6 ms·

Google Labs O3D

55 points by endergen 18y ago

Google Labs' open source 3D rendering browser plugin.

msie 18y ago
It appears my computer is too slow judging by the performance of the samples. :(
pxlpshr 18y ago
Wow, this could be massive for indie game developers but I'm not exactly up to snuff on browser-based 3D tech. Would love to collab and build a web game if anyone is interested, we're working on a game but for the iPhone / iPod Touch.
ajkirwin 18y ago
I see this: O3D is an open-source web API for creating rich, interactive 3D applications in the browser. And think, "Oh cool! It must be some funky 3D javascript library or something. This is pretty neat." Then I scroll down and.. oh. Yet ANOTHER plugin. How is this different from say.. flash or silverlight or..
- jcl 18y ago
  Silverlight and Flash do not yet support 3D accelerated graphics. A better comparison would be Unity... but Unity is not free to develop for. (And, unlike O3D, none of these other plugins are open-source.)
  - aaronblohowiak 17y ago
    I am currently working professionally with Unity3d. Unity has taken care of a lot of the annoying legwork wrt animations, asset workflow, physics, state synchronization, c# (mono) extensibility, and more. Unfortunately, the primary language is a custom variant of ECMAScript. Another contender in this space is Torque3d, which offers the ability for you to have your own plugin and native code run on people's machines, but the licensing is not as straightforward as with Unity.
- wmf 18y ago
  Today it's a plugin. Tomorrow it's probably built in to Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
  - omouse 17y ago
    AAHAHAHAHAAHAH That's what they said about VRML!
- PieSquared 18y ago
  On the other hand, I see the title, and think: "Oh dear, another funky 3d javascript library which is completely impractical and useless for any real application..." Then I look at the article and see: O3D is an open-source web API for creating rich, interactive 3D applications in the browser. Perfect! Someone big finally taking initiative and creating a plugin which might actually eventually have a large userbase.
Keyframe 18y ago
Can anyone explain to me what is the benefit of having to install a plugin for a browser in order to play a 3D game that is on graphics technological level of 10 years ago. When you can install a game without a browser and get a graphics technological experience of the modern age. I could understand somewhat a point in having an in-browser 3D or 2D game without plugins (Javascript or even Flash and Silverlight which I consider defacto indluded already), I just don't understand why would I want to install a game into the browser, which you do if you install a plugin, and tolerate degraded experience in contrast to standalone installation and have a full blown experience. I DON'T GET IT, what is the motivation? It is as if some devs hope for worldwide installation for their plugin in high hopes of being a next gen flash, which won't happen. Some experiment with the idea plugin per game (idsoftware), which brings me back to the first paragraph... is it supposed to be a VMRL comeback? Let's do everything in a browser? Browser is the new OS? What is it?
- anigbrowl 18y ago
  There are a lot of things you could do with it besides games. Math, other kinds of data visualization, and so on. even on games, not all games re performance oriented; 2nd Life looks stupid but a lot of people like it. I wouldn't be surprised to see Google's failed attempt to copy it revived soon.
- jws 18y ago
  Perhaps to experiment and develop the <canvas> element 3d context API?
- javert 18y ago
  The browser is designed for browsing HTML pages, NOT to do everything under the sun. Developers need to move beyond the browser and create a more heavy-duty general-purpose Internet application -- or create a framework for installing more domain-specific Internet applications in a sandbox.
  - Raphael 18y ago
    And what would be a good base for this Internet application? Right now it's looking like web browsers.
snorkel 18y ago
Dear Google, Thank you, it's nice to write OpenGL code in Javascript, but if you're going to write a plugin that lets JavaScript access OpenGL then please don't rewrite the entire OpenGL API.
- coffeeaddicted 17y ago
  From what I see from the documenation this is not an OpenGL wrapper. First it wraps OpenGL and DirectX. Then it also seems to be shader based, so it seems to be less a rewrite of OpenGL, but more a rewrite of GLSL. They describe in the FAQ why they didn't use GLSL itself.
nihilocrat 18y ago
"Most content on the web today is in 2D, but a lot of information is more fun and useful in 3D." Wait wait... where did I hear that before? Oh yeah. VRML.
Raphael_Amiard 17y ago
Well if it's some kind of high level api to deal with 3d and shaders, and it's fun to code with and hasn't too shitty performance, it will probably work well.. What will be really needed is some good fun and simple game to create a buzz around it.
tumult 17y ago
The performance of this plugin destroys Flash in every way. It also does vsync (wow yay we're past 1998 now, unlike Flash) and you can put the scripts right in the page. Adobe's inability to make Flash not blow is stunning – they have an insanely huge install base and tons of money, but still can't make Flash perform even close to what might be called acceptable. Come on! You're getting the chance to run NATIVE CODE in just about every desktop computer out there, and you're blowing it! Anyway, Adobe makes me angry. I hope this helps make them die off even faster.

