3D Graphics For Firefox, Webkit 198
angry tapir writes "A group of researchers plans to release a version of the Firefox browser that includes the built-in ability to view 3D graphics. They've integrated real-time ray tracing technology, called RT Fact, into Firefox and Webkit. Images are described using XML3D, and the browser can natively render the 3D scene." The browser will be released within a few weeks, the researchers say, and they are checking with the Mozilla Foundation about whether they can call it Firefox.
Clarification (Score:3, Interesting)
Images are described using XML3D, and the browser can natively render the 3D scene.
Does this mean this technology will be used strictly for 3D images/scenes, or when they say 3D are they referring to gaming?
Call it Cerberus (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:No love for VRML (Score:3, Interesting)
The way I see it: If there was real use/demand for it, it would be here already...
Re:Doesn't matter. 3D in the browser is stupid. (Score:5, Interesting)
We realized that 3D graphics in the browser were stupid and useless back in 1995...
...and slow! I was there when VRML was landing (just finished high school) and all I saw it used for were virtual rooms were avatars would talk in a 3D IRC like environment. Only big problem back then was we didn't have 3D acceleration and the interface was clunky and painfully slideshow like in speed.
As for uses, I could think of a few and have already started coding them. Instead of loading a PNG or GIF, it is pretty nice to be able to download a float array, be able to display it, and allow a user to interrogate it. Giving a user that kind of capability in the browser while not requiring them to download an application or a browser plugin is pretty darn nice. And while not mainstream, scientific fields could greatly benefit from something like that.
Why not use standards? (Score:1, Interesting)
This will never take off. Has anybody ever heard of XML3D? Where's the spec? Will this ever become a standard when there are already zillions of 3D markup formats around?
And it needs a custom browser build. Remember how 3D that required browser plugins failed back in the 90s? Now it's not even a plugin, they want you to install their browser. To view nonexistant content in a format nobody has ever heard of.
What's wrong with existing standards? WebGL, X3D. Inline X3D [web3d.org] is the way to go according to the HTML5 spec. It already works [x3dom.org] in all WebGL-enabled browsers (alpha builds of Firefox, Webkit and Chrome). The difference is that this approach is entirely standards-based, X3D is an established standard, and WebGL is being implemented in most browsers right now.
Eheh (Score:3, Interesting)
50k? Oh wow. For a "site" that is available around the world, that is pathetic. A dutch only site already does 10k easily. So 50k for the entire world is nothing.
And how many of the people logged in are bots?