web3D
{{short description|Web-based interactive 3D content}}
{{Not to be confused|Web3}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=May 2023}}
{{Overly detailed|date=June 2025}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
Web3D, also called 3D Web, is a group of technologies to display and navigate websites using 3D computer graphics. These technologies enable applications such as online games, virtual reality experiences, interactive product demonstrations, and 3D data visualization directly within web browsers.
The emergence of Web3D dates back to 1994, with the advent of VRML, a file format designed to store and display 3D graphical data on the World Wide Web. Modern Web3D is primarily powered by WebGL, a JavaScript API that enables hardware-accelerated 3D graphics rendering in web browsers without requiring plug-ins.
Pre-WebGL era
The emergence of Web3D dates back to 1994, with the advent of VRML, a file format designed to store and display 3D graphical data on the World Wide Web.{{cite web |url=https://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/vrml/vrml.html |title=Extending WWW to support Platform Independent Virtual Reality |author=Dave Raggett |date=1994 |access-date=22 May 2023}} In October 1995, at Internet World, Template Graphics Software demonstrated a 3D/VRML plug-in for the beta release of Netscape 2.0 by Netscape Communications.[http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/software-services-applications/7163706-1.html First 3D/VRML Plug-in for Netscape 2.0 shown by TGS; TGS extends leadership in Internet 3D products and technology]. AllBusiness.com. 30 October 1995. Last accessed 26 December 2011.
The Web3D Consortium was formed to further the collective development of the format. VRML and its successor, X3D, have been accepted as international standards by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
The main drawback of the technology was the requirement to use third-party browser plug-ins to perform 3D rendering, which slowed the adoption of the standard.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
Between 2000 and 2010, one of these plug-ins, Adobe Flash Player, was widely installed on desktop computers and was used to display interactive web pages and online games and to play video and audio content.[https://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/fwa_2009.html Looking back at the best Flash sites of 2009] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018034214/http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/fwa_2009.html |date=18 October 2015 }}, Adobe Developer Connection, 14 December 2009 Several Flash-based frameworks appeared that used software rendering and ActionScript 3 to perform 3D computations such as transformations, lighting, and texturing. Most notable among them were Papervision3D and Away3D.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
Eventually, Adobe developed Stage3D, an API for rendering interactive 3D graphics with GPU-acceleration for its Flash player and AIR products,[https://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/stage3d.html 3D game development for Flash and video games] which was adopted by software vendors.{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2011/10/7/2471974/epics-unreal-3-engine-coming-soon-to-adobe-flash-11|title=Adobe Flash 11 adopts Unreal Engine 3 for better browser games {{pipe}} The Verge|date=7 October 2011 |publisher=theverge.com|accessdate=22 May 2023}}{{cite book|author=Keith Gladstien|title=Flash Game Development In a Social, Mobile and 3D World|year=2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-4354-6021-8|pages=383–421}}
In 2009, an open-source 3D web technology called O3D was introduced by Google. It also required a browser plug-in, but contrary to Flash/Stage3D, was based on JavaScript API. O3D was geared not only for games but also for advertisements, 3D model viewers, product demos, simulations, engineering applications, control and monitoring systems.[https://code.google.com/p/o3d/ O3D Project Page] from Google Code
WebGL and glTF
WebGL (short for "Web Graphics Library") evolved out of the Canvas 3D experiments started by Vladimir Vukićević at Mozilla Foundation. Vukićević first demonstrated a Canvas 3D prototype in 2006. By the end of 2007, both Mozilla{{cite web|url=http://blog.vlad1.com/2007/11/26/canvas-3d-gl-power-web-style/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717224855/http://blog.vlad1.com/2007/11/26/canvas-3d-gl-power-web-style/|archive-date=17 July 2011 |title=Canvas 3D: GL power, web-style |publisher=Blog.vlad1.com |access-date=14 May 2011}} and Opera{{cite web|url=http://my.opera.com/timjoh/blog/2007/11/13/taking-the-canvas-to-another-dimension |title=Taking the canvas to another dimension |publisher=My.opera.com |date=26 November 2007 |access-date=14 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117170113/http://my.opera.com/timjoh/blog/2007/11/13/taking-the-canvas-to-another-dimension|archive-date=17 November 2007}} had made their own separate implementations.
