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Comment by pjmlp | Hacker News Reader

I know. It remains to be seen if WebGL won't join VRML in a few years.

WebGL is pretty far from VRML. VRML was doomed from the onset. 20 years later 3D does not have an generally agreed-upon standard markup. (Collada is a de-facto common editor format because of the lack of competition. Not because anyone likes it. And, it's explicitly not a content delivery format.)

WebGL is an implementation layer for creating your own content delivery system in the same way that OpenGL is for desktop apps. OpenGL's approach has worked in practice for over 20 years.

WebGL has done a good job of maintaining parity with iPads. As in, you can expect top-of-the-line iPad games to run at parity on decent PCs with decent WebGL implementations.

Unlikely, WebGL has gained much more momentum in a very short time then any other 3D API. Other APIs may be more efficient (a bit more or a bit less, depending on the specific scenario), but no other 3D API runs on so many devices (including Flash). I think WebGL has a very bright future ahead, both on mobile and what we call 'desktop' today.

How do you see that happening?

The WebGL standard is supported in all major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Safari on iOS, and Chrome and Firefox on Android.

And most stuff I see done with it reminds me of late 90's games, while driving my fan full speed.

Only a few selected mobile devices are able to run WebGL. Those that do, have a tendency to drain the battery quite fast.

Keep in mind that all Apple mobile devices will support WebGL starting with the next version of iOS. "A few selected" won't be true for long :)

It's not so much a question of which device, but which browser. Chrome and Firefox provide WebGL well for Android, and once i0S 8 comes into the fold support will be pretty widespread.

   http://caniuse.com/webgl

WebGL is a presentation of OpenGL through the browser, so we leverage an existing skill set with an existing API. This is dramatically different from the case with VRML.

I, and a few others, use it for leading edge instructional design. http://www.vizitsolutions.com/portfolio/gausslaw/

> Chrome and Firefox provide WebGL well for Android

Most users stick to their system browsers.

Chrome still hides WebGL behind flags in devices that don't have any problem doing OpenGL ES 3.0.

> i0S 8 comes into the fold support will be pretty widespread.

In countries where the average income is above 400€.

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