A DCC pipeline for native 3D graphics in browsers

  • Authors:
  • Christian Ulbrich;Claus Lehmann

  • Affiliations:
  • Dresden University of Technology;T-Systems MMS

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on 3D Web Technology
  • Year:
  • 2012

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Abstract

Current consumer hardware has become quite powerful. Off-the-shelf computers are today capable of displaying 3D in realtime. With the advent of the Apple iPhone and the Smartphone revolution, mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous, yet they are equipped with graphic hardware that is rivaling dedicated gaming devices like the Nintendo DS in terms of 3D performance. With the release of the version 1.0 of the WebGL specification a mature API for 3D graphics in web browsers has been established by the Kronos Group. WebGL provides native, hardware-accelerated support for 3D graphics in current versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera. Today's products always involve 3D data. Either the raw CAD/CAM data is used to actually manufacture products or 3D models are used to aid the design process. This data is very often involved and utilized in digital content creation (DCC) pipelines, that leverage the data to enable further 3D applications, such as product presentation or visualization. This paper analyzes existing DCC pipelines and proposes a web-based solution to adapt existing 3D applications to native 3D web applications. The web-based DCC pipeline is built upon web standards, such as WebGL and X3D.