The X3DOM showcases reported here have largely been centered around industrial or scientific applications.  However there’s a lot of potential for commercial applications that has not been explored yet. As the framework matures, it is much more interesting and usable for larger deployments.

One example of such an application is Mixee Me.  A recent startup which sets out to bring 3D printing to the average joe. The gist: Mixee Mee allows everyone to create funny little 3D characters through a simple interface, have them printed with a 3D printer and shipped to your doorstep. In order to allow for online composition of the 3D figures, X3DOM is used to drive the interface.

Welcome to X3DOM 1.4!

After almost one year in the making we are proud to announce a new X3DOM release. With this latest installment of our defacto standard JavasSript library that marries HTML with declarative 3D content, we are able to provide many fixes and enhancements.

New in 1.4

• Experimental geometry nodes that externalize vertex data in binary containers:
  • ImageGeometry (which holds vertex attributes in images),
  • BinaryGeometry (which holds vertex data in binary files, where attributes can have – besides standard 32-bit – 8-bit and 16-bit precision),
  • BitLODGeometry (which also holds vertex attributes in external files, though here the containers can consist of variable bit precision for JPEG-like effects)
• Tutorial for image and binary geometry generation
• OrthoViewpoint and Viewfrustum
• Basic support for VolumeRendering component (VolumeData node, OpacityMapVolumeStyle, MPRVolumeStyle) – like the Geometry2D component not part of X3DOM core
• Programmatic documentation API
• MultiTouch integration now supporting iOS devices, Chrome, and Mozilla
• Added attribute setters, viewpointChanged event, helicopter mode etc.

Enhancements and Fixes

• Enhanced picking with a max. of 65,535 objects, while the corresponding mouse or touch event also provides the picked position with 16-bit precision and the object normal at this position
• More rendering features like the sortKey/sortType Appearance fields for defining the rendering order, or the DepthMode (App. child) to define if an object shall be readOnly
• Multiline Text support per specification
• Changed FontStyle size field to X3D default behavior
• Enhanced JavaScript runtime API now with a plenthora of additional methods
• Many Flash backend fixes (e.g., LOD now also in Flash renderer supported)
• Many more bugfixes in IndexedFaceSet, skybox background node etc.

For a complete and detailed list of changes, refer to the CHANGELOG file or the GitHub Issue tracker.

You can get the this X3DOM release from:

http://x3dom.org/download/1.4/

This release note is also available in our official documentation.