Programming 3D Applications with HTML5 and WebGL

Preface

In its roughly twenty years of existence, 3D on the Web has taken a tortuous journey. In 1994 it was a Next Big Thing called VRML that grabbed industry attention, only to ultimately become a bastard stepchild of mainstream web development during the first Internet boom. Around 2000, a new Next Big Thing called Shockwave 3D promised to democratize game development; by 2004, that offspring was also shipped off to the orphanage. In 2007, the virtual world system Second Life leapfrogged the technology media establishment, landing on the cover of BusinessWeek, and a new 3D land grab ensued—literally, as folks rented Second Life islands in droves attempting to colonize a cyberspace that never quite materialized. By 2010, virtual worlds were yesterday’s news, as consumers latched on to social and mobile gaming to sate their appetite for distraction. Viewed through one lens, this is a litany of failure. Viewed through another, it is a crucible.

Good ideas may take a long time, but they never truly die. 3D on the Web is one such notion. Once you look past the well-meaning but naïve overreaches of those early attempts, you can see what some of us (in all humility) have known all along: 3D is just another media type. Whether you use it to build a massively multiplayer online game, an interactive chemistry lesson, or any of countless other applications, 3D is just another way to get pixels moving on a screen at the behest of the user. Thankfully, the latest generations of browser makers ...