XVRML

Last updated February 24, 2019

xVRML (eXtensible Virtual Reality Modeling Language, usually pronounced ex-vermal) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive computer graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind.

Virtual reality (VR) is an interactive computer-generated experience taking place within a simulated environment. It incorporates mainly auditory and visual feedback, but may also allow other types of sensory feedback like haptic. This immersive environment can be similar to the real world or it can be fantastical. Augmented reality systems may also be considered a form of VR that layers virtual information over a live camera feed into a headset or through a smartphone or tablet device giving the user the ability to view three-dimensional images.

A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary or free and may be either unpublished or open.

Computer graphics are pictures and films created using computers. Usually, the term refers to computer-generated image data created with the help of specialized graphical hardware and software. It is a vast and recently developed area of computer science. The phrase was coined in 1960, by computer graphics researchers Verne Hudson and William Fetter of Boeing. It is often abbreviated as CG, though sometimes erroneously referred to as computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Format

xVRML is a text-file format from the xVRML Project^[1] at RIT. While xVRML evolved from VRML; it now has an easy-to-learn, XML-based syntax, for which it utilizes an XML Schema to insure both a clear structure and understandable constraints.

A text file is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists stored as data within a computer file system. The end of a text file is often denoted by placing one or more special characters, known as an end-of-file marker, after the last line in a text file. Such markers were required under the CP/M and MS-DOS operating systems. On modern operating systems such as Windows and Unix-like systems, text files do not contain any special EOF character.

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private doctoral university within the town of Henrietta in the Rochester, New York metropolitan area.

VRML is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind. It has been superseded by X3D.

Downloads

The specifications, documentation, and example files, as well as information about a viewer application (Carina), may all be found at the xVRML Project website.^[1] All but the examples may be downloaded from the Project SourceForge site.^[2] An extensive and growing object library is available for public use through the xVRML Project site.^[1]

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References

External links

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[xvrml-1] 1 2 3 xVRML Project

[2] Project SourceForge site