VRML and the 3-D Web

IRIS GL became OpenGL, which begat Open Inventor, which fostered VRML ( V irtual R eality M arkup L anguage), a standard for 3-D graphics for the World Wide Web. By defining a new file format to represent 3-D scenes, and by creating stand-alone viewing programs for that file format, today's browsers could handle 3-D scenes. Silicon Graphics was eager to promote Open Inventor, which has an ASCII file format representing a scene. Inventor seemed to fit well with the objectives for a 3-D extension to the Web.

VRML represents 3-D geometry, motions, and Web links. VRML files are a subset of Inventor scene files, with the minor addition of cube, cone, and cy linder primitives, plus ways to define links to other Web locations and 3-D files. With a VRML viewing tool, Web pages can now include animated 3-D graphics. The VRML viewing tool reads the almost-Inventor file and renders it to your screen using local processor power.

Silicon Graphics' release of C++ parsing code for Inventor files spurred the development of the first VRML viewers. In March, Silicon Graphics and Template Graphics Software introduced the first VRML viewer called WebSpace, an add-on module for existing Web browsers (see the screen). Other companies soon followed: Intervista Software announced WorldView, a VRML browser for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh computers.

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Take a Walk on the Virtual Side

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WebSpace is an add-on for Web browsers to view 3-D VRML Web pages.