Google Labs O3D

55 points by endergen 18y ago

Google Labs' open source 3D rendering browser plugin.

msie 18y ago

It appears my computer is too slow judging by the performance of the samples. :(

pxlpshr 18y ago

Wow, this could be massive for indie game developers but I'm not exactly up to snuff on browser-based 3D tech. Would love to collab and build a web game if anyone is interested, we're working on a game but for the iPhone / iPod Touch.

ajkirwin 18y ago

I see this: O3D is an open-source web API for creating rich, interactive 3D applications in the browser. And think, "Oh cool! It must be some funky 3D javascript library or something. This is pretty neat." Then I scroll down and.. oh. Yet ANOTHER plugin. How is this different from say.. flash or silverlight or..

jcl 18y ago
Silverlight and Flash do not yet support 3D accelerated graphics. A better comparison would be Unity... but Unity is not free to develop for. (And, unlike O3D, none of these other plugins are open-source.)
- aaronblohowiak 17y ago
  I am currently working professionally with Unity3d. Unity has taken care of a lot of the annoying legwork wrt animations, asset workflow, physics, state synchronization, c# (mono) extensibility, and more. Unfortunately, the primary language is a custom variant of ECMAScript. Another contender in this space is Torque3d, which offers the ability for you to have your own plugin and native code run on people's machines, but the licensing is not as straightforward as with Unity.
wmf 18y ago
Today it's a plugin. Tomorrow it's probably built in to Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
- omouse 17y ago
  AAHAHAHAHAAHAH That's what they said about VRML!
PieSquared 18y ago
On the other hand, I see the title, and think: "Oh dear, another funky 3d javascript library which is completely impractical and useless for any real application..." Then I look at the article and see: O3D is an open-source web API for creating rich, interactive 3D applications in the browser. Perfect! Someone big finally taking initiative and creating a plugin which might actually eventually have a large userbase.

Keyframe 18y ago

Can anyone explain to me what is the benefit of having to install a plugin for a browser in order to play a 3D game that is on graphics technological level of 10 years ago. When you can install a game without a browser and get a graphics technological experience of the modern age. I could understand somewhat a point in having an in-browser 3D or 2D game without plugins (Javascript or even Flash and Silverlight which I consider defacto indluded already), I just don't understand why would I want to install a game into the browser, which you do if you install a plugin, and tolerate degraded experience in contrast to standalone installation and have a full blown experience. I DON'T GET IT, what is the motivation? It is as if some devs hope for worldwide installation for their plugin in high hopes of being a next gen flash, which won't happen. Some experiment with the idea plugin per game (idsoftware), which brings me back to the first paragraph... is it supposed to be a VMRL comeback? Let's do everything in a browser? Browser is the new OS? What is it?

anigbrowl 18y ago
There are a lot of things you could do with it besides games. Math, other kinds of data visualization, and so on. even on games, not all games re performance oriented; 2nd Life looks stupid but a lot of people like it. I wouldn't be surprised to see Google's failed attempt to copy it revived soon.
jws 18y ago
Perhaps to experiment and develop the <canvas> element 3d context API?
javert 18y ago
The browser is designed for browsing HTML pages, NOT to do everything under the sun. Developers need to move beyond the browser and create a more heavy-duty general-purpose Internet application -- or create a framework for installing more domain-specific Internet applications in a sandbox.
- Raphael 18y ago
  And what would be a good base for this Internet application? Right now it's looking like web browsers.

snorkel 18y ago

Dear Google, Thank you, it's nice to write OpenGL code in Javascript, but if you're going to write a plugin that lets JavaScript access OpenGL then please don't rewrite the entire OpenGL API.

coffeeaddicted 17y ago
From what I see from the documenation this is not an OpenGL wrapper. First it wraps OpenGL and DirectX. Then it also seems to be shader based, so it seems to be less a rewrite of OpenGL, but more a rewrite of GLSL. They describe in the FAQ why they didn't use GLSL itself.

nihilocrat 18y ago

"Most content on the web today is in 2D, but a lot of information is more fun and useful in 3D." Wait wait... where did I hear that before? Oh yeah. VRML.

Raphael_Amiard 17y ago

Well if it's some kind of high level api to deal with 3d and shaders, and it's fun to code with and hasn't too shitty performance, it will probably work well.. What will be really needed is some good fun and simple game to create a buzz around it.

tumult 17y ago

The performance of this plugin destroys Flash in every way. It also does vsync (wow yay we're past 1998 now, unlike Flash) and you can put the scripts right in the page. Adobe's inability to make Flash not blow is stunning – they have an insanely huge install base and tons of money, but still can't make Flash perform even close to what might be called acceptable. Come on! You're getting the chance to run NATIVE CODE in just about every desktop computer out there, and you're blowing it! Anyway, Adobe makes me angry. I hope this helps make them die off even faster.