Web3D Consortium
Encyclopedia
The Web3D Consortium is a not-for-profit
, member-funded industry consortium
whose purpose is to define and develop the X3D royalty-free open standard
s file format
and runtime
architecture to represent and communicate 3D scenes
.
The development of 3D web-based graphics
has evolved from its beginnings as the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML
) to Extensible 3D (X3D
). Over recent years, advances in real time graphics and networking technology, and most notably the emergence of the Extensible Markup Language XML
, have heavily influenced the development of the ISO
-approved, freely available, X3D open standard. X3D embodies best practices in commercial real time graphics within the widely adopted framework of the World Wide Web
family of technologies and standards and has no intellectual property restrictions. It provides a system for the storage, retrieval and playback of real time graphics content embedded in applications, all within an open architecture to support a wide array of domains and user scenarios.
Web3D
applications have been active for some time. Previously known as the VRML
Consortium, this community spearheaded the development of the VRML 1.0 and 2.0 specifications, which provide the basis for the development of associated applications. The organizations involved in this effort felt that the creation of an open consortium focused exclusively on Web3D would provide the structure necessary to stabilize, standardize, and nurture the technology for the entire community. Today, the Web3D Consortium is utilizing its broad-based industry support to develop the X3D specification as a successor to VRML for communicating 3D on the web, between applications and across distributed networks and web services.
Related to its educational mission, the Consortium maintains an extensive website of documents and links related to VRML and X3D resources, including plugins and browsers from many long term members and open source developers.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, member-funded industry consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
whose purpose is to define and develop the X3D royalty-free open standard
Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it, and may also have various properties of how it was designed . There is no single definition and interpretations vary with usage....
s file format
File format
A file format is a particular way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file.Since a disk drive, or indeed any computer storage, can store only bits, the computer must have some way of converting information to 0s and 1s and vice-versa. There are different kinds of formats for...
and runtime
Run-time system
A run-time system is a software component designed to support the execution of computer programs written in some computer language...
architecture to represent and communicate 3D scenes
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
.
The development of 3D web-based graphics
Web3D
Web3D was initially the idea to fully display and navigate Web sites using 3D. By extension, the term now refers to all interactive 3D content which are embedded into web pages html, and that we can see through a web browser....
has evolved from its beginnings as the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML
VRML
VRML is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind...
) to Extensible 3D (X3D
X3D
X3D is the ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics, the successor to the Virtual Reality Modeling Language . X3D features extensions to VRML X3D is the ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics, the successor to the Virtual Reality...
). Over recent years, advances in real time graphics and networking technology, and most notably the emergence of the Extensible Markup Language XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, have heavily influenced the development of the ISO
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
-approved, freely available, X3D open standard. X3D embodies best practices in commercial real time graphics within the widely adopted framework of the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
family of technologies and standards and has no intellectual property restrictions. It provides a system for the storage, retrieval and playback of real time graphics content embedded in applications, all within an open architecture to support a wide array of domains and user scenarios.
Web3D
Web3D
Web3D was initially the idea to fully display and navigate Web sites using 3D. By extension, the term now refers to all interactive 3D content which are embedded into web pages html, and that we can see through a web browser....
applications have been active for some time. Previously known as the VRML
VRML
VRML is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind...
Consortium, this community spearheaded the development of the VRML 1.0 and 2.0 specifications, which provide the basis for the development of associated applications. The organizations involved in this effort felt that the creation of an open consortium focused exclusively on Web3D would provide the structure necessary to stabilize, standardize, and nurture the technology for the entire community. Today, the Web3D Consortium is utilizing its broad-based industry support to develop the X3D specification as a successor to VRML for communicating 3D on the web, between applications and across distributed networks and web services.
Related to its educational mission, the Consortium maintains an extensive website of documents and links related to VRML and X3D resources, including plugins and browsers from many long term members and open source developers.
See also
- VRMLVRMLVRML is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind...
, the first ISO-standard format for 3D browsing - X3DX3DX3D is the ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics, the successor to the Virtual Reality Modeling Language . X3D features extensions to VRML X3D is the ISO standard XML-based file format for representing 3D computer graphics, the successor to the Virtual Reality...
, modern descendant of VRML that includes XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
encoding - Xj3DXj3DXj3D is a project of the Web3D Consortium developing a Java toolkit/browser which displays the 3D modelling standard formats VRML97 and X3D. As of 16 April 2006, the stable release of Xj3D has version number 1.0.-External links:* – project page...
, a JavaJava (programming language)Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
browser/toolkit for X3D display - Web3DWeb3DWeb3D was initially the idea to fully display and navigate Web sites using 3D. By extension, the term now refers to all interactive 3D content which are embedded into web pages html, and that we can see through a web browser....
- WebGLWebGLWebGL is a software library that extends the capability of the JavaScript programming language to allow it to generate interactive 3D graphics within any compatible web browser...