The X3D CAD Initiative

Posted on May 8, 2008
Filed Under 3D, CAD, Standards |

The X3D CAD Initiative is a working group of the Web3D Consortium, designed to increase the value and cross-application use of CAD data. X3D is an open source standard, developed to allow royalty-free reuse of 3D assets within a wide variety of applications. The CAD Initiative is of note because it has been traditionally quite difficult to use engineering data in downstream visual applications including:

Electronic training manuals
Custom configurators
Product maintenance, safety, pre and post review, walkthroughs

Success of the X3D CAD Initiative will hinge upon increasing Product Graphics Management support, and the willingness of large customers (e.g. U.S DoD) to increase adoption of open source tools and data formats. Despite ongoing security concerns, there has been some movement in this direction due to benefits many open source applications bring, including reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) and the leverage of “free” technical assistance from the open source community.

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