d/kml/vrml and more formats to come:)
Thanks, Larry. Len calls it “stunning proof of the power of X3D.” Sounds like that’s only partly accurate?
ps. its multiverse.net, not .com check the link-typo ;)
i also saw the longer post by len bullard as reported at the web3d.org site, (i think i may have seen a post by him about the nasa project at another site first) in any case , the calling of the project as a “stunning use of x3d power” is a bit inaccurate…. i think a “stunning use of web3d” would be more accurate, if in fact “i” thought it was stunning, which i dont, just nice;)
its like saying a magazine has a stunning use of jpgs..;)lol, as opposed to great looking photographs printed on the page…
best,
larry
cube3
http://myspace.com/starbasec3
BTw- above is another small test of using x3d in a page… this time myspace.com sites….similar to the “space themed” nasa project- but made for entertainment, not education.
this is a raw x3d file, done last year, now playable in myspace pages- use space bar for viewpoint changes, click on ships to launch them, there are some other myspace sites using web3d viz flux out there now, look for more in the next weeks…
a fuller use of the web enabled x3d files in flux player would be to link the scene internally via http to another 3d world or webpage outside of myspace..thus using mypspace as a billboard launching area to a web enabled 3d metaverse or world….soon;) ill get around to doing that;)
larryr
cube3