PHIL: What will VRML be used for?

Tom Payne (jlfs@vax.ox.ac.uk)
Tue, 14 Jun 1994 20:14:49 +0100


I think that everyone involved in VRML should have a very clear idea of what we
are trying to achieve. From my understanding, there are two uses of VRML:

1) To provide a new, exciting interface to static WWW pages. The user will step
into a room, where they can read a book to retrieve textual information, look
at pictures on the wall (e.g. for GIFs), or watch a TV set (e.g. for MPEGs).
Hyperlinks will be in the form of doors/stairs/wormholes whatever.

2) To provide a standard language with which users can interact with each other
and objects, where the users are in the same virtual space, but not
nesscessarily the same physical space.

To me, 1 is the most immediately achievable goal, but 2 is certainly the 'next
generation' and should be considered in the design of VRML. Any comments? What
should we be aiming for?

Tom Payne

FYI: I'm a programmer working in Aylesbury, England. I'm going to university
this October to read Engineering. I have always been very interested in the
field of computer graphics and virtual reality, and of course I'm a fan of
Gibson :).