Simple Mashups with Different WebGL Libraries

During last few months numerous WebGL libraries have been appearing in fast pace. In the process of getting to know most advanced ones of these libraries, we have created some simple mashups that we would like to present.

All these demos are "live" so you will need a WebGL enabled browser (Chromium and Minefield are recommended) to view them. Twitter avatars did not load properly with the latest Chromium (44073), but all worked fine with Minefield.

Copperlicht & Twitter (modified collision demo)

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~salmin39/webgl/copperlicht/collision/index.html

GLGE & Twitter

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~salmin39/webgl/GLGE/twitterdemo/

C3DL & Flickr

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~salmin39/webgl/c3dl/demo/

Have fun!

JavaScript libraries for using WebGL

While doing my background work on the Lively goes 3D project I have come across several JavaScript libraries aiming to ease the use of WebGL. All the libraries have similar APIs for making animations, camera movements, light effects etc.

To view the WebGL demos you need to have a WebGL enabled browser.

Here are some of the main points of the libraries:

GLGE

-Developed actively

-Also supports fog and text rendering

Copperlicht

-Includes a 3D world editor

-Binary compilation with the editor

C3DL

-Good tutorials

SceneJS

-Playground demos can be modified on the fly

Yet a few more libraries:

SpiderGL

WebGLU

Project Introduction

The Lively 3D project aims for the development of a compelling 3D mashup environment. The main objective of the project is to create an efficient, interactive platform for three-dimensional rendering of web content, including the associated programming infrastructure to enable the development of 3D mashware in a consistent, integrated fashion. The Lively 3D system will be developed using JavaScript, Ajax and Qt.

Lively 3D builds upon our earlier experiences in creating the Lively Kernel, a dynamic programming environment embedded in a web page, and Lively for Qt, our implementation of a similar environment for Qt.

Project Background

Previous 3D user interfaces and mashups

Several examples of 3D user interfaces and mashups implemented with Web technologies are already available:

• Papervision 3D is Open Source realtime 3D engine for Flash
  • http://www.papervision3d.org
  • http://snakeflash.com/papervision-3d-mashup/
  • http://snakeflash.com/wordsgame/
• WolfenFlickr 3D - Wolfenstein 3D / Flickr JavaScript Mashup
  • http://blog.nihilogic.dk/2008/07/wolfenflickr-3d-unlikely-mashup.html
  • http://www.nihilogic.dk/labs/wolfenflickr/
• 3D Weather Mashup
  • http://freeearth.poly9.com/_weather/

Relevant Implementation Technologies

WebGL (https://www.khronos.org/webgl/) is a standard specification that is currently being developed to enable 3D graphics support in web browsers. WebGL will enable hardware-accelerated rich 3D graphics in web pages without the need for special browser plug-ins, on any platform that supports OpenGL or OpenGL ES. From the technical viewpoint, WebGL is a JavaScript binding to a native OpenGL ES 2.0 implementation. For further information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebGL.

Qt (http://www.qtsoftware.com/) is a mature, well-documented cross-platform application development framework and platform that has been under development since the early 1990s. Qt supports a rich set of APIs, widgets and tools that run on most commercial software platforms. While Qt is intended primarily for C++ developers, Qt API bindings are available also for developing applications in JavaScript™ and in the Java™ programming language. Interestingly, Qt libraries include a complete web browser (based on WebKit), as well as a fully functional JavaScript engine and debugger.