[WF-Protocols] Abstract 3D Layer (A3DL)

[Peter Amstutz]

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Hi, I thought I should describe my project a bit and how it could fit into
Open Model Format initiative...

I'm the lead programmer for the Interreality project
(http://interreality.org), developing the Virtual Object System (VOS).
The goal of this project is to build a generic multiuser virtual reality
system.  A big part of this involves defining a resonably generic way of
representing 3D that can be sent over the network, manipulated by various
applications, etc.

This effort is called the Abstract 3D Layer.  It consists of various
abstract data structures which represent meshes, materials, textures and
so forth.  Right now it only describes static geometry, so I'm extremely
interested in how best to represent animation of avatars -- the same issue
that has to be addressed with an open model format.

What we need to do is define the abstract data structures that will
describe a 3D model.  Then we can store that different formats whether
XML, or some binary encoding.  In particular, I'm interesting in using the
data model we come up with but breaking it up into individually accessable
network objects.

Someone should also work on a reference implementation, libopenmodel or
something that reads and writes the proposed file format.  In fact, I
think that someone should start working on it _now_, so we have a concrete
realization of the ideas proposed on this list rather that simply arguing
in the abstract (which has killed many a free software project!)

[ Peter Amstutz ][ amstutz at cs.umass.edu ][ tetron at interreality.org ] [Lead
Programmer][Interreality Project][Virtual Reality for the Internet] [ VOS:
Next Generation Internet Communication][ http://interreality.org ] [
http://interreality.org/~tetron ][ pgpkey:  pgpkeys.mit.edu 18C21DF7 ]
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