cruft

when exporting from maya, here are some tips to keep your file lean, mean, and clean:

• compress the file!
  open with VrmlPad and re-save with the Save Compressed checkbox checked
  
  
• choose your degree of precision.
  .xxx is all you need for most cases, but maya will ignore this setting for some nodes: lights, viewpoints, transforms; use VrmlPad for ultimate control: File / Publish
  
• get rid of unneeded fields & nodes.
  
  • normals can be a huge space eater. normals are auto-calculated by vrml browsers, so are largely unneeded. get rid of normal and normalIndex fields of IndexedFaceSet nodes
    
    
  • WorldInfo– if you didn't write it, is it worth leaving in your file?
    
    
  • default appearances: beware of diffuseColor fields set to 0 0 0; this will prevent fog and lighting calculations from being performed
    
    
  • inconsequential Groups and Transforms, TextureTransforms
    
    
  • general redundancy– use VrmlPad: Tools / Unused Identifiers
  
  
• create avatarSize values to match your world.
  make a cylinder in maya to represent a preson in your world, and use its dimensions for your avatarSize values.
  
  
• check your light intensities.
  maya will export .1 to .01 of what you probably want
  
  
• watch your texture formats.
  maya exports .rgb or .tiff files by default. vrml browsers need .jpg, .png, or .gif
  
  
• understand the way maya DEFines and USEs elements of the scene.
  DEF's in Switch node, USEd later
  
  
• make your own DEFs and USEs. don't expect maya to just because you instanced something in its modeller.
  
  • appearances
  • textures
  • geometry
  • repeated shapes (fence posts, pillars, trees, etc.)

here are two files, one freshly exported, one cleaned:
[exported wrl] [cleaned wrl]
look over the raw file; can you find:

• ln 010 : a navigation assumption
• ln 012 : some insane precision for a default value (how explicitly should you state the already known?)
• ln 023 : a boring color specified very very accurately
• ln 038 : a shape hint turned off for no good reason
• ln 131 : a fully defined, completely inconsequential transform node