WebGL

WebGL

Original author(s)	Mozilla Foundation
Developer(s)	WebGL Working Group
Stable release	1.0 / March 3, 2011 (2011-03-03)[1]
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	API
Website	www.khronos.org/webgl

HTML
HTML and HTML5 Dynamic HTML XHTML XHTML Basic XHTML Mobile Profile and C-HTML Canvas element Character encodings Document Object Model Browser Object Model Font family HTML editor HTML element HTML Frames HTML5 audio and HTML5 video HTML scripting Web browser engine Quirks mode Style sheets Unicode and HTML W3C and WHATWG Web colors Web Storage WebGL Comparison of document markup languages web browsers layout engines for HTML HTML5 HTML5 Canvas HTML5 Media Non-standard HTML XHTML (1.1)
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WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plug-ins. WebGL programs consist of control code written in JavaScript and shader code that is executed on a computer's Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). WebGL is designed and maintained by the non-profit Khronos Group.^[2]

Design

WebGL is based on OpenGL ES 2.0 and provides an API for 3D graphics.^[3] It uses the HTML5 canvas element and is accessed using Document Object Model interfaces. Automatic memory management is provided as part of the JavaScript language.^[2]

History

WebGL grew out of the Canvas 3D experiments started by Vladimir Vukićević at Mozilla. Vukićević first demonstrated a Canvas 3D prototype in 2006. By the end of 2007, both Mozilla^[4] and Opera^[5] had made their own separate implementations.

In early 2009, the non-profit technology consortium Khronos Group started the WebGL Working Group, with initial participation from Apple, Google, Mozilla, Opera, and others.^[6][2] Version 1.0 of the WebGL specification was released March 2011.^[1] As of March 2012, the chair of the working group is Ken Russell.

Notable early applications of WebGL include Google Maps and Google Body.^[7][8]

Implementation

Desktop Browsers

• Mozilla Firefox - WebGL has been enabled on all platforms that have a capable graphics card with updated drivers since version 4.0.^[9] Mozilla Firefox 8.0 and newer versions use Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) to control all WebGL cross-domain textures.^[10][11]
• Google Chrome - WebGL has been enabled on all platforms that have a capable graphics card with updated drivers since version 9.^[12] Google Chrome 13.0 and newer versions use Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) to control all WebGL cross-domain textures.^[13]
• Safari - Safari 5.1 and newer versions installed on Mac OS X Lion and Mac OS X Snow Leopard implemented support for WebGL, which is disabled by default.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}
• Opera - WebGL has been implemented in Opera 11 and 12 alpha (pre-release) snapshots.^[19][20]
• Internet Explorer - Microsoft has not announced any plans to support WebGL. The Chrome Frame and IEWebGL^[21] plugins provide options to add support for WebGL to Internet Explorer 6.0 and newer versions, although these plugins are not supported or endorsed by Microsoft.

Mobile Browsers

• Nokia N900 - WebGL is available in the stock microB browser from the PR1.2 firmware update onwards.^[22]
• BlackBerry PlayBook - WebGL is available via WebWorks and browser in PlayBook OS 2.0^[23]
• Firefox for mobile - WebGL is available for Android devices in unstable builds since early 2011.^[24]
• The Sony Ericsson Xperia range of Android smartphones have had WebGL capabilities following a firmware upgrade.^[25]
• Opera Mobile 12 final supports WebGL (on Android only).^[26]

Developer libraries

There are several libraries for WebGL development:^[27]

• WebGLU, the first WebGL library made publicly available^[28]
• GLGE
• C3DL
• CopperLicht
• GLOW (WebGL wrapper)
• SpiderGL (JavaScript 3D Graphics library based on WebGL)
• PhiloGL (WebGL framework)
• gwt-g3d (WebGL wrapper) for GWT (Google Web Toolkit)
• SceneJS (3D engine for JavaScript based on WebGL)
• X3DOM
• Oak3D
• Processing.js
• Three.js
• OSGJS (WebGL framework based on OpenSceneGraph)
• XB PointStream (WebGL framework)
• CubicVR.js (WebGL 3D engine)
• A3 (Aerotwist) (3D engine for JavaScript based on WebGL)
• Jax (WebGL environment)
• ANGLE (Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine) is an ongoing open source project released under the BSD license that allows translating WebGL content OpenGL ES 2.0 API calls to DirectX 9 API calls on Microsoft Windows platforms without the need for separate OpenGL drivers. In November 2011 ANGLE has reached an important milestone: it now passes the OpenGL ES 2.0 test suite and has been certified as a compliant GL ES 2.0 implementation.^[29] In April 2012 ANGLE passed the WebGL 1.0.1 conformance tests.^[30]
• WebGL playground (an online tool for quick prototyping and experimenting with WebGL. Allows sharing, forking, creating projects from templates, and contains a gallery of user contributions.
• XTK The X Toolkit: WebGL for Scientific Visualization

Content creation

WebGL scenes can be created without programming in a content creation tool such as Blender or Autodesk Maya. The scenes are then exported to WebGL. This was first possible with Inka3D, a WebGL export plugin for Maya. There are also services to publish interactive 3D content online using WebGL such as p3d.in and Sketchfab.

Sample renderings

• 

  WebGL out-of-core rendering: OpenWebGlobe

See also

• O3D
• GLSL
• VRML
• X3D
• Java OpenGL

References

External links

• Official website
• WebGL /Canvas 3D Preview in WebKit r48331
• www.DoesMyBrowserSupportWebGL.com
• WebGL Demo from Google Chromium
• WebGL Demo from Google Chromium (deprecated)
• EndlessForms.com See the power of WebGL by comparing this site (where you can evolve objects) in Chrome and Safari.
• Sand Toy: Particle Physics An example of doing particle physics on the GPU using a shader.
• OpenWebGlobe SDK Virtual Globe SDK using WebGL
• WebGL Earth Complex 3D Earth visualization
• WebGL.com Blog covering the latest webgl/html5 news
• Sketchfab to publish interactive 3D models in your browser
• Tutorials
  • Mozilla Developer Network
  • Learning WebGL

v t e Standards of The Khronos Group COLLADA EGL OpenCL OpenGL OpenGL ES OpenGL SC OpenKODE OpenMAX OpenML OpenSL ES OpenVG OpenWF WebGL WebCL