Scripted HTML version of Foils prepared March 10 97

Foil 35 Some (New) Web Technologies in a Nutshell - VRML

From Discussion of Web Certificate Program and WebWisdom Education Web Technology Day -- Mar 11 97. by Geoffrey C. Fox, Nancy McCracken *
Secs 272.1 (Prepared for SC96)
VRML 1.0 widely available and specifies static 3D scenes through which you can navigate. Already provides universal visualization environment and we have examples of use In Geographical Information Systems
  • Note can embed clickable URL's as with ImageMaps which can be used to annotate images to provide interactive educational resources
  • Unfortunately about a factor of 10 slower than it could be as this is serious as 3D graphics is compute intensive!
VRML 2.0 is just released with prototype browsers but still aspects of technology are under intense research/debate.
  • This is designed to support full interactivity (televirtuality) with texture mapped video, avatars etc.
  • VRML 2.0 will require huge computing resources whether used as the virtual car-dealership / interactivity gaming or more academic uses such as collaboration between teachers and students in 3D virtual classroom

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