UNIVERSAL MEDIA

Sneak Peek
February 1999

Universal Media allows multi-megabyte, media rich Web3D worlds to download in seconds.

Universal Media increases the realism of online 3D worlds ("Web3D") and decreases network downloads by defining a small, cross-platform library of locally resident media elements (textures, sounds and 3D objects) and a uniform mechanism by which Web3D content creators can incorporate these media elements into their worlds. Universal Media allows Web3D developers to greatly improve the quality of their worlds in terms of visual and audible impact, while dramatically reducing bandwidth requirements since all Universal Media resides locally (on the end user's hard drive, CD-ROM, DVD, video card, etc.) rather than on a networked server. As a result, Web3D developers use Universal Media content just as they do "local" resources, without concern for downloading each media element over a network connection. Available free of charge, Universal Media allows multi-megabyte, media rich Web3D worlds to download over network connections in seconds, even over slow dial-up modems.
 
 

Table of Contents

Texture Sneak Peek -- Take a peek at the current crop of textures now.
Sound Collection Underway -- Universal Media audio files are being collected.
What's the BUZZ? -- What has Web3D experts from around the world buzzing?
About  -- Learn more about Universal Media by visiting the Web3D Consortium.

Texture Sneak Peek
Following is a very small sample of the many textures now under "Final Review" for the Universal Media library. A 128x128 thumbnail of each image is displayed in the upper-left hand corner of each page. Click on the thumbnail to view a texture at actual size (although textures may be scaled when displayed as a 128x128 thumbnail, each texture is shown tiled at actual size as well).

Initially, these 6 categories of textures will comprise the "core" Universal Media texture libraries. Additional categories of textures will become available as Universal Media grows. Click on a category to browser these textures online.

• Backgrounds (sky, space, country, urban, suburban, waters, etc.)
• Creatures (carapaces, furs, shells, skins, scales, hides, etc.)
• Finishes (paint, stucco, wallpaper, tiles, flooring, carpet, etc.)
• Materials (bricks, metals, plastics, stones, woods, liquids, etc. )
• Nature (grounds, grass, plants, trees, water, rocks, shrubs, etc.)
• Urban (lights, pavements, roads, streets, signs, etc.)

Sound Collection Underway
With the textures portion of Universal Media nearing completion, it's time to turn our attention to sounds and 3D objects. We begin by announcing a call for sounds and audio clips, which you can read all about online!
 
 

What's the Buzz?

"Universal Media will change your Vespa web page into a Lamborghini"

Chris Marrin, Universal Media Technical Advisor
Senior Software Architect, Sony Corporation
 

"Universal Media promises to allow us to spend our time exploring online worlds, rather than waiting for them to download."

Mitra, Universal Media Technical Advisor
Mitra Internet Consulting
 

"Universal Media is one more brick in a growing foundation as VRML supports the creation of a useful cyberspace."

Sandy Ressler, VRML Guide for The Mining Co.
From the article "UMEL, Universal Media Element Library" http://vrml.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa110498.htm
 

"Whether the Next Big Thing in multimedia is a descendent of VRML or ChromeEffects or something yet glimmering in the corner of a lab, it'll live or die depending on whether the content can be downloaded within a 7th grader's attention span. Universal Media is completely unspectacular and completely necessary. It's the sesame seed bun that's going to make all the difference to the next Internet Big Mac."

Bob Crispen
The Boeing Company
 

"Building the Universal Media library can provide a great leap forward. Why? Most technical folks understand that the core challenge in all Web technology is scalability. But remember: you turn the corner towards true scalability when things get easy, not when they're difficult. If Universal Media succeeds, compelling 3D graphics content with great multimedia sounds & imagery can scale up and show up everywhere. Send in your best nuggets to Universal Media; let's build the world's greatest content palette."

Don Brutzman
Technology Vice President, Web3D Consortium
Assistant Professor, Naval Postgraduate School; educator & world builder.
 

"Universal Media is what most perfectly resembles a paintbrush and color paints, bringing to life the outlined sketch on the canvas, all becoming the great work, from which colors and sound emerge, turning Web3D into the symphony of Art and Science."

Gerardo Quintieri
3D CG Artist/Animator
 

"Universal Media saves oodles of time compared to hunting for content out on the web.  And versus creating content from scratch...  Don't get me started!"

Mike Wren
PSW Technologies

About Universal Media
The Web3D Consortium's Universal Media Element Library Working Group was established in June of 1997 with a charter to increase the realism of Web3D worlds and decrease network downloads by defining a small, cross-platform library of locally resident media elements (textures, sounds and 3D objects) together with the mechanism by which content creators can incorporate these media elements into online 3D worlds.

To learn more about Universal Media visit the Web3D Consortium's Universal Media Element Library (UMEL) Working Group visit:

Web3D Universal Media Element Library (Web3D-UMEL) Working Group