Images on this site were compressed using e-Vue MPEG4 technology in 2001, which was groundbreaking at the time for its DRM component and higher compression than JPG, however e-Vue is no more — we are transitioning these images to JPEG for 2004.
To examine the future of 3D on the Web, we must first take a short trip in our virtual way-back machine. The idea for immersive 3D on the Internet came from both the growth of computing power found in home-based PCs and the creation of the World Wide Web, which added a graphical user interface to the previously text-based Internet.
VRML, the Virtual Reality Markup Language, was conceived back in 1994 as a way for anybody to both write simple 3D VR ("virtual reality") environments in a simplified form and deliver them via the Internet to anybody with a dial-up connection and a standard PC.
Unfortunately, the bandwidth of the standard 14.4kbps modems in those days meant long downloads and the quality paled compared to fully rendered 3D games, which were soon to become available on that new PC operating system, Windows 95. And Web designers were being hired to build corporate brochure sites and infant E-commerce solutions, and not create 3D for the Web. Still, the birth of a Web-capable virtual reality was, in fact, realized with the invention of VRML.
The brainchild of Mark Pesce, VRML was supported by Web co-inventor Tim Berners-Lee as a simple way to write 3D on the Web, much like HTML. The first release of VRML 1.0 was based on the Open Inventor file format, created by Silicon Graphics. The VRML Architecture Group (VAG) built the VRML 2.0 specification in 1996. Version 2.0 later gave way to VRML97, which is now an international standard (ISO/IEC 14772) overseen by the Web3D Consortium (www.Web3d.org).
There has been much political wrangling between big guns in the computer industry since the 2.0 standard was ratified. SGI, Microsoft, and others have all sought a level of control and prestige over the technology and the solutions. Ironically, when all the dust settled, the best solutions for 3D on the Web have come from companies that most Web developers have never heard of. This will soon change.
Web3D Today
Fast forward six years. Home-based computers rival super-computers of a decade ago, and broadband is the new buzzword. The low-end dial-up Internet connection is now 56kbps (a nearly 400-percent increase over 14.4kbps), and the Web-enabled audience has grown by the tens of millions. Suddenly, it seems Web-based 3D has exploded, and there are literally hundreds of small companies, shareware authors, and Web sites of all kinds embracing Web 3D.
According to the market research firm M2 Research, the installed base of 3D Web graphics enabled systems will increase from as little as 350,000 today to more than 700,000 in the next three years. M2 also reports that only 6 percent of 3D applications are used for Web development, while the majority are used for game development and the movie industry.
According to M2 Research, Web design accounts for only 6 percent
of the 3D software market.
The hurdle today for 3D Web usability is not entirely bandwidth but the fact that the standard is still not a standard. New technologies seek to extend or supplant the VRML97 specification. And, as HTML Web development has begun to move toward an extensible language called XML, the next so-called standard for Web 3D will likely be Extensible 3D (X3D). (See related story below).
In the meantime, the real excitement with 3D on the Web has come from numerous companies offering their own take on compression mathematics necessary to provide textured real-time immersive environments, all somewhat outside the existing standards. These new development and compression tools range in price from free downloads to about $800.
The real problem is not the price, but the complexity. The common language for Web 3D software applications is most often the ability to import objects created in other "standard" formats like 3DS or DXF. Each solution requires its own browser plug-in be downloaded, and that can be a pain for the user. However, as bandwidth improves, this may turn out to be only a minor inconvenience.
Market Segmentation
3D solutions on the Web today are broken down into several defined categories, as outlined by Web3D.org:
Business and E-Commerce: Scientific visualization and simulation, and interactive 3D models of products
Education: Includes use of 3D components to provide information
Entertainment: Online games and story-driven animation (either movies or episodic)
Multiuser: Communities, such as chat worlds inhabited by 3D avatars, and theme-based environments such as virtual tours.
The distinction between multiuser and entertainment is that typically a multiuser community will include chat interaction, while entertainment communities might contain gaming features such as collision-detection, scoring features, and a fee-based pay-to-play system.
Giving 3D the Business
In the business world, 3D use includes both E-commerce and pre-commerce (such as manufacturer product data sheets). For example, Nikon, Toyota, Volvo, and JVC chose the Cult3D solution from Cycore to create Web-based virtual product images that can be rotated in all directions.
Nikon chose Cult3D software to deliver an online virtual 3D model of their D1 camera, viewable from any angle or resolution.
The Cycore Cult3D solution is impressive for E-commerce because it supports all major Web browsers (including Opera), and unlike many of the other Web 3D solutions, there is both a Macintosh- and Linux-compatible plug-in available. Support is included for placing 3D into both Microsoft Office applications and Adobe Acrobat documents.
