| Q&A |
 MobiX3D
Luca et Daniele
Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCI Lab), University
of Udine
May 2006
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"We
plan to release an extended version of MobiX3D by the
end of 2006. Our general goal is to support the set
of X3D nodes that would be best for mobile devices."
<
MobiX3D |
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| Q1 |
Please
give a brief presentation of the HCI Lab and its activities. |
| A1 |
Luca:
I founded the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCI Lab)
at the University of Udine in 1998.
At present, 10 people work at the Lab (1 Full professor, 1
Assistant Professor, 3 PhD Students and 5 Research Fellows).
We focus on new interaction paradigms for emerging technologies,
such as Mobile Devices and Services, Web3D, Virtual
Reality, and Computer-supported Cooperative Work. Besides
doing research, we develop applications in domains such as
Industry, Medicine, Tourism, Training and the Web. A lot of
information about what we do is available on our website:
http://hcilab.uniud.it |
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| Q2 |
What
is the main motivation for the development of MobiX3D? |
| A2 |
Luca:
The main motivation behind starting the MobiX3D project is the
lack of commercial as well as freely available
solutions for displaying X3D and H-Anim (humanoid animation)
content on mobile devices. When we started developing MobiX3D
in 2005 there was only one commercial solution for displaying
VRML on mobile devices and there were no solutions for displaying
X3D on mobile devices. |
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| Q3 |
MobiX3D
is aimed at PocketPCs. As some Smartphones now ship with hardware
3D acceleration, do you plan to support these devices in the
future ? |
| A3 |
Daniele:
Yes, we plan to support Smartphones in the near future. We will
start with Windows Mobile Smartphones and we will later consider
other platforms. |
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| Q4 |
When
is MobiX3D expected to support the full X3D Interactive profile
? |
| A4 |
Daniele:
We plan to release an extended version of MobiX3D by the end
of 2006. Our general goal is to support the set of X3D nodes
that would be best for mobile devices. In our technical paper
(http://hcilab.uniud.it/publications/2006-01.html),
we mentioned the full X3D Interactive profile as the candidate
set of nodes, but in these months we will be also investigating
wether an ideal X3D "mobile profile" should differ
or not from the Interactive profile. |
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| Q5 |
MobiX3D
requires an OpenGL ES implementation, and you recommend Hybrid's
Rasteroid. What is your reaction on nVidia's recent acquiring
of Hybrid ? |
| A5 |
Daniele:
We do not have a specific position on that. In general, we hope
that it will contribute to the diffusion of OpenGL ES and to
the improvement of its implementations. |
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| Q6 |
One
may wonder why to use X3D instead of the M3G file format when
it comes to bring 3D content to embedded devices. What is your
position on this ? |
| A6 |
Luca:
We chose to support X3D because it is an ISO standard for defining
3D content, and the definition of different X3D profiles allows
this standard to be very flexible and portable for desktop as
well as mobile platforms. |
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