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

[Matze Braun]

On Sun, 6 Jul 2003, Peter Amstutz wrote:

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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!)
Hmm I'm not sure if code makes sense at this stage. But what about 
starting an XML schema definition? That will already be very concrete. I'm 
trying to prepare a definition now...

Greetings,
	Matze