Topic: 3D Canvas context in Opera and Firefox

Some of you have heard about the 3D Canvas context in labs builds of Opera and Firefox.

Tim Johansson wrote about 3D Canvas in Opera, providing a link to a Windows build and the API reference. Including a link to the 3D Snake game I rushed for internal and customers demo 1-2 years ago.

Vladimir Vukicevic wrote about 3D Canvas in Firefox, providing a link to an extension and documentation of OpenGL ES.

And no, unlike Mozilla, Opera's 3d Canvas context is not a straight mapping of OpenGl ES. It is so for the simple reason that we are available on some platforms that don't support it. Actually our first research work started specifically with a platform no supporting OpenGl ES in mind.

As I said in various comments, I like and drool at the capabilities of OpenGL + HLSL but I'm not sure this is suitable everywhere, or whether "web developers" are ready to dwelve into OpenGL's API.



(Edited by poi on 01-16-2008 10:31)

Very quick one : amazing, love the snake even if it's a small widget, and on my laptop from prehistory
(Radeon 9600) the Firefox canvas chokes - it doesn't work actually, renders white canvas.

Microsoft is pushing their own .Net 3.0 which allows displaying 3D content in IE. Their PR people are also saying that they are seeking support from the open source world meaning theoretically they won't restrict access to the features of .net 3 to only IE. This is doubtful but it's what they're saying. Without even Opera and Mozilla implementing canvas 3D in the same way what chance does it have at all against the armies of .net developers who are already accustomed to building .net applications and ASP.net web pages which btw become almost interchangeable with .net 3 meaning you can build a regular application and compile it as a .net web page.

My information may be a little outdated since I attended a conference about .net 3 a little over a year ago and haven't been paying much attention to the developments at Microsoft since.

At least with standardized technologies the FOSS has some leverage and cause against Microsoft but creating their own proprietary technologies that even the community doesn't fully support? It's a nice experiment but I'm also going to stay very skeptical about the practicality and market penetration this is ever going to have.

I think the only 3D enabling technology for web which may find more extensive use over the coming years is Flash.
http://www.actionscriptarchitect.com/lab/Video3D/
http://www.flashscene.org/32k/flint-evo/index.html
http://www.flashscene.org/32k/beat-32k-OOS/beat_32k.html