| Q&A |
 FLUX
Technology
Tony Parisi
june 2007 |
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"For
many interactive applications, there is no coding required:
X3D has a lot of power built into it so that authors
don't need to write a single line of Javascript to create
interesting interactivity within their content. Also,
our Flux Studio authoring software has many drag and
drop features that allow non-programmers to create interaction
that would other require high technical sophistication
and programming skills."
<
Mr BG |
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| Q1 |
You
have been involved for a long time with Web3D, what do you think
of today's market and technology? |
| A1 |
There
is no doubt that we are in a stage of explosive growth for 3D
on the web.
The popularity of mass market visualization applications such
as Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth, the continued growth
in online gaming, and the emergence of the first-generation
Metaverse systems such as Second Life show that consumers are
using 3D applications in huge numbers. None of these are "web"
applications in the full sense-- many don't run inside web browsers,
and none are based on open standards-- but that is just around
the corner.
In addition to the consumer use, we see a huge trend in advertising
moving away from offline and TV to online /interactive. This
is fueling huge growth in rich media technologies such as Flash,
as well as sticky community sites that can attract and keep
users. 3D Metaverse communities such as Second Life have particular
appeal because they are both richer and stickier.
Now, imagine what will happen when those 3D Metaverse applications
make the inevitable transition to a web- and standards-based
platform? The possibilities are mind-blowing. |
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| Q2 |
What
is your opinion about the Collada file format? |
| A2 |
COLLADA
and X3D can be used together to create very rich 3D applications
for the web. The focus of COLLADA has been on getting quality,
lossless export from content creation tools. The focus on Web3D
is prepare such output for use on the web and build applications
on it.
I recently co-write a white paper on this very topic with the
COLLADA architect Remi Arnaud from Sony [PDF] |
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| Q3 |
Do
you plan to support Collada with Flux technologies? |
| A3 |
Yes.
We already support importing COLLADA files into Flux studio
for export and publishing to X3D. In a future version of Flux
Player we will read COLLADA files directly into X3D-based web
applications. |
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| Q4 |
Is
X3D still up-to-date when it comes to character animation, physics
simulation, CAD visualization? |
| A4 |
Very
much so. We have added volume rendering for medical applications,
a full CAD component, and recently updated the H-Anim specifications.
Also, physics and particle systems are planned for an upcoming
release of the standard. |
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| Q5 |
Following
the open-sourcing of the Flux player code, what feedback did
you receive from the users and the developers? |
| A5 |
Primarily,
other developers have been looking to port it to other platforms.
This includes Linux, OSX and some mobile phone platforms. |
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| Q6 |
We
have noticed a significant improvement of content quality during
the past year. Is it related to the enhancements brought by
version 2.0 of Flux? |
| A6 |
Really
- this is mostly because users and developers have become more
sophisticated, and the overall interest level is higher than
it used to be. I suppose we can take a certain amount of credit
for innovating in certain areas, such as 2D Layers for the creation
of game-quality heads-up displays and interfaces. Prior to this,
2D user interface creation within VRML and X3D was a black art
and the results were pretty poor. Now, the user interfaces look
professional and greatly improve the overall experience. |
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| Q7 |
What
is the best way to implement interactivity with Flux? Are coding
skills required? |
| A7 |
For
many interactive applications, there is no coding required:
X3D has a lot of power built into it so that authors don't need
to write a single line of Javascript to create interesting interactivity
within their content. Also, our Flux Studio authoring software
has many drag and drop features that allow non-programmers to
create interaction that would other require high technical sophistication
and programming skills.
A great example of this can be found in some user-generated
content hosted on our developer site. This
particular world is a favorite of the Media Machines team (requires
Flux Player to view).
But better than this: X3D also includes the full power of Javascript
for creating custom behaviors, and Flux provides access to the
X3D embedded within a web page from Javascript running in the
containing page. This means that developers can create Ajax-based
3D applications such as those showcased on the Ajax3D development
site at ajax3d.org. |
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| Q8 |
Software
such as Softimage XSI can produce content with realtime shaders,
shadows, and physics simulation. How can a graphic artist export
all those features to Flux? |
| A8 |
Today,
they cannot. The exporters need to be updated to export those
features. I sure hope that someone will do that soon for Max,
Maya, Blender, Sketchup, Softimage, etc. Some of those exporters
have been updated to generate X3D, but they don't include all
the advanced features yet. |
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| Q9 |
The
latest version of Flux seems to be robust on both Firefox and
Internet Explorer. Regarding performances, what is the level
of Flux
compared to other VRML plugins (Cortona, BS Contact, Octaga)? |
| A9 |
On
most content Flux performs favorably in comparison to those
other players. For certain larger-scale applications in the
Geographic and CAD domains, other players have been optimized
to handle such data and perform better than Flux. But those
are not domains we are focused on.
We have consciously made trade-offs in the design of Flux. What
is most important to Media Machines is that our player is very
fast to download (1.5Mb) and integrates extremely well with
web browsers, both visually and for programmability. When you
put all those features together and see the outstanding performance
it achieves on *practical* web-based 3D applications I am sure
you will be impressed. |
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