Ongoing ~ Exporters / JSON Output

[theo-armour]

Hi Team

This message is particularly for the peeps that worked on the Grasshopper, Revit and Max exporters.

Other issues/emails from will cover other aspects of the va3c post-mortem.

First, the work was amazing.

More Descriptive Title

I propose a name change. When you 'export' something the traditional meaning of the word is that a thing leaves one place and goes to another place and the original place is left empty .

The work you did over the weekend was not about taking things out of data files and transferring those things to another file.

On the contrary, your work enabled the original data to be viewed in a new way. Your work enables adds capability to the original.

So can we think of a better and more informative title for the activity?

Some thoughts/buzzwords on the activity:

• prepping for 3D readers
• JSON capable
• web embed-able

Can you think of on or two words that might be more fun and a better explanation than 'exporter'?

License and Copyrights

All work is currently licensed under the MIT license which is just about the simplest most open most 'do anything you want with the stuff' license there is. We are allowed to congratulate ourselves for being nice people. Nonetheless it would be a good thing for you to check if any of the material you produced contain material with a more restrictive license such as GPL or - 'heavens forbid' - a 'all rights reserved' unlicense.

We are all listed by name and with organization and GitHub user name as contributors to the va3c intellectual property. I believe this is sufficient data to establish a joint copyright. If anybody wishes to state additional information regarding contact details or specific areas of concentration please inform us and Josh or Femi or I will add this to the contributors table or feel free to add the data yourself.

Afterlife / Ongoing Activity

1. It will be great if you can provide some feedback as to your capability to provide ongoing support. For example, could you be available for light bug-fixing or adding a feature or two or even willing to push hard on R2.
2. Do you have an opinion on whether the utilities you helped create should be added to the Three.js code base?
   [Disclaimer: I vote 'yes' and would be happy to draft read me files etc.]
3. Do you have an opinion on whether the utilities you helped develop are of sufficient interest that it might be worthwhile fomenting some type of entrepreneurial activity? In other words, should we continue?

Theo

[jeremytammik]

hi theo,

thank you for the good points.

i agree the work was amazing, fun and useful.

sure i would be willing to continue. i see it as open source, though, not entrepreneurial.

i can imagine renaming from 'exporter' to 'graphics pipeline facet streamer' or some subset thereof :-)

cheers

jeremy

[macumber]

Hey @theo-armour, unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the hackathon but I heard about this project afterwards and am very interested. I have been working on my own three.js viewer for OpenStudio models. However, if this project is taking off I would prefer to use this and just have OpenStudio export the correct format or make OpenStudio three.js enabled, whatever the term is :-)

I really do hope this project continues and would be happy to devote energy here that I would have otherwise done on my own. What is the best place to start? Where is there a description of the JSON format? Once I have a JSON file is there some example code I should use to load and render it?

Thanks for all the hard work this weekend,
Dan

[theo-armour]

@jeremytammik / Jeremy

i see it as open source, though, not entrepreneurial.

FOSS forever: no question but 'yes' in my mind.

I used the word 'entrepreneurial' in the sense that there could be payable work for, say, large-enterprise-level customization.

More about all this in an upcoming issue/message.

@macumber / Dan

Thank you for the kind words. And may I return the compliment as OpenStudio certainly seems to be hot stuff these days

And I have had very much the same thoughts. The winning 'Pollinator' team was sitting next to us during the Hackathon and I felt that we could have built and incorporated a 3D viewer for their efforts if we had been given just five or ten minutes more time. (Or am I just saying that because of sleep deprivation ;-)

What is the best place to start?

https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/wiki

And perhaps some fellow team members might have suggestions - as to folders in our various repos that you might look at. It might help if you let us know what language and/or tools you are considering using.

Once I have a JSON file is there some example code I should use to load and render it?

Have a look at the va3c viewer

And

http://mrdoob.github.io/three.js/editor/
http://idflood.github.io/ThreeNodes.js/public/index.html ( a grasshopper-ish thing)

I hope that very soon we have an update that loads and opens any Three.js JSON file...

Theo

[mattmas]

Hi Theo,

It was a lot of fun. When’s the next one?

I’m willing and interested to keep moving it forward – as with anyone who has a day job, I’d imagine that the amount of time I can spend will vary wildly depending on what’s going on elsewhere.

I think the most important thing we could do for the community in the short term is attempt to document somehow what we learned about the JSON/Three.js version 4 format. I’m not sure what the right venue right format would be. If nothing else, we can always go the “blog” route and just rely on Google to help people find it.

There is nothing in the Revit Exporter side of the project that used GPL.

