User:Tohline/Appendix/Ramblings/VirtualReality

Virtual Reality and 3D Printing

[Circa August 2019] I am once again considering whether steady improvements in certain digital technologies over the past half-a-dozen years can be straightforwardly called upon to display to a broad audience the three-dimensional characteristics of rapidly rotating fluid systems. Two specific technologies come to mind: (1) 3D printing; and (2) XR (virtual reality). A cursory online investigation suggests that we may be able to import OBJ-formatted files into the software algorithms that drive these two technologies. In addition, the popular Unity design tool may serve us well in our efforts to build/view/export such files.

Initial Browsing of Online Resources

• DAE files & XML COLLADA format   <--   the Preview application on my MacBook Air will open/display a .DAE file
• A file with the DAE file extension is a Digital Asset Exchange file. DAE files are based on the COLLADA (COLLAborative Design Activity) XML schema, which is now owned and developed by Autodesk (e.g., Maya). DAE files allow users to transmit 3D graphics files across multiple graphics applications.
• Examples:
  In March 2011, Khronos released the COLLADA Conformance Test Suite (CTS). The suite allows applications that import and export COLLADA to test against a large suite of examples, ensuring that they conform properly to the specification. In July 2012, the CTS software was released on GitHub — also see, an associated PDF document, and OpenCOLLADA hosted on Github — allowing for community contributions.
  Check out turbosquid.com

• August 2013:  Autodesk has released Maya LT with COLLADA export capabilities.
• Four most common 3D printer file formats in 2019.
• STL:
  File Format Simply Explained.
  As of today, STL is the undisputed champion among 3D printer file formats. STL’s history goes back to the invention of 3D printing itself. The first 3D printer was invented by Chuck Hull in 1987 at 3D Systems. The same guy was behind the STL file format. If you are primarily printing with a single material and in a single color, STL will do the job. But the moment you move to multicolor printing, you have to ditch STL because it is simply not capable of storing colors.
  There are many repositories, marketplaces and search engines on the web containing literally millions of free STL files. Thingiverse is probably the largest STL file repository on the internet – so check it out. You can also refer to our regularly updated list: Best Sites for Free STL Files & 3D Printer Models.
  STL File Viewers

• OBJ:
  File format explained.
  Format developed by Wavefront; note that a number of the above-referenced STL viewers will also view OBJ files.

• AMF
• 3MF
• Unity
• See especially the Products page which briefly refers to …
• Platforms: Build once, deploy anywhere to reach the largest possible audience on our industry-leading platform; 25+ platforms across mobile, desktop, console, TV, VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality) and the Web.
• XR: Powering over two-thirds of VR and AR experiences; Unity is the preferred development tool for the majority of XR creators.
• Unreal Engine 4 — competitor of Unity
• Oculus Rift S driven by PC; or Oculus Quest, standalone 6DOF VR — looks like they both can be driven by either Unity or Unreal, or via the Native Platform provided by Oculus.
• Gear VR — Samsung's headset (powered by Oculus)
• vtk has vtkOBJExporter as well as vtkOBJReader
• Kitware may also be relevant
• Jinghua Ge's CCT-based visualization lab course
• Look into the VR Model Viewer from MindRend Technologies, which "is a tool to import and view CAD models of various types in VR."
  It claims to provide support for three of the four formats identified above in connection with 3D printers, namely: STL, OBJ (with MTL file), and 3MF.
  It supports the following VR headsets: Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

© 2014 - 2021 by Joel E. Tohline |   H_Book Home   |   YouTube   | Appendices: | Equations | Variables | References | Ramblings | Images | myphys.lsu | ADS | Recommended citation:   Tohline, Joel E. (2021), The Structure, Stability, & Dynamics of Self-Gravitating Fluids, a (MediaWiki-based) Vistrails.org publication, https://www.vistrails.org/index.php/User:Tohline/citation