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XYZ the Web in 3D
APRIL 2009
Draft04A
Since the dawn of the first public web browser, web developers have attempted to bring the 3rd dimension to the web browsing experience. Popular science fiction has imagined virtual spaces occurring over networks that could be accessed from a computer terminal such as William Gibson's "cyberspace matrix" from his 1984 novel, The Neuromancer, or the "metaverse" from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash in 1992. With ubiquitous accessibility of the World Wide Web in the early to mid '90s, the medium by which "virtual" space exploration and interaction could occur seemed a reality. In 1994 the first true standard for Web3D surfaced as the Virtual Reality Modeling Language, more widely known as VRML. VRML provided an easy to learn and simple to implement text based programming script that could render on the World Wide Web, 3D models such as those created in 3D graphics programs and make them come alive in a Web browser via a plugin. VRML converted the standard Web browser into a picture plane of infinite depth. Online virtual environments became knows as "worlds" that composed a real networked "metaverse." The VRML specification allowed for a rich set of descriptive features that allowed the building of objects and spaces with geometric primitives and organic objects, free non-linear navigation of virtual space, image based texturing with static images and/or video, basic lighting, animation, hypertext linking and hooks into other scripting and programming languages. These features would set the pace for other Web3D technologies popping up during the late 90s.
One such technology was the 3D chat environment. The precursor of today's Web2.0 social networks, chat spaces allowed easy text communications via a web browser. Web companies such as Active Worlds combined chat technology with Web3D to provide virtual spaces where several people could log into one virtual world at once to interact, chat and build spaces simultaneously. Participants in these worlds assumed the role of an avatar, or human-like 3D model that could navigate virtual space and visually communicate with a limited range of gestures. Users could congregate in social spaces for free or purchase virtual "land" upon which they could build their own structures with basic 3D modeling tools. The commercial world invested heavily in these technologies at first anticipating a new medium for interaction on the World Wide Web in which they could insert advertisements and attract potential customers. Attempts were made at long distance learning and collaboration and yearly international conferences even took place in these spaces.
If the late 90s were the Golden Age of what could be considered the first phase of Web3D, its apogee would have taken place in 1998 when the tools for creating and deploying Web3D were about to be placed into open source for the world to freely take part, and VRML had reached its pinnacle of support with the foundation of the Web3D consortium. But this year would also mark the rapid demise and debunking of the Web3D hype and in 1999 technology news source CNET reported that Web3D had failed to live up to its promise of bringing to life the metaverse or cyberspace matrix of sci-fi fantasy. The basic underlying dilemma was the lack of real, usable bandwidth due to the weakness of the dial-up modem that was the means of connecting to the internet in just about every household with a computer. Navigation and animation within 3D worlds was way too slow to enjoy and navigation itself was too awkward and new for the general user base which was still trying to get used to 2D navigation of the Web. Web3D graphics were also cartoonish and low resolution especially when compared to gaming technologies emerging at the time. Without the promise of a return on their commerical investments, the corporate world pulled out, taking with them the funding necessary to sustain the technological progression of Web3D tools and plugins.
Despite corporate divestment, Web3D still remained in the interests of educators and the open source communities. By the mid '00s we had better, faster ubiquitous bandwidth and affordable and powerful computers and graphics processors. Major companies began to develop new uses for deploying Web3D, such as Google Earth for visualizing geographic data here on Earth, and Microsoft's Worldwide Telescope for visualizing astronomical data outside of our world. But the most significant re-awakening of Web3D has come with the emergence of Web2.0 technologies and the development of true social networking applications. Once again interest has been generated in 3D chat spaces, but Second Life has taken it a step farther this time. Second Life is a Web3D application that provides the means for participation in a networked 3D environment where participants can communicate via text, audio and even video, and can attain a greater customization of their avatars in appearance, gestures and functions than previous social chat interfaces. Even though Second Life is free to join, they have also introduced a monetary system whereby participants can purchase virtual objects, land and services. Some participants have set up shops for their own profit providing services such as modeling virtual products, clothing accessories and avatar enhancements. Second Life provides more robust tools for 3D modeling within the application that can be supplemented by a robust scripting environment for creating greater interactivity with 3D objects.
