3DML

Last updated

3DML was a format for creating three-dimensional websites by combining similar-sized building blocks. It was invented in 1997 by Michael Powers, who co-developed it with Philip Stephens and developed it further over the next four years. 3DML files are written in XML and can be delivered from standard web servers and shown within a browser via a plugin, or in an independent 3DML browser called Flatland Rover. A new update was posted in 2017 with updated code and binaries for Windows 10. 3DML had no avatar or multi-user support, unlike other platforms of the time like Active Worlds, and thus never attracted a large following. There were plugins for Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and AOL, but not for Mozilla Firefox. The most recent version is a standalone Windows application.

A 3DML world was called a "spot". In the spot "blocks" can be inserted, laid out in a grid. The blocks can be ordered into "levels" - each has the same size. This approach was designed to simplify the building process and comprehension of 3D pages. The following is an example of a full spot description of a 3D room with walls.

<spotversion="3.5"><head><debug/><titlename="Tall Spot"/><blocksethref="http://blocksets.flatland.com/flatsets/basic.bset"/><mapstyle="single"dimensions="(9,9,2)"/><skytexture="images/clouds.gif"brightness="90%"/><groundtexture="images/dirt.gif"/><ambient_lightbrightness="100%"/><ambient_soundfile="sounds/waves.wav"volume="65%"playback="looped"/></head><body><levelnumber="1">      ###...###      #.......#      #.......#      #.......#      #.......#      #.......#      #.......#      #.......#      #########      </level><levelnumber="2">      ###---###      #-------#      #-------#      #-------#      #-------#      #-------#      #-------#      #-------#      #########      </level><entrancelocation="(5,8,1)"name="default"angle="0,0"/></body></spot>

You can navigate the spots by using either mouse or arrow keys.

See also

Related Research Articles

GIF Bitmap image file format family

The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on 15 June 1987. It has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability between applications and operating systems.

Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG) is a graphics file format, published in 2001, for animated images. Its specification is publicly documented and there are free software reference implementations available.

Portable Network Graphics Family of lossless compression file formats for image files

Portable Network Graphics is a raster-graphics file format that supports lossless data compression. PNG was developed as an improved, non-patented replacement for Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) — unofficially, the initials PNG stood for the recursive acronym "PNG's not GIF".

Adobe Photoshop Raster graphics editing software

Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster graphics editing, but in digital art as a whole. The software's name is often colloquially used as a verb although Adobe discourages such use. Photoshop can edit and compose raster images in multiple layers and supports masks, alpha compositing and several color models including RGB, CMYK, CIELAB, spot color, and duotone. Photoshop uses its own PSD and PSB file formats to support these features. In addition to raster graphics, Photoshop has limited abilities to edit or render text and vector graphics, as well as 3D graphics and video. Its feature set can be expanded by plug-ins; programs developed and distributed independently of Photoshop that run inside it and offer new or enhanced features.

X3D is a royalty-free ISO/IEC standard for declaratively representing 3D computer graphics. File format support includes XML, ClassicVRML, Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE) and a draft JSON encoding. X3D became the successor to the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) in 2001. X3D features extensions to VRML, the ability to encode the scene using an XML syntax as well as the Open Inventor-like syntax of VRML97, or binary formatting, and enhanced application programming interfaces (APIs).

Adobe Atmosphere

Adobe Atmosphere was a software platform for interacting with 3D computer graphics. 3D models created with the commercial program could be explored socially using a browser plugin available free of charge. Atmosphere was originally developed by Attitude Software as 3D Anarchy and was later bought by Adobe Systems. The product spent the majority of its lifetime in beta testing. Adobe released the last version of Atmosphere, version 1.0 build 216, in February 2004, then discontinued the software in December that year.

ART is a proprietary image file format used mostly by the America Online (AOL) service and client software.

Binary file Non-human-readable computer file encoded in binary form

A binary file is a computer file that is not a text file. The term "binary file" is often used as a term meaning "non-text file". Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text; for example, some computer document files containing formatted text, such as older Microsoft Word document files, contain the text of the document but also contain formatting information in binary form.

Comparison of web browsers Wikimedia list article

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browsers. For further references, a browser support matrix is a table of support of a Webpage by browsers.

Wallpaper (computing) Digital image used as a decorative background on a computer desktop

A wallpaper or background is a digital image used as a decorative background of a graphical user interface on the screen of a computer, smartphone or other electronic device. On a computer, wallpapers are generally used on the desktop, while on a mobile phone they serve as the background for the home screen. Though most devices come with a default background image, modern devices usually allow users to manually change the background image.

IrfanView Image viewer, editor and converter program

IrfanView is an image viewer, editor, organiser and converter program for Microsoft Windows. It can also play video and audio files, and has some image creation and painting capabilities. IrfanView is free for non-commercial use; commercial use requires paid registration. It is noted for its small size, speed, ease of use, and ability to handle a wide variety of graphic file formats. It was first released in 1996.

OpenSceneGraph

OpenSceneGraph is an open-source 3D graphics application programming interface, used by application developers in fields such as visual simulation, computer games, virtual reality, scientific visualization and modeling.

Adobe Flash Player is freeware computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the Adobe Flash platform. It can run from a web browser as a browser plug-in or independently on supported devices. Originally created by FutureWave under the name FutureSplash Player, it was renamed to Macromedia Flash Player after Macromedia acquired FutureWave in 1996. It was then developed and distributed by Adobe Systems as Flash Player after Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005. It is currently developed and distributed by Zhongcheng for users in China, and by Harman International for enterprise users outside of China, in collaboration with Adobe.

The Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) is an ISO standard, originally created by Adobe Systems Inc., for the creation, processing and interchange of standardized and custom metadata for digital documents and data sets.

Image file formats are standardized means of organizing and storing digital images. An image file format may store data in an uncompressed format, a compressed format, or a vector format. Image files are composed of digital data in one of these formats so that the data can be rasterized for use on a computer display or printer. Rasterization converts the image data into a grid of pixels. Each pixel has a number of bits to designate its color. Rasterizing an image file for a specific device takes into account the number of bits per pixel that the device is designed to handle.

ShiVa3D is a 3D game engine with a graphical editor designed to create applications and video games for desktop PCs, the web, game consoles and mobile devices. Games made with ShiVa can be exported to over 20 target platforms, with new export targets being added regularly.

WebP Type of image file format

WebP is an image file format developed by Google intended as a replacement for JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats. WebP yields files that are smaller for the same quality, or of higher quality for the same size. It supports both lossy and lossless compression, as well as animation and alpha transparency.

Away3D

Away3D is an open-source platform for developing interactive 3D graphics for video games and applications, in Adobe Flash or HTML5. The platform consists of a 3D world editor, a 3D graphics engine, a 3D physics engine and a compressed 3D model file format (AWD).

Three.js

Three.js is a cross-browser JavaScript library and application programming interface (API) used to create and display animated 3D computer graphics in a web browser using WebGL. The source code is hosted in a repository on GitHub.

Art of Illusion

Art of Illusion is a free software, and open source software package for making 3D graphics.