Recently there has been discussion about the suitability of various 3D formats as an archive format, especially for models. There are formats that have been around a long time (OBJ, FBX, X3D), those that are optimized for delivery (glTF), those that are widely used in existing tool chains (OBJ and FBX), plus a number of other criteria and formats including tool-specific (Blender, Maya, etc.). The most widely used format is FBX and any format that seeks to supplant it needs to offer at least as much capability as that one.

WIth 3D/VR becomming practical in the web browser there are a lot of questions concerning the right format to use for various situations. This post looks at two model formats - X3D and glTF. Both formats support full geometric surface modeling, but there are differences between these formats for some specific areas.

This is part of a multi-part post that explores some ideas for integrating X3D into HTML5 DOM. It explores various options and their implications. The primary post is "Integrating X3D into DOM - Issues".

 The big announcement this month from Khronos is Blender now exports glTF models. Things makes a very large collection of models now available for use in web pages with libraries like XSeen.

The X3D language uses mixed case node and field names. In some cases field values are specified as case-specific names. This is standard XML. HTML allows for any case and converts tags and attribute names to lower case before use. The HTML language does not impose specific case requirements on attribute values. XHTML is XML-based, so it is case sensitive; however, all tag and attribute names are defined as lowercase.

Main post that lists the major issues for integration.

The previous post ("Integrating X3D Into DOM - Inline") developed a solution for namescoped nodes, specifically Inline. This post looks at implications of that solution.

This is part of a multi-part post that explores some ideas for integrating X3D into HTML5 DOM. It explores various options and their implications. The primary post is "Integrating X3D into DOM - Issues".

HTML gained wide-spread acceptance because it was straight-forward and produced results even if you did write it perfectly - it is very forgiving. Of course, you get better results when written correctly, but you are never puzzling out what IEA102A INVALID PARAMETER/FORMAT - RESPECIFY means¹. HTML presents a unified environment to the web designer and user.

This post introduces XSeen - a declarative language built on A-Frame and X3D to achieve the desire of a fully declarative 3D/VR language that runs in the web browser. In this initial release the language supports some X3D and some A-Frame nodes and capabilities. It is possible to combine the two to produce results that are the available in either.