3D embedded in the browser : the WebGL standard is coming

3D embedded in the browser : the WebGL standard is coming

December 11th, 2009 - 11:10 am ET by J. G.

A lot of ground has been made in the WebGL standard which should speed up 3G graphics acceleration in web browsers thanks to the publication of a sample by the Khronos Group.

The Khronos Group is an industrial consortium who is working on the OpenGL standard in competition with Microsoft’s Direct3D (part of DirectX) and OpenCL API. Members of this workgroup include names like AMD, Ericsson, Google, Mozilla, NVIDIA and Opera Software, with their initiative being to develop WebGL.

WebGL creates a JavaScript link to OpenGL ES 2.0 (Open Graphics Library for Embedded Systems) so that rich 3D graphics can be run directly in the Web browser (3D calculated by any compatible graphics card) and on any platform which supported the OpenGL or OpenGL ES standards. Free of rights, the WebGL standard takes technologies like Canvas from HTML 5 promoted by Mozilla.

On Thursday, the Khronos Group made great advances towards the standardisation of WebGL by publishing a sample of the standard. A final version should be released by the end of the first quarter in 2010, with the WebGL workgroup looking for comments from Web developers and other interested parties.

The WebGL technology will be implemented in Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera and Apple Safari. Mozilla has also offered a nightly build of Firefox 3.7 with the implementation of the WebGL sample specification. Work on WebKit for future engine developments has also started.

While we know that Microsoft is interested in HTML 5 for version 9 of Internet Explorer, they are also looking to implement graphical acceleration into the browser through DirectX. According to Microsoft, the technology used in IE9 will resemble WebGL as well as a similar technology – Google’s Native Client, with the code being executed natively in the browser thanks to better use of the processors power.

Besides WebGL, Google is also working on the development of the O3D plug-in directly integrated into Google Chrome to replace their own client. Google isn’t looking to compete with WebGL directly though, reserving O3D to more intensive Web 3D activities.

 

http://www.generation-nt.com/us/microsoft-internet-explorer-9-ie9-browser-news-1910241.html