Oct 16, 2008
VRML veterans like, Web3D Consortium member Tony Parisi last month marked the tenth anniversary of the language’s first commercial implementation. And after a decade of waiting for a computer graphics Godot, they’re used to encountering scepticism when they herald the imminent emergence of Web 3D.
Bodies littering the Web 3D landscape include that of Microsoft’s Chromeffects effort (shelved in 1998), Adobe’s Atmosphere title (killed in November), and Intel and Macromedia’s joint venture to popularise Shockwave 3D on the Web (which dissolved along with other Intel Web 3D alliances).
In 10 years of turmoil and tried patience, both VRML and Parisi have changed. VRML, after achieving ISO standardisation, in recent years has been reborn, under the auspices of the Web3D Consortium, as an XML-based ISO standard called X3D. Parisi has kept the Web 3D religion with a San Francisco start-up called Media Machines now (Vivaty), whose clients include the US Navy and Joe Firmage’s ManyOne portal.
