The Virtual Reality Markup/Modelling Language (VRML) is something I've been really curious about for a few months (And kinda curious about since I first heard of it, even though it never seemed like a “good” idea—I remember a demo of a flat-shaded, textureless, 3-D shop where you would go at take items off a shelf and buy them).

Probably based on:

• Interest in low-polygon 3-D environments,
• interest in Hypermedia in general,
• the Gopher 3-D browser GopherVR,
• expecting it to be similar to HTML,
• the mechanical form: moving round 3-D environment and clicking on things,
• interest in and want to learn from unused, abandoned, alternate, etc. ways or doing things.

The spec. for the first version is kinda cool:

“Finally, we move to “perceptualized” Internetworks, where the data has been sensualized, that is, rendered sensually. If something is represented sensually, it is possible to make sense of it. VRML is an attempt (how successful, only time and effort will tell) to place humans at the center of the Internet, ordering its universe to our whims. In order to do that, the most important single element is a standard that defines the particularities of perception. Virtual Reality Modeling Language is that standard, designed to be a universal description language for multi-participant simulations.

These three phases, storage, retrieval, and perceptualization are analogous to the human process of consciousness, as expressed in terms of semantics and cognitive science. Events occur and are recorded (memory); inferences are drawn from memory (associations), and from sets of related events, maps of the universe are created (cognitive perception). What is important to remember is that the map is not the territory, and we should avoid becoming trapped in any single representation or world-view. Although we need to design to avoid disorientation, we should always push the envelope in the kinds of experience we can bring into manifestation!”

AKA: VRML 1

• The Virtual Reality Modeling Language: Version 1.0 Specification
• https://web.cs.wpi.edu/~matt/courses/cs563/talks/vrml/syntax.html
• http://web.inc.bme.hu/csonka/csg/oktat/www/wrl/tutorial/start.html
• https://www.rigacci.org/docs/biblio/online/vrml/ch2.htm

• The Virtual Reality Modeling Language Specification
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v88z4oDemUU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgnNKIg3N-Q
• http://www.agocg.ac.uk/train/vrml2rep/part1/guide3.htm
• https://www.sdsc.edu/~nadeau/Talks/NASA_EOSDIS/syntax.htm
• https://slideplayer.com/slide/5340147/
• https://www.web3d.org/documents/specifications/14772/V2.0/part1/examples.html

How to play VRML worlds.

Support's not great. Well, support for loading the files as static models is…

Here are the programs I've tried.

• create3000/x_ite
  • Havent' tried yet
• FreeWRL
  • freewrl - I can't build it though (fucking XUL).
  • Works fine in Wine, but doesn't support VRML1?
• BS Contact
  • I didn't get it from there ^ found it on a download site.
  • Runs fine in Wine.
  • Right-click > Movement > Game to get better controls.

• VRML
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4927250/view-vrml-file-with-webgl-capable-browser
• x3d - Successor that uses xml, and runs in the browser with javascript.
• x3dom - Successor aiming to become integrated into HTML like svg is.
• 3dmlw
• https://www.web3d.org/wiki/index.php/X3D_and_HTML5
• http://www.agocg.ac.uk/brief/vrml.htm
• https://www.extremetech.com/computing/77260-3d-online-browser-plugins-and-more
• https://www.whoishostingthis.com/resources/vrml/
• https://castle-engine.io/vrml_engine_doc/output/xsl/html/preface.html - cover v1 and v2
• https://www.web3d.org/x3d/content/examples/X3dResources.html