[WF-Protocols] Discussion on Open Model Format

[Aglanor]

Hello all, and welcome to the discussion on Open Model Format

	As you already know, this discussion has the goal of designing a free
and open 3D model format, to be used on free applications such as 3D
engines and editors.

	The initial goal is to create a model format (mesh + skeleton), though
if it succeeds we might look into further possibilities, such as
creating a set of formats for scene description.

	The following projects have been invited to participate: Cal3D,
Crystalspace, NeoEngine, Ogre and Worldforge. If you also know of other
projects who'd be interested in this discussion, please feel free to
invite them too.

	The goal for the first iteration should be to define the requirements
for a standard model format and specify a format that fulfills those
requirements so tools can be built for it.

	The URL of the discussion page will be at:
	http://www.worldforge.org/dev/content/media/standards/model_format

	The archives of the mailing list can be found at:
	http://mail.worldforge.org/archive/protocols/

	Thanks for your participation and hope you have a good time :)

	Regards,

	Aglanor


********************************************

Now, after the welcome message, a couple of initial issues:

	* Which format should be preferred? Jorrit, fluoro (and me) prefer XML
for readability and flexibility, while in the discussion on the IRC
channel it seemed that zzorn and thebolt were looking for a chunked
binary format for efficiency. I wonder if we could have the best of both
worlds, having both an XML format and binary chunks separated by headers
conforming both to the same data (but that's twice the work on tools to
load and write them, of course).

	* How is this standard going to be published? I was thinking about
writing a document, seems the usual way is assigning the copyright to
"All the participants" or simply to "The Open Model Format Working
Group". The license could be GNU FDL. Is this OK for everybody or are
there disagreements?  

	* Will we have a format for the whole "model", or shall we define a
format for the mesh, another for the skeleton, and then let people mix
meshes and skeletons?

	* There is an issue with more than one mesh for the same model. (I sent
a mail about this yesterday from work, seems it has not arrived, might
be a problem with our server so it might arrive anytime today).

	* Any other ideas / suggestions?

	Aglanor


-- 
Aglanor <aglanor at telefonica.net>