We started working on the implementation of Text nodes. Please have a look at the example demonstrating the current state of affairs. Testing, field reports, etc. are highly appreciated.

No scary beta-channels and command line settings needed anymore! Just install (or auto-upgrade) version 9 of the Google Chrome to get an webgl-enabled browser.

We now support some important parts of the Common Surface Shader. We finally added support for normal, specular and diffuse mapping. You can find a small example that shows normal and specular mapping in action here.

The online converter, from X3D and VRML to HTML and XHTML (with X3D), has been updated. The references to x3dom.js and x3dom.css use now the global release resource links and are both in the header of the document.

online converter

This update is also in the aopt offline tool which is part of the instantReality package.

Andreas wrote a new tutorial which shows how to style your 3D view with CSS.

Styling the x3d element with CSS

This only works in the latest versions of the system. Therefore please use, as always, the preferred online resource path.

Johannes introduced the project and showed what we achieved over the last 12 month at the webgl cam#2. The video is now online. The slide set includes some new material including this overview which relates x3dom to svg, canvas and webgl.

SVG, canvas, WebGL and X3DOM relation

The latest Firefox and Chrome beta builds support now webGL natively without any further effort. You just download and install Firfox4 beta7 or Chorme9 beta-channel and get webgl for free. No extra about:config or command-line settings needed.

We finally added the missing standard navigation modes: We support now examine, walk, fly and lookat. You are free to activate those (with e.g. <navigationInfo type=’walk’ ..>) or just write your own application-speicifc navigation-code.  There is a small example which can be used to test the different modes.

The modes use the new faster picking code in the webgl implementation and should perform well for larger worlds.

We now support (almost) all mouse and keyboard events directly on the x3d element. This allows the application developer to build own forms of navigation or mix 2D and 3D references freely. There is a new application prototype which utilizes those events to create a standard carousel menu.

carousel menu example

These events are not just useful to build own navigation types but great for anything that needs pixels without a clear reference to a specific object (e.g. context menu). If you need an object reference you could use those events on the 3D-elements (e.g. group or shape) to get a standard MouseEvent which provides pixels and additional 3d properties (e.g. worldX, worldY,worldZ).

We now support all CSS3/HTML length units for the x3d-element. You can use CSS to set and reset the widht/height property to resize the element. There is a small example that illustrates this functionality.

German iX Magazine’s December issue covers x3dom again.  This time with more practical information when working with transformations and interaction in declarative 3D web content. Again, both corresponding open-source projects, our x3dom and also xml3d are covered.

Thanks to Yvonne and Marc we have now the same smooth camera animations as in instantReality. These animations are automatically generated if you bind the camera. This example allows you to switch between different viewpoints (cameras) which are part of the content.

The same method is used to calculate the animation-path if you reset the current view (key ‘r’) or move the current camera-view to the ‘show all’ position (key ‘a’).

The system and the results of the HTML/X3D Interest Gorup will be presented at this years W3C TPAC 2010 in Lyon, France.

Johannes Behr will give same general updates on the process since the last year. This includes HTML-integration aspects like encoding, CSS, HTML-Events. See us and the xml3d-people on monday in the “3D on the Web” AC-sessions meetings block from 10:00 to 11:00 and Wednesday in the “Bringing new work”-session (part II) around 16:15.

A very short tutorial on how to export your World of Warcraft Models to X3D/X3DOM

Find our IX special sites on http://www.x3dom.org/iX/.

The all new November issue of German IX Magazine covers a huge story on 3D inside web browsers that features our X3DOM technology and xml3D. Beside an exploration of modern browser’s technological capabilities there are tutorials and examples on both systems. There is also an online article available.

In addition, have also a look on our latest tutorials and examples.

There is another tutorial by Cornelius Malerczyk. This one shows how to get your 3d blender model into your HTML page without coding a single line of code.

HTML5 videos work now in almost all browsers:

But remember to use repeatT/repeatS=false for non-power-of-two videos

Jens Keil wrote a very nice and instructive tutorial on how to build a 3D Lightbox Gallery with x3dom.

This shows really nicely how x3dom integrates with existing web technologies and libraries.

There are issues with non-power-of-two textures while using x3dom with the WebGL-Backend. OpenGL ES 2.0 supports non-power-of-two textures in general but with some restrictions. The wrap mode can only be GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE and mipmap must be off. Just run this example to test the behaviour in your browser. The filter settings are part of the X3D spec and the default values do not clamp. Therefore you have to change the repeatS and repeatT settings to false for non-power-of-two textures. If you use power-of-two textures both settings should work.

Using the x3d ImageTexture:

<imageTexture repeatS=’false’ repeatT=’false’ url=’foo.jpg’>
</imageTexture>

Using the x3dom <texture> extention:

<texture repeatS=’false’ repeatT=’false’>
<img src=’foo.jpg’>
</texture>

This may change in the future if we have access to the WebGL-extensions and find something like GL_OES_texture_npot

Cornelius Malerczyk did the first version of the maya to x3dom tutorial.

This shows the workflow to create a x3dom web-page within a few steps from autodesk maya using the instantreality aopt tool for some data-processing.