subject: Lesson 80 - Web 3D--Charting a Course - Part 1 [print this page] Lesson 80 - Web 3D--Charting a Course - Part 1
Care to join me on the high seas, tossed by towering waves, in search of fabled golden citiesand all without a map, or even a compass?
I may be crazy, but I love it out here. Sure I'm overwhelmed and utterly confused by the chaos of the emerging 3D Models Web world. But I'm headed toward something worth the getting. I'm a 3D pioneer on the Internet, and willing to share what I've gathered thus far.
I don't believe that this technology can make financial sense in the current climate. Web 3D is brand new and clients need convincing before they drop this kind of money. Cult3D's development package is impressive and can be downloaded free, but it requires a serious commitment to learn. The effort required to learn it must be justified by the belief that clients will readily pay $3,500 for the right to use this technology on their sites. By contrast, a Shout3D domain license is $199. (The practice of licensing 3D Models delivery technology on a per-domain basis seems to be the developing standard.)
But cost aside, there is a more important reason why I am not pursuing proprietary solutions like Cult3D in my own efforts and in these columns. Cult3D requires a plug-in application that must be installed on the client's (the end-user's) system. It's a relatively small plug-in and downloads quickly, but it is a plug-in nonetheless. All my experience with VRML and Web 3D to date has convinced me that plug-ins cannot work. You simply can't ask users whether they want to download and install an application before they can see your content. It must appear on their screens just like any other standard element of an HTML page. This issue is not even so much the download time as the inconvenience and sense of insecurity about the process. The single most important feature of Shout 3D Models is its use of Java applets to avoid plug-ins. I've proven the effectiveness of this solution to my own satisfaction by posting Shout content on Webreference.com over the past few lessons The traffic on those pages was significant, yet the number of technical complaints from readers was negligible.