Best Regards,
Matt

From: Theo Armour [mailto:notifications@github.com]
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2014 5:25 PM
To: va3c/va3c.github.io
Subject: [va3c.github.io] Ongoing ~ Exporters / JSON Output (#5)

Hi Team

This message is particularly for the peeps that worked on the Grasshopper, Revit and Max exporters.

Other issues/emails from will cover other aspects of the va3c post-mortem.

First, the work was amazing.

More Descriptive Title

I propose a name change. When you 'export' something the traditional meaning of the word is that a thing leaves one place and goes to another place and the original place is left empty .

The work you did over the weekend was not about taking things out of data files and transferring those things to another file.

On the contrary, your work enabled the original data to be viewed in a new way. Your work enables adds capability to the original.

So can we think of a better and more informative title for the activity?

Some thoughts/buzzwords on the activity:

• prepping for 3D readers
• JSON capable
• web embed-able

Can you think of on or two words that might be more fun and a better explanation than 'exporter'?

License and Copyrights

All work is currently licensed under the MIT license which is just about the simplest most open most 'do anything you want with the stuff' license there is. We are allowed to congratulate ourselves for being nice people. Nonetheless it would be a good thing for you to check if any of the material you produced contain material with a more restrictive license such as GPL or - 'heavens forbid' - a 'all rights reserved' unlicense.

We are all listed by name and with organization and GitHub user name as contributors to the va3c intellectual property. I believe this is sufficient data to establish a joint copyright. If anybody wishes to state additional information regarding contact details or specific areas of concentration please inform us and Josh or Femi or I will add this to the contributors table or feel free to add the data yourself.

Afterlife / Ongoing Activity

1.  It will be great if you can provide some feedback as to your capability to provide ongoing support. For example, could you be available for light bug-fixing or adding a feature or two or even willing to push hard on R2.
   

2.  Do you have an opinion on whether the utilities you helped create should be added to the Three.js code base?
   

[Disclaimer: I vote 'yes' and would be happy to draft read me files etc.]

1.  Do you have an opinion on whether the utilities you helped develop are of sufficient interest that it might be worthwhile fomenting some type of entrepreneurial activity? In other words, should we continue?
   

Theo

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/5.

[zachflanders]

Hi all,
Last weekend was amazing! I learned a ton that I am already using in my day job. Thank you everyone, (Theo & Josh in particular) for helping me along and explaining what was going on so I could keep up. I am interesting in continuing to be involved to advance this project and continuing to improve my programming skills.

One thought I had for an additional feature would be a capture button, where a user (e.g. a client) could screenshot a view and then go into a markup mode where they could draw on the image using a red pen or something. They could then share it back to the team.

[theo-armour]

Zach

Your enthusiasm, your knowledge of the tools available on web and your desire to keep learning are all great. Thank you for being a team member.

One thought I had for an additional feature would be a capture button,

Could you open up a new issue with this item and add the new wishlist label to it? I will respond there.

I am interesting in continuing to be involved to advance this project

How about coming up with some new projects or places where the va3c could be applied?

[howesben]

@theo-armour - thanks for the great follow up. I agree, the work was amazing! I'm still buzzing from the energy last weekend...

I agree with @jeremytammik and @theo-armour - the work should stay free and open source, and if any one of us happens to land a consulting gig building something custom for a client based on this work, that's great!

@theo-armour - I personally don't mind the 'exporter' part of the descriptions. I think 'streamer' implies live data, and that in fact we are exporting models in a web-viewable format. Other opinions out there?

@macumber Dan - It would be INCREDIBLE if we could get OpenStudio exporting to va3c! In addition to @theo-armour's suggestions, I'd urge you to look at the files in this organization's json repo - all of those have been produced with our exporters and are able to be parsed with our viewer (the most recent ones are probably the best examples). We are going to work on documenting the JSON format further - more effort is certainly needed on that front.

I am certainly interested in progressing this project over the next few months - we have lots of applications for the work at TT, and based on the initial response and feedback, I think we are really on to something, and that the work deserves a chance to blossom over the summer.

[theo-armour]

Ben

I personally don't mind the 'exporter' part of the descriptions.

I don't mind the term either. But it so reminds me of people, in years gone
by, getting their stuff from WordPerfect to Word or AutoCAD to MicroStation
( or vice versa).

I think what you got us going with is going to be new and disruptive.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a term(s) that felt equally fresh and
innovative?

Theo

On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 1:13 PM, Benjamin Howes notifications@github.comwrote:

@theo-armour https://github.com/theo-armour - thanks for the great
follow up. I agree, the work was amazing! I'm still buzzing from the energy
last weekend...

