Converting RSS Feeds To a Dynamic 3D Scene In 120 Lines of Code

descubes writes "Tao Presentations is a 3D presentation tool based on a 3D dynamic document description language. This makes it very easy for developers to create their own 3D shows, illustrate talks in an innovative way, even build small interactive 3D applications. An example included in the latest release grabs RSS feeds from a variety of sources (including Slashdot) and turns them into a 3D scene, all in real-time and in about 120 lines of code. It fetches the pictures directly from the web site and maps them on 3D shapes. And this is only a starting point. Tao Presentations can display 3D objects, drive the majority of 3D displays (including glasses-free 3D displays from Alioscopy, Philips or Tridelity), use GLSL shaders for advanced effects, and much more. Tao Presentations is free (as in beer), and the document description language is based on the free (as in speech) XL programming language."

Comments

Underwhelming implementation

[KrazyDave]

but the concept is flawed in that it borders on the ridiculous. What is wrong with just reading the news in a list format? Do we need to see it rendered in 3D?

Re:Underwhelming implementation

[SIR_Taco]

But 3D is the new 2D.

I'm just waiting for some advancements in augmented reality, so that I can see the world around me in 3D! /sarcasm

Active Worlds

[Hsien-Ko]

I'm getting a strong, familiar VRML-era stench about this hype.

Not biased at all...

[LighterShadeOfBlack]

So the founder and president [of] Taodyne submits a "story" extolling the virtues of Taodyne's latest program/thingie and this actually makes it onto Slashdot? Am I really expecting too much of Slashdot by thinking that this shouldn't happen? I mean the entire summary is blatantly written like an advert -- perhaps you could say the guy isn't trying to deceive anyone since it's obvious to anyone looking (eg. me) what's going on, but is that really a good direction to go in? Is even the barest of journalistic integrity a lost cause on this site?

Re:Not biased at all...

[LighterShadeOfBlack]

The problem isn't that the story is (necessarily) irrelevant to Slashdot readers, it's that you are in no position to make an unbiased look at the subject at hand and report about it to readers who are on what is ostensibly a news site. This doesn't make you a bad person and you were not the intended target of my rant because, as we both mentioned, you made no attempt to obscure the fact that you were tied to the subject matter. My issue is that Slashdot editors and/or firehosers (I don't even know how that works anymore) should have noted that link and either rejected it or re-written/re-submitted a new summary from their own opinion.

Obviously you have a product you're excited about and you want to tell people about it, there's nothing wrong with that. That's why press releases exist - you write what is essentially an informative advert, which by the nature of all PR is 90% bullshit and hyperbole, and send it out to various news source, bloggers and other interested parties. They then read it, ignore the aforementioned bullshit, then decide whether the remaining 10% is worth theirs and their readers time to make it into a story formed from their own words and opinions.

In short, the problem here isn't that your thingie isn't relevant to Slashdot, I honestly don't know whether it is or not, the problem is that there is a degree of abstraction --a level of objectivity-- missing from the process here. That objectivity is the difference between a legitimate news source and a pin-up board for advertisers, and it's a distinction that I expect^H^H^H^H^H^H want Slashdot to adhere to.

3D RSS feed sounds like...

[istartedi]

3D RSS feed sounds like it'll be the greatest thing since six-speaker stereo surround sound for the morse code coming out ham radios.

Wow, 120 lines!

[wonkey_monkey]

...is that a lot? Not enough?

Anyway, my new language has a built-in function to do this, so it needs only one line of code!