14 DAY TRIAL // The web is finally ready for 3D graphics, at least that's what the release of WebGL 1.0 would indicate. The 3D graphics for the web standard is now complete and can be used as a base for both applications and browser implementations.
Of course, browser makers didn't wait until now to start deploying WebGL, it is already supported, to a varying degree, by most modern browsers, with the notable exception of Internet Explorer.
"The Khronos Group today released the final WebGL 1.0 specification to enable hardware-accelerated 3D graphics in HTML5 Web browsers without the need for plug-ins," the Khronos Group, which oversaw development of the WebGL standard and is responsible for OpenGL and related technologies as well, announced.
"WebGL defines a JavaScript binding to OpenGL ES 2.0 to allow rich 3D graphics within a browser on any platform supporting the industry-standard OpenGL or OpenGL ES graphics APIs," it explained.
WebGL has been in development for less than two years, but it is now ready for the prime time. It's already built into most browsers, though for some that's only in development builds.
Google Chrome 9 and above offer full support for WebGL. Mozilla Firefox 4, which is still in beta, also supports the specification. Opera is offering a preview build with support for WebGL and the Safari nightly builds also include support.
Since WebGL is part of WebKit, any browser that uses the rendering engine, and chooses to enable the technology, will also support the standard.
The Khronos Group is offering a set of tests for browser makers to check whether their implementation is up to spec. Web developers also have a number of tools to take advantage of for building 3D apps for the web.
At this point, actual usage of the technology is low in the wild, but now that it has been finalized and once stable versions of the browsers will support it, things should start moving forward faster with IE's cooperation or not.