Educators from diverse fields of study seem to be the most avid and innovative user group of Second Life. The New Media Consortium, an organization devoted to the exploration of new media and technologies in education, has adopted initiatives to promote academic involvement in Second Life and are host to the Second Life education Campus. The NMC has helped to create a considerable presence of major academic institutions in Second Life, each represented by their own virtual space, or "island", where virtual classrooms, seminars and learning experiences are are made accessible on computer networks. A recent AIA article reported on one architecture educator's use of Second Life at Ball State University's School of Architecture and Planning. Students were able to construct and explore their designs as well as engage in new ways of approaching design with fewer constraints in a virtual world where there is no gravity, no energy usage and an endless supply of diverse materials. Though the results weren't the most practical solution, students were given the opportunity to explore and play with architectural concepts in a unique environment. Since interaction on Second Life takes place online, there is greater ease at distance learning and bringing in classroom guests and lecturers without travel restrictions.
Second Life isn't the only collaborative Web3D solution out there. The Open Simulator project is a free, open source Web3D server that allows full control over the deployment and utilization of a multi-user virtual environment that can also run on the Second Life client. The Active Worlds client is the mother of all the current social network virtual spaces. It's been around since 1995 and continues to be active today. Vivaty is a 3D virtual world that is integrated with major Web2.0 applications since it can natively run within a Facebook webpage, play videos from Youtube and display photo images from Flickr within a virtual space. It utilizes X3D, the XMLized spec that extends and expands the VRML legacy, as the language for building 3D worlds.
But in the professional world, one of the biggest dilemmas keeping Second Life from truly becoming an architect's tool, is the inability to import or export 3D geometry. Currently anything that's built in Second Life stays in Second Life, and anything that's built in another 3D modeler stays out of Second Life. There are signs that this may change and there have been some awkward hacks to at least get geometry out of basic modelers like Sketchup into Second Life. The best chance for getting models from more robust modeling programs like AutoCAD, Microstation, Revit or Rhino would be for Second Life to at least allow imports of exchange formats like DXF or the FBX Collada format. It does appear that perhaps Second Life may be considering such an option in the future. The VRML file format is another potential exchange format option for Second Life. There are still free exporters for VRML available in most major 3D modeling applications today.
Visibuild is another solution that could prove to be the optimal choice for architects to take advantage of multi-user 3D environments while preserving file formats. Featured in The ARCH, a blog devoted to architecture and design in virtual spaces, Visibuild is a 3D virtual environment primarily targeted for the AEC community as a collborative design tool that allows full import of 3D models from major modeling tools lke Revit, ArchiCAD, Maya and other industry tools.
The metaverse and cyberspace concepts from science fiction presented virtual worlds of rich life-like graphics rendered so well that they almost felt real, as we have seen illustrated in movies like Tron, Johnny Mnemonic or The Matrix. The near-term future of Web3D will perhaps offer higher resolution, but it will be a long while before your web browser will be able to project the embodiment of reality like the holy grail of all virtual worlds - Star Trek's Holodeck.
Even though we are comfortably in a second phase of Web3D development, the overall graphics still feel like the first phase of Web3D, with rough-textured, cartoon-like models. But in development today are gaming quality, higher resolution 3D technologies that could provide a more graphically enhanced 3D Web experience. Already, networked 3D games like EVE Online are providing movie quality interactive graphics for the gaming community. New developments in cloud computing technologies may bring that same quality resolution 3D to interactive Web3D. Graphics developer Otoy is reported to be providing the 3D engine for a new high resolution 3D chat space called Liveplace.com. In Otoy's solution, all of the 3D will be rendered via cloud computing on an external server and served out to any networked device as high resolution graphics despite the native graphics capability of your desktop or mobile computer. The basic questions remain though as to the nature of the 3D information that will get rendered in these environments. What will these graphic applications allow to be imported or exported? Even though recent news suggests the downfall of commercial interests in Second Life, the academic community is busy proving the worth and strength of Web3D to perhaps sustain its life longer than the first phase of its existence. The commercial world has misunderstood the potential of Web3D as a new proving ground for advertisements and product enticements. The people who participate in these environments seem to be more interested in new ways of social interaction and communication whether trivial or pedagogical. Professionals may be able to take advantage of these technologies only if these technologies become flexible enough to work with the formats of modeling tools used in professional practice.
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