Web Graphics The Way Forward

1
Web Graphics - The Way Forward

• Visualization and Virtual Environments Community
  Club
• Chair Ken Brodlie
• University of Leeds

2
An Introduction
3
Graphics Before the Web - A Personal Note

• Graphics life for me began 25 years ago
• My first graphics device was a CalComp pen
  plotter
• Graphics was 2D vector
• plot (x,y,magic_number)
• scale (xfactor, yfactor)
• ie scalable vector graphics

and my first display was a Tektronix 4010 -
same story
4
The Arrival of 3D Graphics

• Serious graphics people realised the value of
  sending 3D to the graphics device
• viewer chooses the camera position, and
  transformations local
• Serious money needed for Vector General etc
• 3D
• vector

5
The Arrival of Raster Graphics

• In the late 1970s, I met my first raster graphics
  display
• ...the indestructible HP2648A
• which could generate images on a pixel-by-pixel
  basis

6
The 1970s Evolution
Host Computer
Note the historical order...
7
Web Graphics - The Evolution

• Web graphics began with the ability of the Mosaic
  browser to display images within an HTML page
• Originally in GIF format, now JPEG and PNG
  formats
• Continues to develop
• JPEG2000
• www.jpeg.org

8
Web Graphics - Images
9
Web Graphics Goes 3D

• Early 1994 Mark Pesce and Tony Parisi had a
  brainwave
• Rather than send images
• send 3D models across the Web
• Viewer controls the camera - just like the Vector
  General in 1976!

VRML!
10
A VRML File

• VRML file consists of
• header
• nodes
• objects such as cylinders and spheres
• operations such as transformations
• fields
• parameters of nodes

11
Web Goes 3D
12
VRML has evolved from 3D HyperGraphics to ..

• VRML 1 allowed 3D graphics with hyperlinks

13
.. to Living Worlds

• VRML97 added interaction and animation to allow
  worlds to come alive

14
Linking Software to VRML Worlds

• External Authoring Interface (EAI) allows a Java
  applet to link to a VRML world

15
Integrating Moving Images and Graphics

• MPEG-4 is the latest standard in the MPEG family
• Time varying scenes including images and graphics
  - the 3D graphics being based on VRML
• Graham Thomas
• Important also for binary coding and streaming

16
Whither VRML?

• VRML97 itself is evolving
• Revision to include EAI and MPEG-4 compatibility
• X3D to integrate with XML
• Anthony Steed

17
What about 2D Graphics?

• Pixel-based images are the wrong medium for
  schematic graphics
• Belatedly work is underway to create a standard
  for 2D web graphics
• SVG Scalable Vector Graphics
• David Duce
• Uses XML
• Powerful industry backing

18
Web Goes 2D
and note the historical order!
19
Why Not Send Software?

• Java allows code portability across the Internet
• Java3D provides 3D graphics API building on
  earlier scene graph APIs
• Bill Hibbard

20
Web Goes Java3D
software