X3D Final Working Draft

Web3D Consortium Releases X3D Final Working Draft

Call for Implementations in Advance of International Standard Submission

X3D SDK Available From Web3D Consortium at SIGGRAPH 2002

Web3D Consortium Establishes Java Rendering Working Group to Define Graphics API Bindings for Java

San Antonio, TX, USA. July 23, 2002.

The Web3D Consortium today announced the availability of the final working draft version of the X3D ("Extensible 3D") specification to bring state-of-the-art 3D graphics to the Web and broadcast environments for a wide variety of applications and devices. The X3D final working draft was unveiled during the ACM SIGGRAPH 2002 conference held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. Demonstrations of X3D implementations will be shown from July 23-25 at the Web3D Consortium SIGGRAPH booth #17090. The Web3D Consortium has also issued a Call for Implementations, inviting companies to evaluate and implement products using this open, royalty-free specification in preparation for submission of X3D to the International Standards Organization (ISO). The X3D specification is available for download at:

http://www.web3d.org/specs.

X3D will ship with a rich repository of sample content to facilitate conformance testing and to educate content developers. The X3D Software Development Kit (SDK) CD will be available at SIGGRAPH 2002 and from the Web3D Consortium's web site at http://www.web3d.org.

"The X3D Final Working Draft is the culmination of four years of design, implementation and evaluation by leaders in the Web3D industry," said Tony Parisi, president of Media Machines and co-editor of the X3D specification. "X3D integrates the best of proven 3D graphics technology with emerging web and broadcast technologies to provide a flexible, open platform for developing compelling content."

X3D enables the creation and deployment of state-of-the-art 3D graphics on small, lightweight clients, and the integration of high-performance 3D into broadcast and embedded devices. X3D also works seamlessly with World Wide Web technologies including the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the Document Object Model (DOM), providing extensive application-development capabilities. X3D satisfies these demanding requirements with an advanced componentized architecture that enables compact client players with add-on components, as well as a set of profiles designed to meet the demands of a variety of applications. Earlier this year the X3D Interactive Profile was accepted by the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) as the basis for lightweight, interactive 3D graphics in the MPEG-4 multimedia standard. The Web3D Consortium will deliver X3D with a rich set of base components and profiles with additional components and profiles to follow in the near future.

X3D has been developed by the Web3D Consortium with the strong backing of prominent member companies, organizations, and professionals, including 3Dlabs, blaxxun, Media Machines, US Naval Postgraduate School, Nexternet, OpenWorlds, ParallelGraphics, Sun Microsystems, and Yumetech. X3D is already being used in a growing number of commercial, academic and government applications.

"The X3D team has been solving the hard problems of interoperability, interchange and Web accessibility that face all 3D authors and companies," said Don Brutzman of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and X3D Task Group chair. "NPS and our partners are now seeing significant demand for an open, XML-based 3D standard by government agencies."

X3D comes with a sample open-source implementation, Xj3D. Xj3D is a java-based toolkit developed by Yumetech that allows companies to rapidly support X3D. The full source code is available under the LGPL license, and can be used by companies as a library without restrictions. To enable the deployment of Xj3D across a wide range of platforms and devices, the Web3D Consortium has formed the Java Rendering Working Group. The Java Rendering Working Group, led by members from Sun Microsystems, Yumetech and Aniviza, will define Java-technology bindings for common graphics application programmer interfaces, such as Direct3D and OpenGL, providing a foundation rendering layer for implementing X3D everywhere.

"Yumetech sees the availability of open-source implementations as a key component in the development of X3D," notes Alan D. Hudson, President of Yumetech, Inc. "Xj3D is a complete open source code base that will foster the market adoption of X3D by content and browser developers and facilitate X3D's adoption by ISO as an international standard."

"The Web3D Consortium's efforts with X3D represent a significant step forward in bringing advanced 3D graphics to the Web and to broadcast environments over a range of devices," said Rob Glidden, market development manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "The open source Java technology based implementation, developed in conjunction with the Java Rendering working group and including Java 3D extensions, will benefit developers and advance the standardization process."

"Open standards will be a vital ingredient in making 3D graphics a ubiquitous and pervasive part of the Web -- and X3D is the new generation Web3D open standard that integrates the lessons of years of market experience," said Neil Trevett, president of the Web3D Consortium and senior vice president at 3Dlabs. "The Web3D Consortium has once again proven itself to be a unique and effective organization for cooperation for the benefit of the whole graphics industry."

Web3D Consortium

The Web3D Consortium is the industry's only non-profit organization developing and promoting open standards to enable 3D Web and broadcast applications. The Consortium is comprised of many leading corporations and educational institutions including 3Dlabs, Intel Corporation, SGDL Systems, Sun Microsystems, US Naval Postgraduate School and US STRICOM. There are also over 75 individual Professional Members contributing their expertise to Consortium activities. Web3D Consortium members provide technical and marketing expertise for the continued evolution of open 3D standards while gaining early access to ongoing technology and commercial opportunities. As a member of the World Wide Web Consortium, the Web3D Consortium actively works to maximize 3D interoperability with all Web standards. More information on the Consortium and Consortium membership is available at http://www.web3d.org.

