Intelligent Systems Report € March € 1996 € Volume 13 € No. 3
Intelligent Systems Report € March € 1996 € Volume 13
€ No. 3
More than 50 providers of Internet-based services and products have
agreed to support the new Moving Worlds standard as the
next-generation implementation of VRML (Virtual Reality Markup
Language) 2.0. Moving Worlds is an open, platform-independent
specification for dynamic 3-D environments on the Internet.
Silicon Graphics Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) has led the development
of Moving Worlds in cooperation with Netscape, Sony, WorldMaker and
other members of the VRML community (see chart
for complete list of supporters). Moving World maintains VRML's
conformance to open standards and leverages Sun Microsystems' Java
and JavaScript to create behaviors, motion and interactions. It also
enables third-party plug-ins to be used unmodified, adding useful 3-D
capabilities to World Wide Web-based database, design and other
real-world applications.
The Moving Worlds specification was recently submitted to the VRML
Architecture Group for review. Support for the proposal came from all
over the Internet through such techniques as Web-based polling booths
and mailing lists. To encourage further application development based
on the proposed standard, Silicon Graphics will make source code
broadly available throughout the industry.
To make the benefits of 3-D technology available to all Internet
users, Moving Worlds emphasizes practical applicability and relies on
standard desktop computing power. Its software architecture allows
3-D data sets to be scalable for viewing on a variety of computer
systems ranging from low-cost Internet PCs to powerful 3-D graphics
workstations.
The newly proposed standard is also marked by its extensibility and
provides many features that enable developers to create 3-D software
applications and content for the Internet. Fully-integrated Java
applets can be used to create motion and enable interactivity, and
JavaScript allows scripted communication between different objects
both inside and outside the 3-D environment. Additionally, plug-ins
can be placed inside 3-D worlds to provide services ranging from
streaming video to slide presentation.
Together these capabilities create a platform for the development of
full motion, live content and animation; lifelike physical behaviors
and reactions within a 3-D environment; multi-user capabilities; and
scalability ranging from importing 3-D objects into HTML to
navigating through virtual worlds. It is application-ready, and
includes connectivity to databases.
The Moving Worlds version of VRML enables Web-based applications to
include:
Similar to HTML, the core Internet text standard, VRML encodes
computer-generated graphics into a compact file format for
transportation over networks. Because VRML is scalable, it enables
users to view the content of these 3-D graphics files, browse HTML
pages, or navigate virtual worlds.
More information is available at the Web sites for Silicon Graphics
http://www.sgi.com and Netscape:
http://www.netscape.com.
|
The following companies support Moving Worlds: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
3D Labs |
3D WEB |
7th Level |
Adobe Systems |
|
Aereal |
Alias|Wavefront |
Andersen Consulting |
Asymetrix |
|
Aurum Software |
Autodesk Multimedia |
Black Sun Interactive |
Bluestone |
|
Borland |
Bryce-Meta Tools |
Caligari |
Chaco Communications |
|
Chyron |
Cognicon |
Computer Associates |
Construct Internet Design |
|
Coryphaeus Software |
Creative Labs |
Criterion |
Digital Dialect |
|
Dimension X |
EDS |
Electronic Arts |
First Virtual Holdings |
|
Headspace |
IBM |
Informix |
Integrated Data Systems |
|
Intervista Software |
Macromedia |
MetaTools |
mFactory |
|
NetDream |
Netscape Communications |
OnLive! Technologies |
Organic Online |
|
Paper Software |
ParaGraph International |
Planet 9 |
Polhemus |
|
Ray Dream |
SEGA of America |
Silicon Graphics |
Smart Valley |
|
Sony |
Starfish Software |
Superscape |
Visual Software |
|
VIVID Studios |
VREAM |
WorldMaker |
Worlds |