Re: VRML & USENET * What is VRML?

Andrew C. Esh ([email protected])
Tue, 18 Apr 1995 17:40:26 -0600 (CST)


(I don't care about the newsgroup, but I want to understand what VRML is
supposed to be)

On Tue, 18 Apr 1995, Brian Behlendorf wrote:
> On Tue, 18 Apr 1995, Mark D. Pesce wrote, quoting me:

...

> > > Thus, comp.graphics.vrml seems the best place to start.
> >
> > I disagree.

Me too.

> Er, no. What I said at the beginning was that your CP proposal
> <URL:http://hyperreal.com/~mpesce/www.html> and VRML are different issues
> with different needs, and each should be able to exist independently of
> the other even though bindings between them will make them powerful.

Yes! VRML doesn not imply "network".

> I am adamently opposed to putting any sort of networking-specific
> functionality in VRML.

OK!
> But don't pollute VRML
> with stuff that really belongs in its own specification that can carry
> VRML data *and* any other data type, 3-d graphical or not.
>
> This is why I would not classify VRML as an "infosystem", even though
> browsers (as valid HTTP or Web browsers) will be a part of an
> "infosystem".

OK, I'll drop my "infosystem" point of view, but using the same logic,
you'd have to rename the protocol or drop the "graphics" idea. "Virtual
Reality", to me, implies all the senses, not just visual. Maybe you're
planning 3D Graphics Markup Language (3DGML), here. I thought VRML was
going to include sound, and maybe later (much later) touch and smell.
Check out Lawnmower Man. That was my take.

> Let's keep it a "front-end" - asking a VRML specification to include
> both scene descriptions and a "networking methodology" will mean it'll just
> become way too big for any standards body to accept.
>
> Mark, I am not doing this because I don't think CP has no merit - I think
> it should be absolutely tested and implemented if it provides a solution,
> but to piggyback it on the VRML effort is unfair to CP and to VRML.

I agree. Let's split off the networking concept as a separate mdeia
related issue. We can use VRTP to describe how VRML spaces are
transported and maintained in a networked environment. Let's also split
off the interactivity part of things into a separate language as well.
That way we can use VRML to define a space, and then add VRIP as a
scripting language that describes how the VRML space reacts to changes.
All three together gives us what many of us have envisioned: Cyberspace.

"VRML - It's not just for breakfast any more. No wait! It *IS* just for
breakfast!!! Lunch and Dinner are another subject!"

---
Andrew C. Esh                 mailto:[email protected]
Computer Network Technology   [email protected] (finger for PGP key)
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