[5069] in java-interest
Re: VRML
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tony Healy)
Sun Jan 28 01:53:47 1996
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 16:24:33 +1100
To: eknudson@vnet.IBM.COM
From: Tony Healy <thealy@magna.com.au>
Cc: java-interest@java.Eng.Sun.COM
Erik, some information on Java's role in VRML:
1. Java's role is likely to be in implementing behaviours in VRML worlds,
such as animating an object or responding to user actions. Java classes will
contain functionality and will be referenced in VRML scripts. Microsoft's
Visual Basic Script is likely to play a similar role.
2. VRML browsers will not be written in java, because rendering speed is
critical for them, and native code will always be faster than general
purpose java code. That said, we will probably see some marketing of
browsers purporting to be java, but which will still require native modules.
Existing 3D samples in java are clever but noticeably avoid large sizes and
solid colors or shading, which require fast rendering.
3. VRML is not a tool but an agreed common format. The availability of such
a common format is essential for publishing 3D worlds, objects and services
on the Internet. This is a different application from traditional 3D.
4. Tools for viewing and creating VRML content are also different from
traditional 3D tools, which are focussed towards static scenes or
precomputed animations. Tools for VRML must be oriented towards the new
fields of real time interactive animation on mass market computers, possibly
among multiple connected users. Tools for VRML must also contend with the
constraints of online delivery, which are orthogonal to the constraints of
traditional 3D. This is a different application, and one being met by a new
generation of 3D tool developers.
Erik wrote:
> I'm wondering about the relationship between java and VRML/graphics. I've seen
> press releases talking about java being the "official" wrapper (so to speak)
> for VRML. Is that all java is to VRML, a way to get the VRML browser
> into an applet tag in html or is there more to it than that (the browser
itself is written in java?)?
> Also, it seems many people are doing a lot
> of GOOD work creating graphics (eg spinning cubes, etc.) with java, but
> there are a lot of GREAT authoring packages out there (3D Studio, Real3D
> Lightwave, etc) that have high end stuff like particle collision,
> inverse k, fog, lens flare etc. So why try and re-invent what a lot of
> smart people have already tackled? ...
> If I sound confused and misguided, it's because I am... Regards, Erik.
Regards
Tony Healy
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