A World with a View

Not all Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML) viewers are the same, or even equivalent. Distinguishing features include the speed and quality of the rendering software that displays VRML worlds on different platforms. Here are some of the most notable viewers:

-- WebSpace. Not surprisingly, Silicon Graphics, whose Open Inventor graphics library provided the basis for VRML, announced the first VRML browser, WebSpace. Template Graphics developed WebSpace, and it's available ( http://webspace.sgi.com/ ) for multiple platforms, including Silicon Graphics' workstations and Windows NT.

-- WebFX. Paper Software's viewer for Windows is a helper application within popular World Wide Web browsers (including Quarterdeck's Mosaic and Netscape). According to Paper Software's president Michael McCue, the company's Web site ( http://www.paperinc.com/worlds.html ) registered 13,000 hits on the first day that WebFX became available.

-- WorldView. Intervista is a company that involves VRML originators Mark Pesce and Tony Parisi. Its WorldView viewer is compatible with all flavors of Windows. WorldView ( http://www.intervista.com/worldview.html ) uses RenderMorphics' RealityLab, which Microsoft acquired, for rendering.

-- Fountain. Caligari's stand-alone browser (for Windows) supports both the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and VRML. It was a finalist in BYTE's Best of Comdex Awards. Fountain ( http://www.caligari.com/ws/fount.html ) can also build and edit worlds.

-- Whurlwind. For a while, there was a shortage of viewers for the Mac, but then came Whurlwind ( http://www.info. apple.comqd3d/Panel/page1_3_1.html ). Created by Bill Enright and John Louch, it requires Apple's QuickDraw 3D, which doesn't fly short of a Power Mac with 16 MB of memory.

-- Voyager. Virtus ( http://www.virtus.com/virtuspro.html ), maker of the 3-D modeling package WalkThrough Pro, created this Mac browser. It works without QuickDraw 3D.

-- VRweb. The Hyper-G team at the University of Graz (Austria), cooperating with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and the University of Minnesota, has developed VRweb, a VRML viewer for Unix and the three Windows platforms.

-- Internet Explorer. At press time, Microsoft was offering a beta VRML add-in for its browser at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie.htm .

To find information on VRML browsers, builders, tools, documentation, and sample VRML worlds, check out San Diego Supercomputer Center's VRML Repository at http://www.sdsc.edu/vrml .

A VRML programming library, with source code for virtual-reality rendering tools, is freely available in the public domain at http://www.eit.com/vrml/qv.html ).