Dear Robert, On Tue, 27 Oct 2009, Robert Hanson wrote:
> Before you get too excited, I should point out that I have given up on the > IDTF/X3D format. The bugs in the PDF implementation are so > significant that I don't think anyone could actually use this. The > documentation for IDTFConverter has major errors, and although finally by > looking at the source code for creating IDTF files I was able to work out the > actual rules, even then I simply could not figure out how to get > a zoom setting or anything like a "centered rotation" to work. As I recall > they actually say in the documentation that there is "no default > view" -- which, of course, there is -- it's just that it is different for > different viewers. You are right on this default view issue. But the only viewer that matters is Adobe Acrobat/Reader and by setting additional parameters in PDF (not U3D) or JavaSript you can specify what view from U3D is to be picked up as the initial view of the model or specify the view parameters without referencing any U3D views. The problem is that the views in Adobe products are not exactly the same as in U3D (have different set of parameters) due to the fact that the viewer, it seems, was not developed from the Intel U3D sample sources, but an existing product from Right Hemisphere was adopted to display U3D. Thus views in Adobe viewers are better controlled with Adobe native interfaces (PDF or JS) and not from within U3D. > I think Warren Delano showed me how the surface business (was that it?) in > X3D format is flawed. I'm not remembering the details. That may be a real problem. Are you sure that both - Portable 3D structure Web visualization as embedded PDF from xemistry.com http://85.214.71.72/pdf3d and Chemistry, Physics, Research, Mathematics, Misc. part of pdf3d.com gallery http://pdf3d.com/gallery.php#P4 do not have examples of required surfaces? BTW, if you find a reference to your thread with Warren - gimme a link, please. > While all of this could just be due to my incomplete understanding of the > format, there isn't much help out there to make it easy. May be once Adobe deeper incorporates its new 3D PDF format, PRC, it will document it in more details (there were even noises that it is going to be a part of the next PDF standard) and there will be less trial-and-error required to determine if, how and to what extent a certain feature is implemented in Adobe viewer. They certainly _can_ do that since they have bought the developers of PRC (while developers of U3D in Intel got dissolved without trace and Right Hemisphere is Adobe competitor). BTW., at http://asymptote.sourceforge.net/gallery/ you can see examples of opensource experiments with PRC 3D PDF models. Sincerely, Michail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference _______________________________________________ Jmol-developers mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jmol-developers
