Developers are creating API for 3D graphics in browsers

During the Siggraph 2009 conference, the Khronos Group consortium, that is involved in the creation of open standards such as OpenGL or OpenCL, has provided some details on the WebGL project that allows to display 3D graphics in a browser's window.

The aim of the project is to use JavaScript, and OpenGL ES API in such a way that it is possible to render 3D graphics in a web browser window, regardless of the platform used - the only requirement is the support for OpenGL or OpenGL ES.

The creators used dynamic scripting available in the HTML 5 specification. All browsers that support the latest implementation of the language (such as Safari 4) will be able to benefit from the hardware accelerated 3D graphics. This may lead to the creation of three-dimensional games and applications that run seamlessly on Windows, Linux and mobile phones.

Currently many well-known companies such as AMD, Ericsson, Google, Mozilla, Opera Software and Nvidia are involved in developing the new standard. According to the declaration of the Khronos Group, the first public release of the WebGL standard will take place in the mid of next year.