Update (July 27, 2003):
The testers have been performing dozens of tests and have been able to make an informal report regarding X3d-Edit: It produces marginally better code than Spazz3D (recently renamed to Viz3D). The errors involving Viz3D were only produced in a very specific situtation - importing a VRML file then exporting as X3D. The errors were always a bad value in solid="TRUE". No other problem was seen. When inporting VRML into X3d-Edit and saving as X3D, the error did NOT occur. In addition, in Validate Mode, X3d-Edit found and corrected the solid="TRUE" error.

It is strongly suggested that anyone doing VRML to X3D conversions either use X3d-Edit to make the conversions, or at least reopen the X3D file in X3d-Edit and validate. Because of the rules in XML (X3D is a subset of XML) any error causes the parser to stop and refuse to show the file. Perfect code is the only code in X3D, whereas small errors were ignored in VRML. Also note that the Flux X3D viewer may ignore small errors, so do not assume that because Flux can see the file that it is perfect. Let X3d-Edit make it be truly perfect.

Original story (July 1, 2003):
Want to get your hands dirty with X3D, but you're a little broke at the moment? Not a problem, X3d-Edit is free. The new installers take the quesswork out of how to install it too, which was a major pain with all the previous versions on Windows machines. It comes in several flavors for just about any OS (including Mac and 'Nix). If you don't have a fairly current JRE, be sure to select the "include Java VM" options. The testers all chose to download the file to local, then install it. All defaults were left exactly as suggested and it installed perfect and ran perfect the first try.

While the testers haven't used it yet to build X3D from scratch, it has been used with very good results to convert VRML to X3D. After the program finishes initializing, minimalize the test file it opens. On the main File menu, select the Import option and follow through. Pick the New File option at the very end and the Nist converters go to work and change everything from VRML statements to XML tagsets in a fresh document. Now save as VRML. The forest of tags at the top of the XML code created can be daunting, but the current X3D specification does call for them, though many X3D writers are already ignoring some (or most) of them.

While fully functional, there are a few minor bugs. Don't count on tooltips tooltext when hovering to always display nicely. It frequently shows for just a split second, then the part that overlaps the main window disappears. As with any Java-based software, the program will sometimes just sit there and appear to be doing nothing, then finish what you'd asked it. No other bugs were evident when testing X3d-Edit, it's a very powerful and elegant program. It's coding represents merged work of Nist (National Institue for Science and Technology), IBM and the Web3D groups. It's been in active developement for three years and the current version is wonderful.

Underlying the software is the powerful Xeena engine, a javabased XML editor originally developed by IBM. Because it is Java based, it can be installed on nearly any OS, not just Windows. With the exception of SGI's CosmoWorlds, this is one of the first times such a powerful Web3D editor has been available on Windows and nonWindows platforms. Cross-platform applications make sharing code and coding tips very easy as everyone is working with the same style code. Most coding options use the same path or the same tagset no matter on which OS they were originally built. Our testers ignored the 256M minimum RAM suggested and successfully installed and ran X3D on machines with as little as 32M RAM, things merely ran a little slower.

X3d-Edit is highly recommended. It really does what it says it will, it uses a true XML engine to write the X3D code, and it's free. This should remove some of the potential hysteria among webdevelopers of VRML as the transition to X3D continues. A freeware solution to how to translate files that works great and is free - though priceless.