Multimedia applications and Internet presentations become much more impressing through 3D Animations and Virtual Reality. There are various Software packages and 3D environments which are used to create amazing virtual worlds on the Internet.

VRML was at the beginning the standard programming language for creating and publishing Virtual Reality on the net but in the last couple of years we have seen an enormous change and progress in this sector. The successor of VRML is named X3D. It is an open standard that has been developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) . It enables and supports the creating and visualizing of Real time 3D on the Internet. The ISO has standardized the X3D as ISO/IEC 19775 Standard.

Contrary to its predecessor, the X3D has some significant features, with numerous standardized techniques and interfaces. For example, the possibility of integrating XML with Webservices, decentral networks and the platform independent data and file transfer between the applications. The real time presentations have a high quality, they are interactive and also able to contain video and audio in addition to the 3D - data. X3D is a component of MPEG - 4.


Virtual 3D Worlds

are virtual three dimensional spaces where multiple users can reside and communicate with each other in an online 3D - environment. As opposed to simulation, which typically implements only one model or process, or processes that are tightly bound with each other, virtual worlds are focused on hundreds and even thousands of simultaneously occurring processes that are not obligatory interconnected.

As a member of a 3D world community you need an Avatar. It can move around the virtual world communicating with other users through personal messages and VoIP. It's also possible to choose your favorite environment. However, by now the main purpose of these virtual places is to having fun and to encourage the consume. You can go shopping, meet other avatars, chat with them and so on...

3D worlds provide unique opportunities for people to demonstrate their abilities, to share their experiences, knowledge and emotions with other people. They might serve different purposes such as entertainment, education, communication or commerce and can also recreate various environments ranging from virtual offices, shops and hotels to online classrooms, virtual factories and fantasy worlds, created by human imagination.

The majority of currently existing virtual worlds are still focused on entertainment, but gradually they start switching to various business initiatives.




The Second Life has been found by the american physicist Philip Rosedale about four years ago. His idea was simply to create and settle a virtual planet within the digital world of the Internet.

It consists of a main land and also a number of islands, which can be explored and purchased. After the slogging first stage, now there are almost five million registered users in this community.

Second Life is a virtual world, a permanently exisiting 3D - environment, that is entirely created and developed by its inhabitants. In this online world you are practically able to create everything or to become whatever you could imagine.

In order to create objects, there are integrated tools which support you and make it possible to work together with other users even in real time. And, based on various settings in Second Life the avatars enable you to express yourself in many different ways.

At the moment you can communicate with other users by typing your texts on your keyboard but it should be possible to talk to them very soon. Among all that, in the mean time, there are even cities like Frankfurt which can be visited in this virtual world!

True Perspectives !

There is another alternative to represent the virtual Worlds, which is based on Flash and offers plenty of possibilities. Here are some interessting samples which show how these 3D - Environments look like and work :