https://slides.com/sressler/standards-shmandards/

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Standards Shmandards

What an Agenda!

  • Very old Stuff
  • Old stuff
  • Recent stuff
  • Brand spanking new!

But Seriously

  • The start of graphics standards
  • Impact of standards
  • 3D Graphics and the Web (VRML/X3D)
  • glTF and USD meet in the Metaverse

Big Picture - Why Standards?

  • Standards contribute more to economic growth than patents and licenses
  • Companies that participate actively in standards work have a head start on their competitors in adapting to market demands
  • Research risks and development costs are reduced for companies contributing to the standardization process
  • Business that are actively involved in standards work more frequency reap short and long term benefits with regard to costs and competitive status than those who do not participate
  • Participating in standards development enables one to anticipate technology standardization thereby facilitating one’s products progress simultaneously with technology
  • Standards are a positive stimulus for innovation

Source: Highlights of a study by DIN (German Standards Institute) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Technology (IEEE Think Standards)

 

Graphics Standard Have been Around for a LONG Time

CORE -> GSK -> PHIGS (early 80s)

The SIGGRAPH Core Graphics System, commonly known as the "Core" standard, was published in 1977 by the ACM SIGGRAPH Graphics Standards Planning Committee (GSPC) . This was the first formal graphics standard developed for computer graphics. It provided a device-independent framework for 2D vector graphics, including a set of library routines for graphics operations. The Core standard laid the groundwork for later standards such as GKS (Graphical Kernel System) and PHIGS (Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System), which expanded on its concepts to support more complex and interactive graphics systems .

IGES 1980

Regulations like you must be able to see a drawing of airplane for 20 years

NIST involved and went through ANSI

INITIALLY SIMPLE DRAWINGS

WHY?

If you want to bid on this $20 billion dollar DoD contract you must use IGES

Just because something is simple does NOT mean it shouldn't be standardized"

some guy at NIH said this (re PubMed)

Good

  • your content is "archival"
  • your content is very expensive to create
  • care about interoperability
  • can catalyze entire industries

Not so good

  • you have a unique user interface need
  • want the latest and greatest technology

 

Standards

Takes (a long) time

MPEG

One of the most impactful standards.

MPEG Parts (suite of standards) - Lots!

📦 Breakdown by Major MPEG Standards and Parts
Here are a few core MPEG standards and how many parts each includes (approximate as of 2025):
Standard Formal Name # of Parts Examples of Parts
MPEG-1 ISO/IEC 11172 5 parts Systems, Video, Audio, Conformance, Software
MPEG-2 ISO/IEC 13818 10+ parts Transport Stream, Video, Audio, DSM-CC
MPEG-4 ISO/IEC 14496 30+ parts Visual, Audio, Scene Description, BIFS, AFX
MPEG-7 ISO/IEC 15938 12 parts Description Schemes, Descriptors, XML schema
MPEG-21 ISO/IEC 21000 20+ parts Digital Item Declaration, Rights Management
MPEG-H ISO/IEC 23008 20+ parts HEVC (H.265), MMT, 3D Audio
MPEG-I ISO/IEC 23090 15+ parts Omnidirectional Media, Point Cloud, V-PCC

chatGPT says:

MPEG Impact

  • universal format for audio and video
  • MP3 for audio created the streaming music industry
  • MPEG-4 enabled streaming media the likes of YouTube, Netflix, Zoom and that entire industry

Generated BILLIONS in economic value!

MPEG Patent Wars

  • MPEG compression requires licensing
  • MPEG-LA (Licensing Authority) now a division of Via Licensing Alliance "the industry's largest patent pool administrator" 
  • There needs to be a method to be economically viable otherwise will likely fail. Open source however can (but it's difficult) work as well.

VRML

  • ISO standards (the documents themselves) are copyright and cost not insignificant $$$.
  • The VRML community was insistent that the standard be freely and publically available.
  • They negotiated joint copyright ownership between ISO and the VRML Consortium. (this was a first!)
  • VRML Consortium published the standard on the Web and made it freely available.
  • Carson, George & Puk, Richard & Carey, Rikk. (1999). Developing the VRML 97 International Standard. Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE. 19. 52-58. 10.1109/38.749123.

