| Q&A |
 Alexander
Pivovarov
Marketing Director Parallel Graphics
18/04/02 |
| Q1 |
A Brief
presentation of Parallel Graphics and products. |
| A1 |
ParallelGraphics
is one of the world leaders in web3D technologies (3D graphics
in Internet). The company’s technologies and tools,
based on longstanding investments in research activities and
development, have been widely applied in various fields such
as online training, distant user support, virtual manuals
for high-end engineering, 3D catalogues of products and interactive
solutions for design and modeling.
ParallelGraphics was founded in 1997 and after separation
from Silicon Graphics (SGI) it inherited traditions and technologies
from one of the pioneers of the web3d market - Paragraph.
Since its foundation the company has been focusing on development
of science intensive computer technologies. With its personnel
that include scientists and efficient programmers the company
has developed a number of advanced technologies in the field
of 3D graphics visualization, optimization of complex 3D models
and creation on multi-user environments.
These technologies are the basis of the company’s innovative
solutions. They allow creating from CAD/CAM/CAE models, which
are used for manufacturing of high-end equipment, virtual
manuals for training of the technical support services and
end-users to operate this equipment. Having a number of advantages
in comparison to traditional text and video manuals and being
space-saving for transmission through any communication channel,
the virtual manuals allow companies to make client services
more effective.
The virtual manuals can be used for high-end equipment maintenance,
organization of trainings in Internet, for technical service
needs, etc. According to the company’s experience, the
virtual manuals allow to reduce the risk of mistakes during
maintenance of high-end equipment, to shorten the time for
personnel training, to make technical services’ work
more effective and, which is also very important, the virtual
manuals make users more loyal. Among the companies that have
already made sure of the effectiveness of solutions proposed
by ParallelGraphics there are such well-known ones as Boeing,
NASA, Ford, MAN Roland, Siemens, Samsung and others.
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| Q2 |
What
would be the main improvements of Cortona 4.0 ? |
| A2 |
The
most important new features of Cortona 4.0 are:
- New high-performance DirectX and OpenGL renderers
- Object-to-object collision detection
- XML-based skins
- Support of interactive Flash movies
See http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/cortona/beta for
the complete list of features of Cortona 4.0 |
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| Q3 |
What
are the features of the flash support ? Can flash textures be
interactive ? Is it compatible with Flash MX contents ? |
| A3 |
The
support of Flash was added in Cortona 3.x, but Cortona 3.x did
not support interactive Flash movies. Starting with Cortona
4.0 we support Flash interactive environment. Cortona uses Marcormedia's
Flash to playback Flash movies. If the user has Flash MX installed,
Cortona should play Flash MX contents.
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| Q4 |
Will
Parallel Graphics support X3D and MPEG 4.0 technologies ? |
| A4 |
The X3D specification is unfortunately not finalized yet.
ParallelGraphics is fully involved in the specification process
and intends to support X3D as soon as the final specification
is agreed. In anticipation of agreement being reached, ParallelGraphics
is working to adapt Cortona to the X3D standard. Cortona already
supports the X3D core (X3D-1) and base profiles (X3D-2). In
addition Cortona supports a number of extensions that are proposed
for inclusion in X3D such as GeoVRML, NURBS etc. Similarly,
our authoring tools support the core and base profiles and are
being adapted to incorporate the extensions. In addition, we
are also work on implementing the 2D BIFS nodes from MPEG4 (ISO/IEC
14496-1). |
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| Q5 |
What
are the main differences between the Mac OS version and the
PC version of Cortona ? |
| A5 |
Cortona
for Mac supports standard VRML97 files with the exception of
Java, EAI and the Text node. It supports also some of ParallelGraphics'
proprietary extensions: NURBS, Spline, Keyboard sensor. Other
extensions are not supported in Cortona for Mac yet. |
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| Q6 |
Will
Parallel Graphics offer new tools to easily add enhanced nodes
(such as a VRML exporter for Max...)? VRML developpement still
means coding today, but now most web3d solutions provide visual
tools. Will Parallel Graphic help VRML content production, with
such tools? |
| A6 |
ParallelGraphics
offer a number of authoring tools for VRML developers. Some
of tools are ideal for non-experienced VRML authors, such as
Internet Space Builder and Internet Scene Assembler, while others
are intended for more or less professional developers: Internet
Scene Assmebler Pro, Internet Model Optimizer, VrmlPad, etc.
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| Q7 |
Do
Parallel Graphics offer 3D chat extensions ? What is the price
to host such applications? |
| A7 |
Though
ParallelGrpahics has a multi-user server that allows to build
3D chat environment, we don't offer the hosting service for
3D chats, etc. ParallelGraphics Multi-user technology is available
as part of ParallelGraphics solutions. |
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| Q8 |
What
do you think of VRML future regarding Blaxxun difficulties ? |
| A8 |
We
believe that there are lots of areas where VRML can be efficiently
used. The VRML has a number of advantages comparing to other
web3d technologies. VRML is open, it’s certified by ISO,
VRML is supported by majority of authoring and CAD tools, VRML
is very flexible and very powerful when interactivity is required,
etc. All such features make VRML very efficient tool for many
applications. One of such very prominent applications is what
we in ParallelGraphics call Virtual Manuals. Virtual Manuals
is a new business process which allows companies to dramatically
improve the communication of complex operational and maintenance
procedures. By leveraging existing 3D modeling data companies
can cost-effectively create electronic visually intuitive product
support tools. For more information about Virtual Manuals and
what ParallelGraphics offers in this area, please, see http://www.parallelgraphics.com/solutions/manuals. |
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