Google Labs Releases Open Source 3D Viewer – O3D
This morning I read about something new out of Google Labs - an Open Source 3D viewer for the browser call O3D. The Mac plugin is at version 0.1.34.2 and while it's still a little rough around the edges, it's got something there that is worth looking into. VRML just hasn't really taken off, and I thought that was going to be a beautiful solution for complex visualizations. It just never found critical mass.
I'm looking at O3D and hoping that with the Google backing, it's going to have a lot better chance of being the web standard for complex, 3D visualizations. I'm not looking for a game engine, or a general drawing package - both those exist built on OpenGL and other technologies. No, I'm looking for the tool to easily represent 3D spaces (real and imagined) so that, for example, the output of a 2D solid-state simulator can be visualized from many angles, etc., using 3D and color. It's a powerful idea.
So I got O3D for my Mac, and we'll see how it evolves. Like I said, it's got a long way to go, but I'm hoping it makes it.