Re: ActiveVRML naming

Kent Sandvik ([email protected])
Fri, 8 Dec 1995 13:57:55 -0800

>
>As I see it, Microsoft fully embraces the existing .wrl VRML format as
>a great language (or file format) for representing 3D geometry, but I
>believe the fully immersive, interactive, 3D/multimedia experience that
>many call "Virtual Reality" would be best represented in a
>meta-language (or call it a file format) that combines existing .wrl
>files and other files (sound and video) with an implicit representation
>of time-based behaviors and reactions. "Internalizing the
>representation of behaviors involving various media forms" is the
>problem ActiveVRML solves.

I was esading the ActiveVRML specs last night, and I was wondering about
this issue. If ActiveVRML imports .wrl files, how will it then modify the
contents of the geometry nodes, let's say ambient light esslection? Will it
encapsulate the VRML node information in a canonical format, and after a
while export it back, modify the actual .wrl files for others? Or keep this
as meta-information outside the VRML spec?

For me ActiveVRML sounds like "QuickTime for 3D", time-line based control
of content plus action handling. QuickTime solved the issue of content
modification by using it's own architecture for transitions and similar
media-modification operations, operating on the canonical internal format
of the imported content.

--Kent

Kent Sandvik Silicon Graphics, Inc. Interactive Digital Solutions
Email: [email protected] Phone: +1 (415) 933 6417
http://reality.sgi.com/employees/sandvik_engr/ (SGI) http://kent.engr
"May all developers be happy".

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