Moving Worlds Officially Adopted as VRML 2.0
Nearly 300 members of the VRML community chose to adopt Moving Worlds as the basis for the VRML 2.0 specification. Moving Worlds, a project developed
jointly by Silicon Graphics, Sony, and Mitra of Paragraph International, was
selected from among six different proposals put forth by the global garden
of VRML visionaries. The final version of the Moving Worlds binary file
format will be based on a modification to Apple Computer's 3DMF, which will
allow VRML authors to cut and paste 3-D objects and within VRML worlds.
On the surface, it appears that Moving Worlds and VRML 2.0 will expand the
VRML 1.0 specification by adding motion to the nearly static 3-D worlds
currently on the Internet. VRML 2.0 scenes and objects will contain
behaviors, animation sensors and sounds. This will greatly expand the
functionality and capabilities of 3-D worlds far beyond what was previously
available.
Seventy-four percent of the voting participants selected Moving Worlds as
their favorite from among six possibilities, which was far more than the 14%
who chose Active VRML. Additionally, 50% chose Active VRML as their least
favorite, primarily because of its incompatibility with VRML 1.0 worlds.
Voters were looking for a natural progression from VRML 1.0 to VRML 2.0 for
development continuity.
Politically, it was important when Apple redirected their support from Out
of this World, the original proposal for 3DMF file format implementation, to
Moving Worlds. The Moving Worlds team welcomed the 3DMF concept and utilized
collaboration, rather than the competition, for the betterment of the VRML
development community and the Web as a whole.
The ZD3D segment of the Ziff-Davis Web site contains an extremely
cool new VRML world that cleverly uses the metaphor of a transportation
terminal hub with vehicles that transport visitors to other VRML
worlds on the Web. When visitors to Terminal Reality enter the world
they see the main Terminal Reality building in the distance at the center
of the VRML scene. Surrounding the building are four vehicles that link
(or transport) visitors to other VRML sites.
High in the sky is the Terminal Reality Blimp, which currently takes
visitors to the Paragraph International home VRML world. This same link
can be found at Gate #2 of the Terminal Reality building. In the waterway
adjacent to the building, a large Ocean Liner Ship takes visitors to Intel
Pentium Pro launch VRML World, which can also be reached through Gate
#1 of the terminal building.
On the landing strip near the Terminal Reality Building, the ZD Airplane
flies to Planet9 Studio's Virtual San Francisco. The flight to the Bay Area
can alternatively be boarded through Gate #3 of the Terminal Building. The
nearby launching pad holds the ZD Rocket, which delivers visitors to
PointCom's Point World. Gate #4 of the Terminal also will transport visitors to
Point World.
The front entrance to the Terminal Reality Building leads to the inside of
the hub. Once inside, visitors can explore many linked objects and icons. In
the center of the room is a newsstand, similar to any that would be found in
a subway, train, airport, or bus terminal. The only
difference is that the publications on the shelf are all linked to digital
versions of Ziff Davis publications, including Mac Week,
Windows Sources,
PC Magazine, Computer Shopper, PC Computing, and
PC Week.
Against a wall is a phone booth that links to the Internet Phone's home page.
A main gate from within the Terminal Reality building directs visitors to
ZDNet's Web site. High on a wall, a loudspeaker provides links to Real
Audio's home page.
Recently, this site became available as a multiparticipant VRML world if
visitors use Black Sun Interactive's CyberGate VRML viewer. Each visitor
is represented by an avatar that physically represents their persona and
point of view from within the virtual world.
Cybertown Debuts VRML Conference World at Electronic Cafe International
The 4th anniversary meeting of Electronic Cafe International's monthly
public Virtual Reality program will be held on Thursday, April 18, 7:30
PM, PST. In honor of this special occasion, Tony Rockliff and Pascal Baudar,
the Executive Producer and Creative Director of Cybertown, have developed a multiple participant VRML world dedicated to the discussion of VRML
development issues. Tony and Pascal will demonstrate the site to the
attendees at the cafe, while several VRML developers will inhabit the 3-D world remotely via the Web.
To enable multiple users to navigate and interact in the VRML discussion
world simultaneously, visitors must employ CyberGate, a free beta plug-in or
standalone viewer from Black Sun Interactive.
With offices in San Francisco and Munich, Black Sun Interactive has
some of the brightest VRML minds in the U.S. and Europe developing tools
that will provide large-scale 3-D worlds in which people from around the
world can cohabit through the Web.
To introduce the live audience to Black Sun Interactive's CyberGate technology,
Konstantin Guericke, their Vice President of Sales and Marketing, will
appear for a live interactive interview from San Francisco. He will be beamed over ISDN lines using PictureTel 4000 Videoconferencing System. Pascal and Tony's
demonstration of the online world will begin at about 8:30 PM.
For those VRML aficionados who can't make it to Santa Monica for the live
presentation and would like to join in the VRML discussion world demo from
afar, here's what to do:
- Go to Black Sun's Web site and check the system requirements for CyberGate.
- If your system meets the requirements, download the beta version of
Cybergate.
- Follow the installation instructions and run the program.
- Choose an avatar from the avatar room, which will be your visual persona.
- Practice navigating and interacting by entering PointWorld.
- In CyberGate's URL section, click on http://www.cybertown.com/vrmlconf.wrl.gz for entry into
the Cybertown VRML discussion room.
Important Notes:
- If you already are an experienced CyberGate user, skip steps 1-5.
- If you plan to participate online, please try to become familiar with
using the CyberGate interface by navigating through the conference room
prior to the evening of April 18.
- The VRML Conference World will contain several groups based on different
VRML development topics. Please choose one group to participate in or else
the public chat space will become too crowded and confusing for
controlled interactive discourse to take place.
Directions to ECI Santa Monica: Follow 10 Freeway West to Cloverfield/26th
Street Exit, go right on Olympic, then left on 18th Street, then take a right to
the end of the block. Go right into the last driveway, and ECI is located at the
Southeast corner of the lot at 1649 18th St.
Electronic Cafe
International(TM)
Santa Monica Headquarters
Founded 1984
Kit Galloway & Sherrie Rabinowitz, Co-Founders
1649 18th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Tel. 310-828-8732
ecafe@netcom.com
VRML World is compiled by Dave Blackburn, Virtual Ventures, daveb@acex.com.
Archive of past VRML World installments