I agree with @jeremytammik https://github.com/jeremytammik and
@theo-armour https://github.com/theo-armour - the work should stay free
and open source, and if any one of us happens to land a consulting gig
building something custom for a client based on this work, that's great!

@theo-armour https://github.com/theo-armour - I personally don't mind
the 'exporter' part of the descriptions. I think 'streamer' implies live
data, and that in fact we are exporting models in a web-viewable format.
Other opinions out there?

@macumber https://github.com/macumber Dan - It would be INCREDIBLE if
we could get OpenStudio exporting to va3c! In addition to @theo-armourhttps://github.com/theo-armour's
suggestions, I'd urge you to look at the files in this organization's json
repo - all of those have been produced with our exporters and are able to
be parsed with our viewer (the most recent ones are probably the best
examples). We are going to work on documenting the JSON format further -
more effort is certainly needed on that front.

I am certainly interested in progressing this project over the next few
months - we have lots of applications for the work at TT, and based on the
initial response and feedback, I think we are really on to something, and
that the work deserves a chance to blossom over the summer.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/5#issuecomment-43917001
.

[jeremytammik]

hi theo,

i think it would be a great idea to update the revit exporter to add support for the new version of the viewer.

i am also perfectly happy to rename it from exporter to 'web embedder' or something like that.

what is the easiest way to determine what the new file format is?

simply pick the simplest possible new sample file and reverse engineer it?

can you point to the applicable documentation?

thank you!

cheers

jeremy

[theo-armour]

Jeremy

I think the most wonderful thing would be to add 'revit' as a folder with
appropriate files and readme here:

https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/tree/master/utils/exporters

It would be approriate to inform Mr.doob of such an intention and ask for
his approval either via IRC or here:

https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/issues

The format should follow the guidelines on the wiki:

https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/wiki

Exported files should be tested against the Three.js Editor - as well as
the vA3C Viewer

http://mrdoob.github.io/three.js/editor/

The VA3C Viewer closely follows the examples set in the Three.js Editor. No
significant changes have been made to the JSON importing capabilities of
the vA3C Viewer since the Hackathon. If nothing else this is because the
Revit exports we have work so well. ;-)

I have started a sample files guidelines for the vA3C viewer here:

https://github.com/va3c/va3c.github.io/blob/master/sample-file-guidelines.md

Theo

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 4:25 AM, Jeremy Tammik notifications@github.com
wrote:

hi theo,

i think it would be a great idea to update the revit exporter to add
support for the new version of the viewer.

i am also perfectly happy to rename it from exporter to 'web embedder' or
something like that.

what is the easiest way to determine what the new file format is?

simply pick the simplest possible new sample file and reverse engineer it?

can you point to the applicable documentation?

thank you!

cheers

jeremy

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#5 (comment).

[jeremytammik]

Hi Theo,

Thank you for the helpful overview and explanation!

I'll have a go at it asap.

Cheers,

Jeremy

[jeremytammik]

Hi Theo,

Just one little bit more detail more, please.

I would like to use the three.js editor to determine exactly what the JSON file produced by the Revit exporter should optimally look like.

In the three.js editor, I see several different export options: geometry, object, scene.

I noticed somewhere that you said we could mingle and mix different JSON files in the viewer provided no scene was defined in any of them. Is that correct, or did I misunderstand something?

As far as I know, the Revit exporter currently defines a scene.

Should I better remove that?

Thank you!

Cheers,

Jeremy

[theo-armour]

Jeremy

As far as I know, the Revit exporter currently defines a scene.

Yes, it does.

Should I better remove that?

Yes, please.

I will add something like this to the guidelines:

Create a scene if the export includes aspects such as camera positions and
lights.

Create an object if the export contains material information such as color
and textures

Create geometry if the export is material 'agnostic'

Feel free to ask more detailed questions and I will do my best to reply.

I should also point out that I have been dealing with .obj, js/.json, .stl,
.3ds, and .dae files. Of all the files, the easiest to work with are yours
and Matt's Revit exports. I look forward to experimenting with more
examples...

Theo

On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 11:54 AM, Jeremy Tammik notifications@github.com
wrote:

Hi Theo,

Just one little bit more detail more, please.

I would like to use the three.js editor to determine exactly what the JSON
file produced by the Revit exporter should optimally look like.

In the three.js editor, I see several different export options: geometry,
object, scene.

I noticed somewhere that you said we could mingle and mix different JSON
files in the viewer provided no scene was defined in any of them. Is that
correct, or did I misunderstand something?

As far as I know, the Revit exporter currently defines a scene.

Should I better remove that?

Thank you!

Cheers,

Jeremy

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#5 (comment).