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Re: [www-vrml] Tim BL Is Baffled, Too
two words: easy and cheap
ActiveWorlds used to be an example of how those conditions set off an explosion of use. Unfortunately the owners of that proprietary technology saw a lot of people using it for free and instead of considering those people as free advertising they saw them as "lost" dollars. So they raised the prices and restricted access. ActiveWorlds then faded from general view.
VRML had "cheap" going for it. You could knock up a quick virtual world in a few minutes in any text editor, even though the language always was unnecessarily verbose (even more so now with X3D).
Unfortunately the language has a number of stumbling blocks that render it less than easy, especially if you wanted to network with friends in VR. And even with some long-overdue changes in X3D it still doesn't have peer-to-peer networking, HUD, particles, avatar animation (though the HAnim- nodes are a beginning), bump-mapping, IK, physics modeling, reflection (environment mapping is part of the solution but portals are needed too), sound effects and filters, procedural textures, light flare and halo, shadows, etc. Many of those are considered a necessity in any game engine and a lot of them have been in Contact for years.
Animating anything in VRML is unnecessarily convoluted and opaque. After years of use I still have to hit the books when I need to do even simple animations. It should be easier than that. And don't say that such things *have* to be complicated -- they aren't in ActiveWorlds or in some other engines. Why should they be in VRML/X3D?
Anybody who has spent more than a few minutes with one of the common game engines or with ActiveWorlds will find it difficult to understand why people like me persist with VRML (and X3D). We have become like Don Quixote, battling goddamn windmills. As the language falls further and further behind what can be done, with no effort spent on looking to what can't yet be done, we become irrelevant. VRML 1.0 was a bold step. VRML 2.0 was another major step. It fixed a lot of shortcomings of the first version and in doing so almost completely rewrote the language, making it capable of interaction. VRML97 made tiny changes, so insignificant that I keep forgetting what they were. X3D has made some steps forward but is essentially VRML 97 in XML with several long-needed additions. Where is the vision that produced the Living Worlds proposal back in 1996(!!) and the Open Community proposal (also 1996)?
I didn't want to make this a moan. But every time I take a larger view of VRML/X3D I can't escape this conclusion.
I am not blaming any individuals (though I remain annoyed at the the consortium stealing VRML). All the people working to make various improvements to VRML have done marvelous things and are to be praised. Many of the new nodes have been desperately needed. I almost bite my tongue because what I'm saying sounds like I'm chastising them for too little too late.
But in the end if we want to ask why VRML/X3D isn't taking off in a big, big way, we have the answer right here in front of us.
Sorry to be depressing. I wish this was a call to arms... it is not too late yet.
- Miriam
Tony Parisi wrote:
http://www.crn.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=48800085
'Berners-Lee said he's perplexed by the fact that 3-D graphics haven't
really been exploited to create more multidimensional desktop experiences on
the Web. "The standards are there. Is it because people feel queasy about
3-D?" he said.'
Good question.
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Tony Parisi 415-648-1739 vox
President 415-902-8002 cel
Media Machines, Inc. tparisi@mediamachines.com
Real-Time 3D Communication http://www.mediamachines.com
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How I wish I could enumerate PI easily
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http://werple.net.au/~miriam
My live Journal page http://www.livejournal.com/users/miriam_e/
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