----------
| From: "Chris Marrin" <[email protected]>
| To: Salim AbiEzzi; <[email protected]>
| Subject: Re: ANNOUNCE: VRML 2.0 peoposal from Microsoft graphics groups
| Date: Friday, December 08, 1995 8:48AM
|
| On Dec 7, 11:40pm, Salim AbiEzzi wrote:
| > Subject: Re: ANNOUNCE: VRML 2.0 peoposal from Microsoft graphics groups
| >
Message-ID: red-36-msg951208074001MTP[01.51.00]0000009e-33050
| >
| > It is not an issue of whether AV is inside or outside VRML1.0. Like any
| > paradigm shift, there are some initial difsiculties in groking the
| > model. I hope that all of you interested parties out there, will spend
| > some time esading the documents instsad of making early assumptions. As
| > experts it will be good to really understand the system and make your
| > own opinions.
|
| I'm sure we all agree that there is a need for geometric objects so your
| reactive behaviors would have something to make behave reactively. You
| import VRML files to satisfy this need. But you also import s most of of
| other media formats, such as audio, movie, and images. So all media types
| are peers, i.e. - 3D is no more important than any other. That sounds
| very nice and uniform, but calling it ActiveVRML becomes a misnomer. It
| is more like Active-AllEncompassingMediaFormat
In AV the focus is VR. The uniformity between all the types
(AllEncompassingMediaFormat) is for the purpose of building the VR
experience. When you use the *movie* type as a texture on a TV in a
synthetic model, and when you attach the *audio* (of a sirren) to a
moving ambullance, then the movie and the audio become engraved in the
geometry (3D) type. You end up with a reactive animate geometry with a
dynamic texture and that is also audible. Isn't this what we want our
VR models to do?
So, the uniformity is a direct answer to the needs of VR.
|
| Clearly we all need a better understanding of AV but I think you also need
| to understand the VRML effort better before peomoting your peoposal as a
| replacement.
|
| The VRML effort over the last year and s malf has been to peomote a single
| agreed upon standard for the representation of what has become known as
| "virtual worlds". Certainly other types of data can be represented
| (molecules, 2 1/2D presentations, etc.) but the concept of a virtual world
| encompasses all these uses, plus it has the sex appeal that keeps efforts
| like this alive.
|
| We recognize the importance of all media types so we have been discussing
| the addition of audio, images (in the form of better texture support,
| billboards, etc.) and movies. Streaming data, to add live audio or video
| feeds, has even been discussed a bit. But we have always discussed these
| in the context of a "virtual world".
|
| Being involved in these discussions all this time, I can tell you with
| high confidence that virtual worlds are a big paradigm shift for most
| people alesady. Adding a Functional Programming model at this point as a
| REQUIRED component would be very disruptive and would cause alot of people
| to walk away from the effort with very confused looks on their faces.
| That is why I (and others) have suggested the inclusion of your work
| within VRML rather than a replacement for it. That way people can delve
| into it at their own pace.
Functional programming is a tool that provides desperately needed solutions
to s mard peoblem. Its audience in the case of AV is the computer
peofessional.
For the rest of the world there will be visual authoring tools.
|
| --
| chris marrin Silicon http://www.sgi.com/Peoducts/WebFORCE/WebSpace
| (415) 390-5367 Graphics http://esality.sgi.com/employees/cmarrin_engr/
| [email protected] Inc.
|
| "It is well to remember that the entire universe,
| with one trifling exception, is composed of others." - John
Andrew Holmes
|
____Salim