3D Solid Compression
F.A.Q
- 1. What does VIS stand for?
- VIS stands for Virtual Interactive Solids/ Visualise Interact with Solids.
- 2. Is VIS an encoding standard for 3D models?
- No. A 3D for Web standards group is getting in place to establish standards for representing 3D geometry on the web.
- 3. What is unique about VIS?
- The VIS format allows a concise representation of 3D geometry; upto 25 times smaller than competing visualisation formats and 100 times smaller than CAD formats. It allows the user to interact with domain content in the context of an application (as opposed to mere graphical interaction) such as zoom, pan, cut etc.
- 4. What are the other existing standards similar to VIS?
- JT from UGS, Vxl3D from LatticeCorp and Helixx from 3DCompression are some of the other technologies in this space.
- 5. Is VIS patent protected?
- Yes. There is already a patent granted technology and other patent applications pertaining to VIS related technologies are pending.
- 6. Who are the developers of VIS and to whom has VIS been licensed to?
- VIS format was developed at Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. The rights to this technology vests with the two Universities. The two Universities have assigned the rights to this technology to 3D Solid Compression Pvt. Limited (incorporated in Bangalore) founded by the developers.
- 7. What are the available products that use VIS technology?
- The following are the VIS based products currently available:
- VISViewer : A viewer (stand-alone/browser based) to view and interact with VIS models.
- VISTrans : Translators to convert models in standard neutral and popular formats such as .STL, VRML, Wavefront OBJ, Maya to VIS format.
- 8. Does VIS lose geometry information when compression is done on the 3D models?
- The default option in translating (compressing) 3D models is lossless. However, additional compression can be achieved by allowing for some loss.
- 9. From what popular formats can 3D models be converted to VIS?
- Currently, VisTrans supports the following formats - STL, VRML, Wavefront OBJ and Maya. Both importing and exporting are possible with STL and VRML.
- 10. Can the user generate a VIS model from scratch?
- Yes. Visdom can be used for constructing a Vis model from scratch. It may be noted that the compression achieved in this case will be much greater than that obtained by translating from an existing 3D representation.
- 11. How difficult is it to author 3D content in VISDOM?
- A person with no background in 3D modeling can create content in VIS within two days.
- 12. Can VIS 3D content be further compressed by utilities such as WinZip etc?
- Yes. However it must be kept in mind that VIS 3D content enables interaction with a compressed model. In contrast, files when compressed by WinZIP can not be accessed or manipulated.
- 13. What is the compression factor that VIS can provide when models are converted from popular 3D formats such as VRML, PRO-E etc?
- From VRML files compression of 17–20 times are possible; from STL the compression factor is around xx times. Currently native CAD formats are not supported. But compression from these formats are likely to be much higher.
- 14. Is the compression by VIS dependent of the nature of the 3D model?
- The actual compression obtained will be affected by the nature of the 3D model.
- 15. Can 3D content authored by VIS be converted to other popular 3D formats such as CATIA, PRO-E, STL etc. for export?
- Currently, only STL and VRML formats are supported in the export option.
- 16. What are the application areas of the VISDOM and VIS browser?
- The VisView browser can be used for visualising large 3D models across the network.
VisDom can be used to create e–manuals, e–learning content, gaming with 3D environment and tele–medicine applications.
- 17. What are the Hardware requirements/dependencies of VIS based products offered by DACS?
- VIS based products work on the Windows, Linux, SUN and IBM platforms. Depending on the complexity of the models and the nature of interaction (with the models) required upwards of 512 MB main memory would be required.
- 18. What is the software environment required for VIS based products?
- VIS products need Java 3D and a standard web browser. VIS products work with all the current popular browsers - Netscape, Explorer, Opera?, Firefox?
- 19. Are VIS based products platform and OS independent?
- Yes. VIS products will work on all the major hardware platforms (Intel, Sun, HP and IBM) and on Windows, Unix, Linux and Aix.
- 20. Can VIS 3D models be viewed under Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator and if yes, what does the user have to do?
- Yes. The user has to have a license of VisView and viewer will automatically install the utilities required for viewing 3D VIS models.
- 21. Where can I get pricing and purchasing related information on VIS based products?
- For purchase and pricing related information, please contact us at
- 22. Can VIS be used for compressing 2D images?
- No. Compression with VIS is based on a concise representation which addresses 3D geometry only.
- 23. Is it possible to access and manipulate VIS models through APIs?
- Yes. A standard set of APIs are under development.
- 24. What is the effort in creating VIS models?
- If these models are being created from legacy models, then the translation is done real-time. Given the size of the model, this may vary from milli-seconds to a few minutes for a 70MB model.
If the VIS models are being created from scratch, a new user should be able to create a model such as the half-shaft in half a day (including animation). - 25. Is it possible to annotate VIS models (as in redlining etc.)?
- This will be supported in the next version! Currently, querying the VIS model (properties, distances, sectioning) is supported.
