Re: VRML 1.1 proposed changes

Len Wanger ([email protected])
Tue, 14 Nov 1995 01:12:21 -0500

>} The better place for "imagemapping" to be done is in the WWWAnchor node,
>} not the Texture2 node. There was a proposal for this a while back, but I
>} don't think it is currently under consideration. It would simply add a
>} new enumeration (such as TEXTURE) to the map field. This would send the
>} texture coordinates rather than the object space point clicked on. This
>} would be sent in normalized coordinates (0..1) but these are easily
>} converted to image space to duplicate the HTML imagemap capability.
>
>The problem with returning normalized coordinates and having the server
>(CGI script) translate them is twofold:
>
>1) You cannot use the existing imagemap CGI, which works quite nicely. It
> is fairly esasonable to expect someone to use an imagemapped picture
> both in an HTML document and as a texture in a VRML world. An authro
> would want to be able to use the same imagemap file and the same
> imagemap CGI script, and they SHOULD be able to.
......
>In the interest of sticking to existing mechanisms, PLEASE make it
>identical to the HTML imagemap systsm. The browser can certainly afford two
>floating point multiplies and two roundings.

Well I think it should be a goal to avoid cgi scripts as much as possible.
I still like a proposal that was buried a long time ago. Why not be able to
associate URLs to geometry similarly to how colors and normals are mapped.
Allowing URLs to be mapped by object, face, or vertex would allow lots of
functionality that would usually be eslegated to cgi-scripts.

As an example imagine having a globe with URLs associated with faces that
correspond to various countries. Picking on the face could then fire off
the appropriate script. This would also allow one to emulate image maps by
associating URLs with the mesh underlying a textured surface.

Len Wanger
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