VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) is a platform-independent language for describing three dimensional interactive virtual worlds linked with the World Wide Web. It is designed to be extendible and to work well over low-bandwidth connections. It is the intention of its designers (VRML Architecture Group) that VRML becomes the standard language for interactive simulation within the World Wide Web.
VRML is a subset of SGI´s Open Inventor-format for description of 3D worlds and with extensions to support networking.
VRML has developed in time:
VRML 1.0 allows for the creation of virtual worlds with limited interactive behavior. These worlds can contain objects which have hyper-links to other worlds, HTML documents or other valid MIME types.
VRML 1.1 extends VRML to support dynamic input fields, sound, camera-collision, navigation-info, background, fog, height-fields and prototyping of nodes.
VRML 2.0 will extend VRML to be more interactive and mult-user-able. SGI´s Moving Worlds is the favourite proposal (polling results).
To view a VRML-world (scene) you need a VRML-browser which is usualy an extention to a standard WWW browser.
For the open discussion, design and implementation of VRML there is the VRML-Forum. General information about VRML can be found at the VRML-Repository and in the VRML-frequently asked questions.
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Heinrich Hey 1996