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SSJKamui
Up and Coming
March 31, 2013

X3D/VRML Browser

X3D/VRML are markup languages to create VR based websites. Although both are explicitely planned as Desktop VR applications and not for use with HMDs, I think it would be an improvement if someone would develop a compatibility between the Rift and these languages. (I dislike Desktop VR because I think it's unimmersive and lacks typical VR features.) I also tend to think such a connection would benefit both sides and could finally make a "breakthrough" possible for Web 3D.

    9 replies

    ganzuul
    Up and Coming
    April 1, 2013
    I remember VRML. It was a great idea, but the tools to create it and the hardware to make it useful didn't exist. Currently you can use Blender 3D and an exporter to Three.js to get your content up very quickly, but these are the early days again. There is no VR website template and right now Blender 3D is sort of unaware of the web. - There is however Collada, which is an XML for 3D scenes. With HTML5 we are also starting to see custom XML tags...

    I don't quite remember how the hyperlink features of VRML worked. What features were there that are a must-have for this iteration?
    SSJKamuiAuthor
    Up and Coming
    April 1, 2013
    Hyperlinking in VRML: http://www.angelibrary.com/computer/HTM ... inksinVRML

    Today, X3D, VRMLs successor is more similar to XML and the HTML5 proposal lists X3D as a datatype for VR scenes in the web. They are currently working on a proper connection between X3D and HTML5.
    ganzuul
    Up and Coming
    April 1, 2013
    Thanks. This is relevant to my interests. :3

    Are you a backer of X3D? Do you know of any projects someone without industry affiliation like me can attach to? I can write a number of different programming languages, and I am generally skilled in most relevant areas.
    SSJKamuiAuthor
    Up and Coming
    April 1, 2013
    Sadly, I don't know any specific projects on X3D besides some general projects like the integration between X3D and HTML5.

    (And the Idea of buiding an X3D browser for Oculus was a simple suggestion from me, because I thought such an integration could be great. Sorry, if that was the wrong place to post such a suggestion. I thought this subforum was the most fitting.)

    I know the software COVISE, which is a program to visualize scientific data like aerodynamic data in a VR environment, so a group of people can work on engineering applications at the same time. (Or on other things like a reconstruction of ancient roman buildings or the development of a Store Design for Daimler Chrysler.) http://www.hlrs.de/organization/av/vis/ ... and-users/ But that software uses VRML and not X3D. I think the developers of that system might be working on an Oculus Rift integration already. (From what some people there told me, they already experimented with the integration of systems like Kinekt or the WiiMote.)
    ganzuul
    Up and Coming
    April 1, 2013
    There's a guy in another thread in this subsection who is working on an NSAPI plugin for browser support for the Rift. NSAPI plugins are supposed to be very portable between browsers, and from what I can see at least the dev channel build of chrome supports X3D. - So yes, this is the right subforum. =)

    Generally projects coming out of universities have the problem that as soon as the student graduates they have very little time to continue their work, and often they get absorbed by the industry with tasks which to some degree prevent them from doing so. I often come across great projects from universities, based on platforms which never 'made it'.

    The project at https://github.com/x3dom/x3dom/ seems to be lively enough. It is backed by Fraunhofer, which was also behind the MP3 file format. Interesting. =3
    SSJKamuiAuthor
    Up and Coming
    April 1, 2013
    Sounds interesting. I know Fraunhofer has got a large research project regarding VR.
    ganzuul
    Up and Coming
    April 1, 2013
    Used the Feedback function in the dev portal to inform Oculus about this... I hope they like Spain. - http://web3d2013.org/
    stephanewegener
    Participant
    October 26, 2022

    I think it's a gread idea. instead of have a site that use three.js ,  having a VRML browser where we can navigate between vrml websites, all using http protocol, and existing technologies

    • instead of having web pages, there will be VRML documents(the 3D stuff will be handled by the browser, not by javascript, but javascript could be used to make the things interactive)
    • instead of having hyper links to the other sites, there will be a kind of portals
    • the 3D stuff (camera, moving, collisition, etc...) will be handled by the browser, not by javascript code
    • javascript can be used to add somme interactivity between the user and the environment (by manipulating the dom, etc...)
    • the "multi user" things could be implementend in websockets, between the client and the server, not between javascript and the servers
    • the user information (url of the avatar model, nick name, unique ID, etc...) would be sent via the http headers when requesting the VRML page. 

     

    I can do a POC for the server side. I have also a great experience in C#, but if somebody have any experience with unity (i have by example no clue about how to dynamicaly download 3D resources to render them in the scene) we could work together to make that possible

    stephanewegener
    Participant
    November 7, 2022

    I have begined to develop in unity a software that download an xml from the web, and then construct the scene, where the player can move in VR. 

     

    so you can have worlds residing on different servers, an you could navigate between them. i think this is the way to do to create a real metaverse, instead of having  central world (like the sandbox, or horizon worlds) 

     

    next step will be to add scripting, to the scene, via a javascript interpreter or a LUA like VM.

     

    if somebody is interested into it (testing, developing or make proposals), he can contact me

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