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See "VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) and X3D."

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The Web3D Consortium today announced the availability of the final working draft version of the X3D ("Extensible 3D") specification to bring state-of-the-art 3D graphics to the Web and broadcast environments for a wide variety of applications and devices. The X3D final working draft was unveiled during the ACM SIGGRAPH 2002 conference held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. Demonstrations of X3D implementations will be shown from July 23-25 at the Web3D Consortium SIGGRAPH booth #17090. The Web3D Consortium has also issued a Call for Implementations, inviting companies to evaluate and implement products using this open, royalty-free specification in preparation for submission of X3D to the International Standards Organization (ISO). The X3D specification is available for download at: http://www.web3d.org/specs. X3D will ship with a rich repository of sample content to facilitate conformance testing and to educate content developers. The X3D Software Development Kit (SDK) CD will be available at SIGGRAPH 2002 and from the Web3D Consortium's web site at http://www.web3d.org. "The X3D Final Working Draft is the culmination of four years of design, implementation and evaluation by leaders in the Web3D industry," said Tony Parisi, president of Media Machines and co-editor of the X3D specification. "X3D integrates the best of proven 3D graphics technology with emerging web and broadcast technologies to provide a flexible, open platform for developing compelling content." X3D enables the creation and deployment of state-of-the-art 3D graphics on small, lightweight clients, and the integration of high-performance 3D into broadcast and embedded devices. X3D also works seamlessly with World Wide Web technologies including the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the Document Object Model (DOM), providing extensive application-development capabilities. X3D satisfies these demanding requirements with an advanced componentized architecture that enables compact client players with add-on components, as well as a set of profiles designed to meet the demands of a variety of applications. Earlier this year the X3D Interactive Profile was accepted by the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) as the basis for lightweight, interactive 3D graphics in the MPEG-4 multimedia standard. The Web3D Consortium will deliver X3D with a rich set of base components and profiles with additional components and profiles to follow in the near future. X3D has been developed by the Web3D Consortium with the strong backing of prominent member companies, organizations, and professionals, including 3Dlabs, blaxxun, Media Machines, US Naval Postgraduate School, Nexternet, OpenWorlds, ParallelGraphics, Sun Microsystems, and Yumetech. X3D is already being used in a growing number of commercial, academic and government applications. "The X3D team has been solving the hard problems of interoperability, interchange and Web accessibility that face all 3D authors and companies," said Don Brutzman of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and X3D Task Group chair. "NPS and our partners are now seeing significant demand for an open, XML-based 3D standard by government agencies." X3D comes with a sample open-source implementation, Xj3D. Xj3D is a java-based toolkit developed by Yumetech that allows companies to rapidly support X3D. The full source code is available under the LGPL license, and can be used by companies as a library without restrictions. To enable the deployment of Xj3D across a wide range of platforms and devices, the Web3D Consortium has formed the Java Rendering Working Group. The Java Rendering Working Group, led by members from Sun Microsystems, Yumetech and Aniviza, will define Java-technology bindings for common graphics application programmer interfaces, such as Direct3D and OpenGL, providing a foundation rendering layer for implementing X3D everywhere. "Yumetech sees the availability of open-source implementations as a key component in the development of X3D," notes Alan D. Hudson, President of Yumetech, Inc. "Xj3D is a complete open source code base that will foster the market adoption of X3D by content and browser developers and facilitate X3D's adoption by ISO as an international standard." "The Web3D Consortium's efforts with X3D represent a significant step forward in bringing advanced 3D graphics to the Web and to broadcast environments over a range of devices," said Rob Glidden, market development manager at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "The open source Java technology based implementation, developed in conjunction with the Java Rendering working group and including Java 3D extensions, will benefit developers and advance the standardization process." "Open standards will be a vital ingredient in making 3D graphics a ubiquitous and pervasive part of the Web -- and X3D is the new generation Web3D open standard that integrates the lessons of years of market experience," said Neil Trevett, president of the Web3D Consortium and senior vice president at 3Dlabs. "The Web3D Consortium has once again proven itself to be a unique and effective organization for cooperation for the benefit of the whole graphics industry." Web3D Consortium The Web3D Consortium is the industry's only non-profit organization developing and promoting open standards to enable 3D Web and broadcast applications. The Consortium is comprised of many leading corporations and educational institutions including 3Dlabs, Intel Corporation, SGDL Systems, Sun Microsystems, US Naval Postgraduate School and US STRICOM. There are also over 75 individual Professional Members contributing their expertise to Consortium activities. Web3D Consortium members provide technical and marketing expertise for the continued evolution of open 3D standards while gaining early access to ongoing technology and commercial opportunities. As a member of the World Wide Web Consortium, the Web3D Consortium actively works to maximize 3D interoperability with all Web standards. More information on the Consortium and Consortium membership is available at http://www.web3d.org. Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See "VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) and X3D."