X3D4 Changes, Capabilities and Opportunities
Abstract. X3D version 4 is a major upgrade to the Extensible 3D (X3D) Graphics International Standard that supports HTML5 integration, advanced Physically Based Rendering (PBR) with glTF, Projective Texture Mapping (PTM), Humanoid Animation (HAnim2) and numerous other improvements. Available file encodings include XML ClassicVRML and JSON, and complete open-source programming libraries are available in JavaScript, Java, and Python. Strict validation of models allows exceptionally high levels of Quality Assurance (QA). This tutorial summarizes new capabilities and describes author support in modern browsers, updated tools and a growing set of examples.
The final review X3D4 Specification is released. Much execution work is accelerating the implementation and evaluation of X3D4 forward. This tutorial summarizes:
- New capabilities for authors and users
- X3D specification improvements
- File encodings and programming language support
- Library and application support for modeling, conversions, and validation
- Browser, players and authoring tool support for X3D scenes
- A steadily growing suite of example models and web page
- Integration of X3D4 with HTML5
Andreas Plesch has been central to the implementation and evaluation of X3D4. He has provided an excellent X3D HTML5 Video that demonstrates how authors can use X3D within an HTML page.