In early 2009, the nonprofit technology consortium Khronos Group started the WebGL Working Group, with initial participation from Apple, Google, Mozilla, Opera, and others.{{cite web|url=http://www.khronos.org/webgl/ |title=WebGL – OpenGL ES 2.0 for the Web |publisher=Khronos.org |access-date=22 May 2023}} Version 1.0 of the WebGL specification was released in March 2011.{{cite web|title=Khronos Releases Final WebGL 1.0 Specification|date=3 March 2011|url=http://www.khronos.org/news/press/khronos-releases-final-webgl-1.0-specification|access-date=22 May 2023}}
Major advantages of the new technology include conformity with web standards and near-native 3D performance without the use of any browser plug-ins.{{cite web |title=WebGL Fundamentals |url=http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/webgl/webgl_fundamentals/ |publisher=HTML5 Rocks}} Since WebGL is based on OpenGL ES, it works on mobile devices without any additional abstraction layers. For other platforms, WebGL implementations leverage ANGLE to translate OpenGL ES calls to DirectX, OpenGL, or Vulkan API calls.{{cite web|year=2019|access-date=22 May 2023|url=https://chromium.googlesource.com/angle/angle/+/master/README.md|title=ANGLE – Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine}}
Among notable WebGL frameworks are A-Frame, which uses HTML-based markup for building virtual reality experiences;{{Cite web| url=https://aframe.io| title=A-Frame| website=A-Frame| access-date=22 May 2023}} PlayCanvas, an open-source engine alongside a proprietary cloud-hosted creation platform for building browser games;{{cite web | url=https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/03/18/gdc-2014-mozilla-and-partners-prove-the-web-is-the-platform-for-gaming/| title=GDC 2014: Mozilla and partners prove Web is the platform for gaming|publisher=blog.mozilla.org |date=18 March 2014|access-date=22 May 2023}} Three.js, an MIT-licensed framework used to create demoscene from the early 2000s;{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXWYOF4VibE|author=NVScene|publisher=YouTube|title=NVScene 2015 Session: Reinventing The Wheel – One Last Time (Ricardo Cabello)}} Unity, which obtained a WebGL back-end in version 5;{{cite news |title=Unity officially releases its new game engine: Unity 5 |last1=Robertson |first1=Adi |url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/3/3/8142099/unity-5-engine-release |work=The Verge |date=3 March 2015 |access-date=22 May 2023}} and Verge3D, which integrates with Blender, 3ds Max, and Maya to create 3D web content.{{cite news |title=Soft8Soft ships Verge3D 3.7 |last=Thacker |first=Jim |url=https://www.cgchannel.com/2021/05/soft8soft-ships-verge3d-3-0/ |work=CG Channel |date=28 May 2021 |access-date=22 May 2023}}
With the rapid adoption of WebGL, a new problem arose—the lack of a 3D file format optimized for the Web. This issue was addressed by glTF, a format that was conceived in 2012 by members of the COLLADA working group.{{cite web |last1=Houston |first1=Ben |title=glTF: Everything You Need to Know |url=https://www.threekit.com/blog/gltf-everything-you-need-to-know |website=threekit.com |accessdate=22 May 2023}} At SIGGRAPH 2012, Khronos presented a demo of glTF, which was then called WebGL Transmissions Format (WebGL TF). On 19 October 2015, the glTF 1.0 specification was released.{{cite web |last1=Simkin |first1=Aliaksei |title=Behind the scene of 3D Magic |url=https://stayrelevant.globant.com/en/gltf-behind-the-scene-of-3d-magic/ |website=globant.com |accessdate=29 October 2020}} Version 2.0 glTF uses a physically based rendering material model, proposed by Fraunhofer.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eWUzCa_M0E&t=4311s|title=Physically Based Materials in glTF – Current State. M. Limper, T. Sturm, SIGGRAPH 2016 WebGL & glTF BOF (July 27, 2016)|website=YouTube }} Other upgrades include sparse accessors and morph targets for techniques such as facial animation, and schema tweaks and breaking changes for corner cases or performance, such as replacing top-level glTF object properties with arrays for faster index-based access.{{cite web|url=https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF/issues/831|title=glTF 2.0 syntax changes and JSON encoding restrictions · Issue #831 · KhronosGroup/glTF|website=GitHub|access-date=22 May 2023}}
Future
"WebGPU" is the working name for a potential web standard and JavaScript API for accelerated graphics and computing, aiming to provide "modern 3D graphics and computation capabilities". It is developed by the W3C "GPU for the Web" Community Group, with engineers from Apple, Mozilla, Microsoft, and Google, among others.{{cite web|url=https://www.w3.org/community/gpu/|title=GPU for the Web Community Group|website=w3.org|access-date=22 May 2023}}
WebGPU will not be based on any existing 3D API and will use Rust-like syntax for shaders.{{cite web|url=https://dmnsgn.me/blog/from-glsl-to-wgsl-the-future-of-shaders-on-the-web/|title=From GLSL to WGSL: the future of shaders on the Web|access-date=22 May 2023}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{vector graphics markup languages}}