Separate HTML for Basic Foil 8 VRML - Virtual Reality Modeling Language -- Overview

Basic HTML version of Foils prepared 7 October 97

Foil 8 VRML - Virtual Reality Modeling Language -- Overview

From VRML and Use of Databases as backend and Application to GIS ARL Database Tutorial -- February 98. by Krzysztof Walczak

Mission Statement:

VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) is an interpreted language for describing multi-participant interactive simulations - virtual worlds networked via global Internet and hyperlinked within the World Wide Web.

History:

VRML concept was proposed by Tim Berners-Lee and David Ragget in spring '94 during the first WWW conference in Geneva. After the conference the VRML forum was created by Mark Pesce to discuss the development of a specification. In May '95 the first version of specification was available.

Current status:

VRML is still under development.
The currently available specification describes version 1.0.
Next version - 1.1 only specified small changes and was superceded by version 2.0.
Version 2.0 was released in May '96 but there is competition from activeVRML (Microsoft) and Java3D (SGI) which has support for richer subset of Inventor.