Is it true that Box, ElevationGrid, etc. nodes are being eliminated?
No, that is not true. X3D is not reducing functionality: it is partitioning it. It is true that these nodes will likely not be in the Core, but they will be implemented in an extension, such as the VRML 97 extension. The rationale is that Box, Sphere, Cone, ElevationGrid, etc. should not be included in the Core because they can easily be derived from lower-level primitives such as the IndexedFaceSet. This simplifies the core, making it smaller, easier to implement, and easier to maintain.
