WebGL Support Begins to Arrive in WebKit

[MacRumors]

Wolfire Games' blog reveals that WebGL has quietly been integrated into the latest Webkit sources. WebGL is a standards based initiative which is bringing hardware accelerated 3D graphics to web browsers without the need for browser plug-ins.

The WebGL working group is defining a JavaScript binding to OpenGL ES 2.0 to enable rich 3D graphics within a browser on any platform supporting the OpenGL or OpenGL ES graphics standards. The working group is developing the specification to provide content portability across diverse browsers and platforms, including the capability of portable, secure shader programs.

Opera, Mozilla and Google have already committed to WebGL and the inclusion of it in Webkit means it should eventually trickle down into Safari as well. These demos show them running in early versions of Webkit/Safari.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rpKpj6ZO9w

Wolfire speculates that if it gains widespread adoption, "full-fledged 3d video games" could becoming more common on the web. Like many of the other emerging web technologies, this could threaten to dislodge Adobe's Flash technology.

WebGL is not yet available in the nightly builds of Webkit and is currently only available if you compile the source yourself.

Article Link: WebGL Support Begins to Arrive in WebKit

 

[840quadra]

Wow. The concept of 3d web based games is amazing. And I would love to see how far developers can take this!

 

[sammich]

Lol. The first teapot demo ran at 'infinity' FPS for a split second.

Must be good!

 

[ltldrummerboy]

This looks amazing. I hope web developers start using this within in the next year.

 

[sniffies]

I hate Safari so much that I have switched to Chrome. Even freaking WebKit beachballs on me. Oh, why is Chrome so good?

 

[designgeek]

I bet I would be excited if I knew what this was.

 

[spillproof]

I'm lovin' the future of gaming. This with the ideas from Project Natal, ya, heaven.

 

[John.B]

Wolfire speculates that if it gains widespread adoption, "full-fledged 3d video games" could becoming more common on the web. Like many of the other emerging web technologies, this could threaten to dislodge Adobe's Flash technology.

I'd be happy if it just didn't run like asssss the way Flash does on my Macs.

What hardware is required, what's in the iPhone 3GS and the newest touch?

 

[str1f3]

I hate Safari so much that I have switched to Chrome. Even freaking WebKit beachballs on me. Oh, why is Chrome so good?

I don't know what you mean. The differences in speed between Safari and Chrome are virtually nonexistent since the move that Safari has made to 64bit in Snow Leopard.

As for the demo I'm not only excited for gaming but for web design as well. The sooner we get rid of Flash the better. My only concern is that IE will not adopt these features and push Silverlight instead, therefore slowing down the pace of adoption. Flash is becoming too much of a security issue & lacks stability.

 

[DMann]

The arrival of WebGL is huge, as it will soon emerge as a game changer for 3D rendering and design on the web.

 

[ravenvii]

I wholly support the push to marginalize Flash. If only YouTube would get rid of Flash and switch to another standard, it will be a *huge* boon to this movement.

Google seems to be behind this movement, and yet they hold the key (Google Video and YouTube both use Flash). C'mon Google!

And re: Chrome, it's an great browser, I admit that I really do like it in spite of myself (I don't like the theme!) and if not for MobileMe (I likes me some bookmark syncing) I would probably be using it on Windows. Just to note; Chrome uses WebKit like Safari does, so either you use Chrome or Safari, we all win.

 

[wheelhot]

I hate Safari so much that I have switched to Chrome. Even freaking WebKit beachballs on me. Oh, why is Chrome so good?

Huh? What you mean, both Safari and Chrome uses WebKit as its web browser engine.

As for the demo I'm not only excited for gaming but for web design as well. The sooner we get rid of Flash the better. My only concern is that IE will not adopt these features and push Silverlight instead, therefore slowing down the pace of adoption. Flash is becoming too much of a security issue & lacks stability.

Yup, typical Microsoft. IE is still the worst browser on earth, regardless of the "improvements" in the latest version of IE.

The arrival of WebGL is huge, as it will soon emerge as a game changer for 3D rendering and design on the web.

Yup, as long as IE decides to play along nicely with WebGL, otherwise, it will have a much slower adoption. DIE IE DIE!!!

 

[Beric]

Anything that kills Flash can't be bad. Especially with the way it treats Macs, and even PC's.

 

[BongoBanger]

This is good news.

For those of you interested in non-Flash on-line gaming you should check out Quake Live for a tatse of what can be done.

 

[Shookster]

Yup, as long as IE decides to play along nicely with WebGL, otherwise, it will have a much slower adoption. DIE IE DIE!!!

Microsoft will be a tough nut to crack. Not only do they make Silverlight but they also make DirectX which competes with OpenGL. It's really not in their interests to support this.

I'm hoping that web developers will use the technology anyway and create mindblowing stuff that encourages people to switch away from IE.

 

[slackpacker]

I hate Safari so much that I have switched to Chrome. Even freaking WebKit beachballs on me. Oh, why is Chrome so good?

The Question is why are you having so many problems with Safari.... Chrome at least for me does not even have a way to organize bookmarks on the mac... If your on windows then I as why? An I see why you are having problems with running software on your rig.

 

[valanchan]

At last!

People have been doing 3d on the web with good results for a decade now. It is nice to finally see a standard emerging.

 

[colonels1020]

I know most of us here aren't big fans of the Pre, but this is actually the big step that WebOS needed towards being able to have 3D games.

 

[pcguru83]

Bring it on. Down with Flash! If only we could have agreed on an HTML5 video standard.

 

[whooleytoo]

I bet I would be excited if I knew what this was.

Its a standard means of games and 3D apps in webpages using the hardware acceleration in every Mac/PC. Previously, web based games couldn't, and hence the graphics quality and/or performance suffered.

In the short to medium term, it'll likely mean we'll see more 3D content online.

In the long term, this is arguably another step away from apps you download and run; and towards web-centric computing.

 

[TheMacPotato]

Hoping it will work on the HD2600. I'm looking forward to those Teapot related games

 

[MorphingDragon]

Javascript :/

 

[dernhelm]

I don't know what you mean. The differences in speed between Safari and Chrome are virtually nonexistent since the move that Safari has made to 64bit in Snow Leopard.

Agreed. Safari on SL is amazingly fast and stable. Chrome has nothing on it at all.

 

[pit29]

So, when is this going to turn up in WebKit's nightly builds? I don't feel like compiling it myself...

And I know that it won't make a huge difference for the time being and until there are websites using WebGL, but it'd be nice to have it. Everything is going to be (can't believe I'm the first to say this...) snappier!

 

[Bubba Satori]

VRML bag of hurt.