{{Short description, Markup language
3DML was a format for creating three-dimensional websites by combining similar-sized building blocks. It was invented in 1997 by Michael Powers, who co-developed it with Philip Stephens and developed it further over the next four years. 3DML files are written in
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. ...
and can be delivered from standard web servers and shown within a browser via a plugin, or in an independent 3DML browser called Flatland Rover. A new update was posted in 2017 with updated code and binaries for Windows 10. 3DML had no avatar or multi-user support, unlike other platforms of the time like
Active Worlds
Active Worlds is an online virtual world, developed by ActiveWorlds Inc., a company based in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and launched on June 28, 1995. Users assign themselves a name, log into the Active Worlds universe, and explore 3D virtual wo ...
, and thus never attracted a large following. There were plugins for
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Microsoft Wind ...
,
Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator was a web browser, and the original browser of the Netscape line, from versions 1 to 4.08, and 9.x. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corp and was the dominant web browser in terms of usage share in ...
and
AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...
, but not for
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current a ...
. The most recent version is a standalone Windows application.
A 3DML world was called a "spot". In the spot "blocks" can be inserted, laid out in a grid. The blocks can be ordered into "levels" - each has the same size. This approach was designed to simplify the building process and comprehension of 3D pages. The following is an example of a full spot description of a 3D room with walls.
###...###
#.......#
#.......#
#.......#
#.......#
#.......#
#.......#
#.......#
#########
###---###
#-------#
#-------#
#-------#
#-------#
#-------#
#-------#
#-------#
#########
You can navigate the spots by using either mouse or arrow keys.
See also
*
Three.js
Three.js is a cross-browser JavaScript library and application programming interface (API) used to create and display animated 3D computer graphics in a web browser using WebGL. The source code is hosted in a repository on GitHub.
Overview
T ...
*
VRML
VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, pronounced ''vermal'' or by its initials, originally—before 1995—known as the Virtual Reality Markup Language) is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional (3D) interactive vector graph ...
*
X3D
X3D is a royalty-free ISO/IEC standard for declaratively representing 3D computer graphics. File format support includes XML, ClassicVRML, Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE) and a draft JSON encoding. X3D became the successor to the Virtual Re ...
*
3DMLW
3DMLW ('' 3D Markup Language for Web'') is a discontinued open-source project, and a XML-based Markup Language for representing interactive 3D and 2D content on the World Wide Web.
The project has been inactive since 2009; as of 2016, the ...
*
3DXML
3DXML is a proprietary 3D file format developed by Dassault Systemes under its 3DVIA Brand. It uses an XML container whose specifications were published. It should not be confused with X3D, the ISO standard XML-based file format for representi ...