 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Universal 3D" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Filename extension | .u3d |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | model/u3d |
| Developed by | 3D Industry Forum, Ecma International |
| Initial release | August 2005 |
| Latest release | 4th edition June 2007 |
| Type of format | File format for3D computer graphics |
| Extended from | XML |
| Standard | ECMA-363 |
| Website | Standard ECMA-363 |
Universal 3D (U3D) is a compressedfile format standard for3D computer graphics data.
The format was defined by a special consortium called3D Industry Forum that brought together a diverse group of companies and organizations, includingIntel,Boeing,HP,Adobe Systems,Bentley Systems,Right Hemisphere and others whose main focus had been the promotional development of 3D graphics for use in various industries, specifically at this time manufacturing as well as construction and industrial plant design. The format was later standardized byEcma International in August 2005 as ECMA-363.
The goal is a universal standard for three-dimensional data of all kinds, to facilitate data exchange. The consortium promoted also the development of anopen source library for facilitating the adoption of the format.
The format is natively supported by thePDF format and 3D objects in U3D format can be inserted into PDF documents and interactively visualized byAcrobat Reader (since version 7).
There are four editions to date.
The first edition is supported by many/all of the various applications mentioned below. It is capable of storing vertex based geometry, color, textures, lighting, bones, and transform based animation.
The second and third editions correct some errata in the first edition, and the third edition also adds the concept of vendor specified blocks. One such block widely deployed is the RHAdobeMesh block, which provides a more compressed alternative to the mesh blocks defined in the first edition. Deep Exploration, Tetra4D for Acrobat Pro and PDF3D-SDK can author this data, and Adobe Acrobat and Reader 8.1 can read this data.
The fourth edition provides definitions for higher order primitives (curved surfaces).
Applications which support PDFs with embedded U3D objects include:
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)Scanned mesh of a Ippolita Sforza's statue by Francesco LauranaatInstitute of Science and Technology (ISTI CNR)
Standards ofEcma International | ||
|---|---|---|
| Application interfaces |  | |
| File systems (tape) | ||
| File systems (disk) | ||
| Graphics | ||
| Programming languages | ||
| Radio link interfaces | ||
| Other | ||
List of Ecma standards (1961 – present) | ||