Early History

11-FEB-94 Labyrinth Mark Pesce & Tony Parisi & Peter Kennard
??-MAR-94 Dave Raggett coins the term VRML in paper submitted to WWW1
25-MAY-94 WWW1 - Mark Pesce gives Cyberspace paper on Labyrinth & VRML BOF#1
10-JUN-94 Brian Behlendorf & Mark Pesce set up www-vrml mailing list
XX-AUG-94 SIGGRAPH meeting, followed by voting WebOOGL/Inventor voting
24-OCT-94 W2 VRML 1.0 based on Inventor @@/www-vrml/arch/0458.html
02-NOV-94 VRML 1.0 draft #1 released @@/VRML1.0/vrml10c.html
 5-JAN-95 QvLib released from SGI - Gavin Bell
03-APR-95 SGI, TGS announce Webspace. 13 companies support VRML
10-MAR-95 3D Symposium VRML meeting: Don Brutzman
20-APR-95 VRML FAQ put up - YON was at oki.com
 6-APR-95 VRML repository Dave Nadeau, Jim Moreland www.sdsc.edu/vrml/
26-MAY-95 VRML 1.0 "final draft" features frozen (see vrml10c.html)
27-MAY-95 VRML Arc Gallery - the first tangible collection of VRML.  [
sigh, vrml.arc.org is gone - look for crumbs at Construct.net]
13-JUN-95 Intervista released WorldView, Tony Parisi
 2-AUG-95 WebFX - Paper Software Mike McCue, Greg Scallan, Jim Dunn++
XX-AUG-95 SIGGRAPH 95 VRML course & first demo SIG, VAG announced.
23-AUG-95 VAG1 - layout plan for VRML1.1 & VRML2.0 [photos]
23-OCT-95 VAG2 - VRML 1.1 proposal from SGI blurs into VRML2.0
13-DEC-95 VRML95 - VRML's first conference. Hosted by SDSC.
 4-JAN-96 RFP - Request for Proposals http://www.vrml.org/vag/rfp.html
12-FEB-96 Netscape buys Paper, WebFX becomes Live3D
 6-FEB-96 VAG3 - proposals from SGI, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, GMD & Sun
25-MAR-96 VAG4 - pick MW, schedule drafts to SIGGRAPH (meet with ISO)
18-APR-96 Moving Worlds VRML 2.0 draft #1
 6-AUG-96 SIGGRAPH 96 (VAG5) VRML 2.0 released; VRMLC germinates; Live3d 
12-DEC-96 Last VAG meeting - http://vag.vrml.org/vag/vag6.html
??-DEC-96 VRMLC becomes incorporated - 54 companies paying dues.
??-FEB-97 SGI & Netscape Live3D->CosmoPlayer (Michael Plitkins)
23-FEB-97 VRML97 2nd VRML Conference, elected VRMLC VRB & BoD MEETINGS
 4-APR-97 VRML97 DIS Rikk Carey, Gavin Bell, Chris Marrin!
XX-AUG-97 SIGGRAPH97  VRMLC press release, ...
24-OCT-97 MPEG4 + VRML Ad Hoc meeting.
??-DEC-97 ISO blessing VRML97 - fastest trip thru ISO ever!
...VRML98 here we come.

1995 VRML 1.0 Final Draft

1995 VRML 1.0

1996 Netscape buys Paper

1997 SGI -> CosmoPlayer

1997 ISO blessing VRML 97, fastest trip through ISO ever!

https://www.sdsc.edu/News%20Items/PR0115961.html

VRML 95 - San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC)

Web3D 2015

20 Year History

#VRML V1.0 ascii
#House of Immersion Revision History
# 11/9/95 validated - Sandy
Separator {
    Separator {
        DEF Viewer Info {
            string "walk"
            }
        DEF Title Info { string "The House of Immersion" }
        DEF SceneInfo Info {
            string
"The VRML House of Immersion was created by:
Sandy Ressler (still at NIST)
Christine Piatko (at NIST)
it was based on the original Virtus Walkthrough
and Inventor versions by:
Sharon Davison (now at Microsoft)
Mark Pflaging  (now at GWU)
and
Alan Sun (now at MIT).

