Virtual Reality Options

HTML

• Uses the HyperText Markup Language that is the web standard for 2-dimensional content.
• In geology these are often on-line guidebooks offered via the World-Wide Web, with still photos and descriptions.
• Useful, but limited interaction.

Programmed Animations

• Formats: QuickTime, MPEG or AVI movie formats most common
• viewed using a web browser plugin or installed utility (e.g. MoviePlayer).
• Interactive in the sense that users can start/stop the animation.
• Impart some sense of 3D by flying around/through objects.

QuickTimeVR

Allows viewing of images projected onto 3D objects (``3D Panoramas''). Good for photographed environments, but objects are fixed, viewer interaction limited.

VRML

• Virtual Reality Modeling Language, the de-facto standard for 3D web content
• primarily viewed using Web-Browser plugins (Netscape+CosmoPlayer, or InternetExplorer+WorldView), plugins are built into the latest versions of browsers.
• viewer has interactive walk, fly or examine modes
• objects are constructed from primitives (sphere, cylinder, square, triangle) that can be transformed and assembled
• many scientific visualiztion packages output VMRL (e.g. IBM DataExplorer, RockWare products)

Other 3D Standards

• Java3D (Sun Microsystems). Best for program development (i.e. video games) where content is secondary.
• Chrome/XML (Microsoft) EXtensible Markup Language and 3D content handler. Supposedly aimed at local data, but will probably compete with VRML (Chrome not yet released).