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VRML History
Since people started to publish their documents on the World Wide Web (WWW), there has been an effort to enhance the content of Web pages with advanced three-dimensional graphics and interaction with those graphics.
The term Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML) was first used by Tim Berners-Lee at a European Web conference in 1994 when he talked about a need for a 3-D Web standard. Soon afterward, an active group of artists and engineers formed around a mailing list called www-vrml. They changed the name of the standard to Virtual Reality Modeling Language to emphasize the role of graphics. The result of their effort was to produce the VRML 1 specification. As a basis for this specification they used a subset of the Inventor file format from Silicon Graphics.
The VRML 1 standard was implemented in several VRML browsers, but it only allowed you to create static virtual worlds. This limitation reduced the possibility of its widespread use. Quickly it became clear that the language needed a robust extension to add animation and interactivity, and bring life to a virtual world. The VRML 2 standard was developed, and in the year 1997 it was adopted as International Standard ISO/IEC 14772-1:1997. Since then it is referred to as VRML97.
VRML97 represents an open and flexible platform for creating interactive three-dimensional scenes (virtual worlds). As computers improve in computational power and graphic capability, and communication lines become faster, the use of 3-D graphics becomes more popular outside the traditional domain of art and games. There are now a number of VRML97-enabled browsers available on several platforms. Also, there are an increasing number of VRML authoring tools from which to choose. In addition, many traditional graphical software packages (CAD, visual art, and so on) offer VRML97 import/export features.
The Virtual Reality Toolbox uses VRML97 technology to deliver a unique, open 3-D visualization solution for MATLAB users. It is a useful contribution to a wide use of VRML97 in the field of technical and scientific computation and interactive 3-D animation.
The VRML97 standard continues to be improved by the Web 3D Consortium. The newly released X3D (eXtensible 3D) standard is the successor to VRML97. X3D is an extensible standard that provides compatibility with existing VRML content and browsers. For more information, see http://www.web3d.org.
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