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Progress on the media front at Siggraph '98

Is Java Media ready? Why developers are hedging their bets

By Bill Day, JavaWorld.com, 10/01/98

Computer graphics and media are big business. One look at the popular timeline at Siggraph '98, which showed each year's conference statistics, including the estimated worldwide market for computer graphics technology, tells you this. The timeline stretched back to Siggraph's inception, 25 years ago. It estimated the total worldwide market for computer graphics software and hardware in 1998, including categories for CAD/CAM, art and animation, multimedia, realtime simulation, scientific visualization, graphic arts, virtual reality, and the ever-popular other. Including all of the categories, computer graphics revenues are estimated at US3.5 billion for 1998. Estimates for 2003 run well over US00 billion.

Obviously, computer graphics is big business. Considering the buying and engineering power of the thousands of attendees in evidence at Siggraph '98, it's apparent why so many companies were compelled to demonstrate Java-based media solutions at this year's conference.

What follows is an update on the progress of Java Media technology in the year between Siggraph '97 and Siggraph '98. In part, I will use this update to set the stage for the next series of Media Programming columns on 3D graphics APIs.

Major announcements and debuts

I briefly discussed major announcements in last month's JavaWorld article on Siggraph '98 (see Resources). Here's a quick recap of some of the major Java-related conference highlights:

• Sun demonstrated Java 2D and Java Media Players in its booth, but spent the vast majority of its efforts on Java 3D.
  
  
• The Java 3D VRML Working Group was officially created as a part of the VRML Consortium. This new group comes five months after Sun joined the VRML Consortium (which was itself announced at VRML98 last February) as a voting member.
  
  
• Sun announced it would release to the public the source code for its Java 3D-based VRML97 loader. This release occurred several weeks after the conference, along with the Java 3D 1.1 beta 1 release.
  
  
• Several ISVs demonstrated Java- and Java 3D-based solutions. Vendors included Sun, Live Picture, Template Graphics Software, and Nearlife.

Much to the attendees' delight, Sun also demonstrated Java 3D running in a browser at the Web 3D round-up. The demonstration entailed running Java 3D within Java Plug-in. Subsequently, several members of the java3d-interest mailing list have reported success using Java 3D with the Java Plug-in. As such, this solution seems more mature than mere "demoware."

Courses and sessions as far as the eye can see

I attended quite a few Java- and media-related courses at the conference. Siggraph organizers focus a lot of their preparatory energies on the courses, and it shows: The sessions are some of the most well orchestrated parts of the conference and, for those needing a crash course or refresher in a new technology, are also among the most beneficial portions of the conference.

Here's a short listing of the courses I attended, with a brief overview of the content of each:

• Advanced Graphics Programming Techniques Using OpenGL -- This session assumed basic knowledge of OpenGL and focused on using the API to do things like visual simulation, simulation of inter-object interactions like shadows and reflections, image processing, and computer-aided design. Special effects, scientific visualization, and natural phenomenon were also discussed.
  
  
• Introduction to Programming in Java 3D -- A crash course in Java 3D, this session was more programming-oriented but less well attended than last year's course.
  
  
• A Visual Introduction to OpenGL Programming -- The beginner's introduction to OpenGL, or a good refresher for someone who hasn't used it in a while. This session was well attended.
  
  
• Introduction to VRML97 -- Again, a beginner's course. But unlike the OpenGL introductory course, the VRML97 course had sparse attendance.
  
  
• Introduction to Audio Compression and Representation -- Last year, a panel on the closing day of Siggraph '97 concluded with a request for input on how many attendees were interested in seeing the role of sound increased at Siggraph. The support was overwhelming, and this session was one of the many new sessions on sound at Siggraph '98. The discussion was a very thorough, if somewhat rushed, overview of audio creation and representation in digital systems. There was a lot of crossover information of benefit to graphics practitioners, encompassing such topics as noisy signals and quantization. (Please refer to my previous column, "Antialiasing, images, and alpha compositing in Java 2D", for more on this subject.) All in all, this was the most useful course that I attended.
  
  
• Digital Video: Algorithms and Interfaces and Digital Video: Motion JPEG, MPEG-2, DVC, DVD -- Both sessions were organized and largely presented by the legendary Charles Poynton, and were based heavily upon his treatise on digital video, A Technical Introduction to Digital Video. Both sessions also provided in-depth Q&A, which proved to be an effective way of drilling into the material in greater detail. At times rather obtuse, these sessions were nonetheless fascinating peeks into the lower-level internals of digital video.
  
  
• VRML Consortium press conference -- Consortium members proposed expanding their charter (with a possible name change) to include all Web 3D technologies. The members also discussed next-generation VRML, which promises to include streaming content, binary file compression, XML and DHTML integration, and some sample source code to get started with.

What's the net change since last year?

With all the news and product marketing, it's often difficult to extract the net changes in each of the technologies. Here are a few comparisons between Siggraph '97 and '98 in the Java 3D arena:

 

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