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Domain: 3dif.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to 3dif.org.

Comments · 6

  1. Re:Too many hyperlinks by Archibald+Buttle · · Score: 3, Informative · on Universal3D vs. Real Open Standards

    Too many links, and not one of them led to the 3D Industry Forum web site, which would have been useful since that's the group that's pushing U3D.

  2. Interesting by whovian · · Score: 3, Interesting · on 31 Lawsuits Filed Over Alleged JPEG Patent
    Some more digging...

    Remember yesterday? /. had a thread about working on a Universal 3D file format wherein it was mentioned that MP3 and JPEG as models for comparison were encumbered with patent issues.

    The first two Score-5 responses come up as follows:

    Really bad examples to pick... (Score:5, Insightful)
    by * on Wednesday April 21, @03:26PM (#8933019)
    (http://www.studioqb.com/)
    Not only did they pick two lossy formats to use as examples, both MP3 [mp3licensing.com] and JPEG [forgent.com] are patent-encumbered formats. (The validity of the Forgent patent on a piece of JPEG is a bit of a still-contested issue... but I'll leave that to others to discuss.) If you want to write a program using either of those formats, you're going to have to pay the toll.

    Let's hope U3D is able to stay clear of such entanglements. Having a patent involved in a file format makes it questionable if FOSS can legally use the format.

    JPEG patent is bullshit (Score:5, Informative)
    by * on Wednesday April 21, @03:29PM (#8933064)

    You have a point with MP3, but the author of BurnAllGIFs.org [burnallgifs.org] seems to think the JPEG patent wouldn't stand up in a court of law.


    and now the lawsuit announcement on the next day. Interesting coinky-dink.

    Who are the groups involved? The 3D Industry Forum's web site has a FAQ containing a partial list of members:

    Adobe    , Boeing, Dassault/Systemes, NGRAIN, Lattice, Microsoft, Parallel Graphics, SGDL Systems and Tech Soft. [and Intel presumably as they called for the Forum].


    Compare to the list of defendants in the Forgent suit:

    Adobe, Agfa, Apple, Axis Communications, Canon, Concord Camera Corporation, Creative Labs, Dell, Kodak, Fuji Photo Film, Fujitsu CPoA, Gateway, HP, IBM, JASC Software, JVC Americas Corp., Kyocera, Macromedia, Matsushita, Oce' North America, Onkyo, PalmOne, Panasonic, Ricoh, Broderbund, Savin, Thomson S.A., Toshiba, Xerox.


    Well, from my limited perspective, it appears to me that the groups are largely disjoint as the 3D forum is concerned with graphics and the lawsuit defendants are largely video imaging and photography related. Adobe apparently has its hands into both.

    Somebody else already wondered by Microsoft wasn't listed, but I'd be more inclinded to ask, Why not Sony since they are into photography as well (Digicam, Cyber-shot). Maybe they have licensed JPEG, who knows?
  3. I wonder how much the price for the spec is by andalay · · Score: 1 · on Universal 3D File Format In The Works

    link
    With MS involved, I have a feeling that there is going to be a lot of ``embrace and extend'' beyond what goes on in Ballmers office.

  4. Re:3D what? by tepples · · Score: 1 · on Universal 3D File Format In The Works

    Given actual consumer applications of 3D graphics technology, I'll guess that the format stores a mesh and links to texture files (possibly PNG, JPEG, or JNG).

    No, I can't Read The F___ Site. When I try to look deeper into the issue, I get 401 Authorization Required. No, I can't just create an account because the form to create an account is available only to employed persons ("Company: (required)").

  5. Lossiness? No, try patents by tepples · · Score: 4, Insightful · on Universal 3D File Format In The Works

    Interesting that they would choose two lossy media formats as models for comparison.

    Would one really notice slight noise in the coordinates of points of a mesh or in texel color values?

    Frankly, I'm more worried about this from the article:

    the intention is to create a way of encoding 3D data as freely available as MP3 for audio

    MP3 is not free. Will Intel or one of Intel's licensors pull a Unisys after this format has become popular? Apparently, the 3D Industry Forum's FAQ page doesn't even contain the word "patent".

  6. There's a page for this on the ECMA site... by tcopeland · · Score: 5, Informative · on Universal 3D File Format In The Works

    ...right here.

    There's also a separate 3DIF site.