Brokering and 3D collaborative viewing of mechanical part models on the Web

We developed a collaborative system, called 3D-Syn, that supports synchronous communication and manipulation of 3D part models on the WWW ( World Wide Web). The major contribution of this paper is that 3D-Syn provides an open platform for 3D collaboration to inter-link part suppliers and buyers. All users participating in a collaboration session are able to cooperatively evaluate various part features in real time while sharing the same workspace. The system supports two major functions: one to maintain part data in a part library; and the other to provide a means for users to cooperate. An object-oriented database is used for the part library that stores part information. VRML (virtual reality modelling language) is used to represent 3D part models. Several Java programs have been developed to provide synchronous communication of the 3D models as well as asynchronous communication. Once users are interconnected through the system, a user's manipulation of part objects is transparently and instantaneously transmitted to the others. Because the system is developed using a Java applet-server architecture, no client program is required except a standard Web browser. The prototype system has been successfully implemented, and demonstrated its applicability to virtual 3D part information sharing.