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WebGL -- an exercise in frustration!
(Note: As explained in the update at the end of this post I no longer feel so badly about this.)
Some weeks ago I spent a day or two trying to get WebGL working inside some of the web browsers on my computer. I succeeded, after an astonishing amount of difficulty.
Not long ago I used to be employed mostly as a builder and programmer of 3D virtual worlds. After the collapse of VRML and its successor, Web3D, I spent my time looking for other ways to make an income. With the advent of Google's WebGL I figured I might be able to at least adapt my old VRML worlds so that they can once again be displayed on my website.
Unfortunately my web browsers no longer display WebGL. I haven't changed my video card drivers. WebGL has just stopped. I'm at a loss as to why. Perhaps it is related to the fact that I've become increasingly annoyed at the way advertising and trackers seem to be slowing my access to the net, so I've installed "Ghostery" on all my Mozilla breed of browsers. Iron, the secure version of Google's Chrome already blocks a lot of intrusive rubbish on the net. (I'm currently downloading Google's own Chrome to see if it can display WebGL worlds on my machine.)
This is a terrible state of affairs. Way back in the late 90s I was building virtual worlds that displayed efficiently and quickly inside web browsers on that era's machines which, compared to the most basic machines of today, were pathetically slow. Now, more than a decade later we have gone backwards. I have 3D worlds from back then which I'd love to display on my website, but feel a bit like I'm wasting my time trying to get them into a form where they can be seen again via WebGL.
Depressing. This is why I left the 3D web scene.
Even more annoying... I've found out why WebGL stopped working. Linux, with its new kernel that controls drivers without user intervention or control, has apparently decided to stop using the video drivers that I explicitly installed a while back. Grrrr! At least I can force it to start using them again... until it decides on its own to randomly drop them once more.
Additional: I have WedGL working again. Over the next few weeks I hope to start putting some of my old worlds online as WebGL. Converting them will be a good way to begin teaching myself how it works. And if WebGL is flexible enough I might make new worlds too. I'm starting to feel a bit more optimistic about this now.
Some weeks ago I spent a day or two trying to get WebGL working inside some of the web browsers on my computer. I succeeded, after an astonishing amount of difficulty.
Not long ago I used to be employed mostly as a builder and programmer of 3D virtual worlds. After the collapse of VRML and its successor, Web3D, I spent my time looking for other ways to make an income. With the advent of Google's WebGL I figured I might be able to at least adapt my old VRML worlds so that they can once again be displayed on my website.
Unfortunately my web browsers no longer display WebGL. I haven't changed my video card drivers. WebGL has just stopped. I'm at a loss as to why. Perhaps it is related to the fact that I've become increasingly annoyed at the way advertising and trackers seem to be slowing my access to the net, so I've installed "Ghostery" on all my Mozilla breed of browsers. Iron, the secure version of Google's Chrome already blocks a lot of intrusive rubbish on the net. (I'm currently downloading Google's own Chrome to see if it can display WebGL worlds on my machine.)
This is a terrible state of affairs. Way back in the late 90s I was building virtual worlds that displayed efficiently and quickly inside web browsers on that era's machines which, compared to the most basic machines of today, were pathetically slow. Now, more than a decade later we have gone backwards. I have 3D worlds from back then which I'd love to display on my website, but feel a bit like I'm wasting my time trying to get them into a form where they can be seen again via WebGL.
Depressing. This is why I left the 3D web scene.
Even more annoying... I've found out why WebGL stopped working. Linux, with its new kernel that controls drivers without user intervention or control, has apparently decided to stop using the video drivers that I explicitly installed a while back. Grrrr! At least I can force it to start using them again... until it decides on its own to randomly drop them once more.
Additional: I have WedGL working again. Over the next few weeks I hope to start putting some of my old worlds online as WebGL. Converting them will be a good way to begin teaching myself how it works. And if WebGL is flexible enough I might make new worlds too. I'm starting to feel a bit more optimistic about this now.