Web3D Consortium and blaxxun interactive License VRML Browser Source Code.LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 1999-- Full VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) A 3D graphics language used on the Web. After downloading a VRML page, its contents can be viewed, rotated and manipulated. Simulated rooms can be "walked into." The VRML viewer is launched from within the Web browser. browser browser Software that allows a computer user to find and view information on the Internet. The first text-based browser for the World Wide Web became available in 1991; Web use expanded rapidly after the release in 1993 of a browser called Mosaic, which used source openly available from Web3D Consortium under Community Source license; Source to be used to promote VRML availability, improve industry-wide standards compliance and to accelerate X3D X3D Next Generation Three Dimensional X3D Extensible Three Dimensional next generation efforts. The Web3D Consortium The Web3D Consortium is a not-for-profit, member-funded industry consortium whose purpose is to define and develop the X3D royalty-free open standards file format and runtime architecture to represent and communicate 3D scenes. today announced that it has entered into a cooperative licensing agreement with blaxxun interactive whereby the source code of blaxxun's VRML browser will be made openly available from the Web3D Consortium under a Community Source license. Licensees will gain full access to the source and retain full rights to their modifications, royalty-free, for non-commercial use. It is expected that source will be available within 45 days and the license is available for review at www.web3d.org. blaxxun is willing to discuss licensing terms for commercial usage of the source with individual companies. blaxxun and the Web3D Consortium are cooperating to leverage the source to encourage browser availability, conformance testing Conformance testing or type testing is testing to determine whether a system meets some specified standard. To aid in this, many test procedures and test setups have been developed, either by the standard's maintainers or external organizations, specifically for and further innovation in existing and future 3D web standards Web standards is a general term for the formal standards and other technical specifications that define and describe aspects of the World Wide Web. In recent years, the term has been more frequently associated with the trend of endorsing a set of standardized best practices for . The Web3D Consortium is establishing a "Community Source Program" to create a sample implementation VRML browser for non-commercial development. The program will also encourage and enable licensees to submit their modifications back to the Web3D Consortium for integration into the licensed source code. In this way, the Consortium's program will enable the Web3D community to improve the quality and functionality of the source tree and the reference browser. The Web3D Consortium's X3D project will also utilize the source as a community design testbed to accelerate the development and availability of this new 3D graphics technology. "blaxxun is highly motivated to encourage further widespread distribution of stable, conformant VRML browsers with support for advanced functionality including multi-user interfaces," said Franz Buchenberger, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of blaxxun. "We believe that open availability of source of a commercial grade browser will further this goal - and the Web 3D Consortium is the only industry organization that can drive a successful source licensing program to promote open standards Specifications for hardware and software that are developed by a standards organization or a consortium involved in supporting a standard. Available to the public for developing compliant products, open standards imply "open systems;" that an existing component in a system can be replaced for 3D on the Web." "The Web3D Consortium applauds blaxxun's licensing of its source to further the cause of 3D Web standards," said Neil Trevett Neil Trevett is currently Vice President of Embedded Content at NVIDIA. He is responsible for enabling and encouraging compelling applications on non-PC platforms, including cell phones and automobiles. Prior to joining NVIDIA, Mr. , vice president of 3Dlabs and president of the Web3D Consortium. "Through this cooperation with blaxxun, the Web3D Consortium will be able to launch a widespread source development initiative that will enable the industry and the Web3D community to significantly further the momentum of the VRML standard both now and in the future." blaxxun interactive blaxxun interactive, founded in 1995, is the global leader in products and solutions for multimedia communication on the Internet and intranets. Its technology platform ties multimedia with rich communication features allowing the building of visually striking communities and venues where users interact and network with each other in 2D and 3D. Applications are tailored to commerce, to collaboration with online education/training forums and virtual offices, and to communities like the award winning Cybertown (http://www.cybertown.com). Web3D Consortium The Web3D Consortium (formerly the VRML Consortium) is a non-profit organization A non-profit organization (abbreviated "NPO", also "non-profit" or "not-for-profit") is a legally constituted organization whose primary objective is to support or to actively engage in activities of public or private interest without any commercial or monetary profit purposes. with a mandate to develop and promote open standards to enable 3D Web and broadcast applications. The Consortium successfully gained approval for VRML 97 as International Standard ISO/IEC ISO/IEC International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ITU-T M 3000) 14772 in December 1997 and is currently driving the X3D project to create the next evolution of the VRML standard. The Consortium is comprised of over 50 leading organizations including charter members such as 3Dlabs, blaxxun interactive, Cybelius Software, MathEngine, Panasonic/Matsushita, Microsoft, Sony and Superscape. Web3D Consortium members provide technical and marketing expertise for the continued evolution of open 3D standards while gaining early access to ongoing technology and commercial opportunities. More information on VRML, the Consortium's ongoing X3D and VRML standards activities and Consortium membership is available at http://www.vrml.org or http://www.web3d.org. All trademarks and registered trademarks previously cited are the property of their respective owners. |
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