An Archive of 

"The VRML House of Immersion"

  • https://github.com/usnistgov/vrmlHouseOfImmersion

A Little Floops

http://www.historyofcg.com/pages/protozoa/

1997

Copyright 1997 Protozoa Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Created using Protozoa's ALIVE!

For more information, please contact:
Protozoa Inc.
San Francisco, CA
info@protozoa.com

Floops Interactive (Season 3, 41-65)
Commissioned by Andres Wydler of SGI

Personnel:
Steve Rein (Creative Director, Head Writer, Add'l. Models)
Emre Yilmaz (Director, Puppeteer/Animator, Co-Writer, Digital Puppet Builder, Add'l. Models) 
Terry Franguiadakis (Technical Director, Vrml Scripting and Interactivity)
T. Reid Norton (Sound Effects) 
Eric Bergmann (Voice of Floops)
Bay Raitt (Floops Design and Modeling)
Tracey Roberts (Additional Modeling) 
Mike Morasky, Eric Gregory, Shane Cooper (Technical Assistance)
Brad DeGraf (Protozoa President / Head Visionary)

    "
        "
Created using ALIVE!

https://sgeo.github.io/floopsArchive/floops/floops46.html

Text

https://sgeo.github.io/floopsArchive/floops/archive.html

VRML/HAnim

Humanoid Animation

CAESAR project: First 3D scans of humans

HANIM

Humanoid Animation

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/51232276

Anthrogloss (VRML)

https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=151522

Medical Working Group

(one method to extend/improve standard)

  • Was a need (requirements)
  • Found funding (TATRC)
    • Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (part of the US Army)
  • Led to volumetric extensions to VRML/X3D
  • Led to ability to display DICOM (the standard for medical imaging)
  • https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2375625_Volume_visualization_in_VRML

X3D

successor to VRML

X3D the Standard

  • ISO/IEC IS 19775-1:2013
  • REAL formal standard - not defacto
  • Big win - content longevity
  • Downside - agonizingly long to formalize (sometimes market bypasses)

glTF

leading via the ISO process

WebGL for Universal 3D Content

  • WebGL is GL with web wrappers
  • WebGL supported by most browsers and most mobile devices
  • WebGL led by Khronos Group (standardization/conformance is good thing)
  • ALL platforms..mobile,desktop,immersive

  • 3 BILLION DEVICES!!

USD

  • AOUSD - Alliance for Open USD
  • Apple, Nvidia, Pixar, Adobe, Autodesk
  • Came from the movie industry 
  • Not (yet) particularly web friendly

Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF)

  • MSF is NOT a SDO (Standards Development Organization)
    • everyone sits around (virtually) and sings kumbaya or at least civily talks to each other (NOT insignificant!)
  • Are we there yet? ... the term became overhyped
  • IEEE: Have I got some Metaverse Standards for You
    • https://metaversereality.ieee.org/publications/newsletter/have-i-got-some-metaverse-standards-for-you
  • Some actual value: Digital Twins
  • Acting on the physical world
  • Tangible Reality: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/363361.363383
    • https://vimeo.com/2308292 (when I had hair)

Trick getting your organization to join.

  • Both parties sign the vanilla member agreement.
  • You draft an addendum.
  • Both agree to the addendum.
  • Much Much simpler then getting organizations to modify their "standard" member agreement.

created with Google's veo3

Standards Organizations

  • ISO
  • ANSI
  • OMG
  • ITU
  • DIN
  • W3C
  • OASIS
  • IEEE SA

"The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from."
— Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Randall Munroe,  https://xkcd.com/927/

Time is Relative 

  • 5 years in software is 10 generations
  • 5 years in a museum setting is just getting warmed up

Your Archival Content should be stored in a Standard format

References

  • https://www.nist.gov/publications/overview-product-data-hyperstandard-cd-rom-prototype
  • Standards, the Glue for Innovation: https://sandyressler.com/papers/ressler_ses_journal_march-april_2019.pdf
  • Have I got Some Metaverse Standards For You https://metaversereality.ieee.org/publications/newsletter/have-i-got-some-metaverse-standards-for-you?utm_source=chatgpt.com
  • Carson, George & Puk, Richard & Carey, Rikk. (1999). Developing the VRML 97 International Standard. Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE. 19. 52-58. 10.1109/38.749123. 

That's All Folks!