X3D support in FreeX3D

Last update: 21 July 2013

Intro

FreeX3D is built on the award-winning multi-platform FreeWRL Open Source Project, which uses the X3D standard from the Web3D Consortium.

As principal designer for FreeWRL until 2010, it was decided to use the FreeWRL rendering library as the basis of the FreeX3D Android App. All code changes to the FreeWRL codebase are ofcourse submitted in open-source format for all others to use.

Moving FreeWRL to 100% shader-based rendering means that the code-base will keep displaying your X3D content for years to come, no matter what hardware/software platform you use. (while desktop systems could have used the old code, mobile devices need a "shader based" rendering platform to work)

This move entailed a large re-write of the underlying code and, while improving, is not quite complete. The following list outlines some issues:

Script node not functional; (but user-defined Shaders coming back soon)
Line types (dashed, dotted, etc) not functional;
MultiTexturing supported but currently limited to 3 textures (plus base appearance) and most of the commonly used modes.

Improvements are happening; new releases of FreeX3D happen every 6-8 weeks (approximately); recently the CAD Profile has been added, User Defined Shaders are being re-introduced, NURBS and Javascript are on the short list.

FreeX3D History

FreeX3D is a value-added version of FreeWRL. STL layering and model manipulation has been overlaid on the FreeWRL X3D engine.

From circa 1999 to April 2010, the FreeWRL project was managed by John A. Stewart.

There is absolutely no warranty, express or implied for this software. For details on the conditions of use, see the FreeWRL distribution.

The FreeWRL library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

The FreeWRL library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General Public License for more details.