Enabling a 3-D Cyberspace Experience Online

Abstract

The allure of a 3-D cyberspace grows again as communication channels connect a growing number of virtual reality (VR) head mounted displays and interaction-enabling controllers. Computer graphics enable 3-D cyberspace as much as any component critical to providing satisfactory experiences. Historically, the usefulness of 2-D interfaces entrenched when developers demonstrated the feasibility of 3-D cyberspace. Now a certain amount of prolonged inertia seems necessary to promote 3-D graphics to the participation level of 2-D graphics. The HTML 5 stack and other technologies enable 3-D integration into our planetary shared cyberspace. This chapter provides a historical perspective of one researcher’s methods used to provide 3-D web experiences, the lack of critical mass for their use in the past, and how the latest virtual reality integration trajectories will bring a critical mass to the 3-D cyberspace of the future.