Tony Parisi - Programming 3D Applications with HTML5 and WebGL: 3D Animation and Visualization for Web Pages

In its roughly twenty years of existence, 3D on the Web has taken a tortuous journey. In 1994 it was a Next Big Thing called VRML that grabbed industry attention, only to ultimately become a bastard stepchild of mainstream web development during the first Internet boom. Around 2000, a new Next Big Thing called Shockwave 3D promised to democratize game development; by 2004, that offspring was also shipped off to the orphanage. In 2007, the virtual world system Second Life leapfrogged the technology media establishment, landing on the cover of BusinessWeek , and a new 3D land grab ensuedliterally, as folks rented Second Life islands in droves attempting to colonize a cyberspace that never quite materialized. By 2010, virtual worlds were yesterdays news, as consumers latched on to social and mobile gaming to sate their appetite for distraction. Viewed through one lens, this is a litany of failure. Viewed through another, it is a crucible.

Good ideas may take a long time, but they never truly die. 3D on the Web is one such notion. Once you look past the well-meaning but nave overreaches of those early attempts, you can see what some of us (in all humility) have known all along: 3D is just another media type. Whether you use it to build a massively multiplayer online game, an interactive chemistry lesson, or any of countless other applications, 3D is just another way to get pixels moving on a screen at the behest of the user. Thankfully, the latest generations of browser makers get this, and have been slowly and steadfastly turning the web browser into a rich media development platform that includes first-rate, hardware-accelerated graphics and an integrated compositing architecture. Put in less flowery words: 3D is here; get used to it.

This book is intended to provide you with the information you need to create production-quality 3D applications for desktop and mobile browsers using graphics technologies available in modern browsers: WebGL, Canvas, and CSS3. It covers related topics such as JavaScript performance, mobile development, and high-performance web design; and it goes deep into tools and libraries that will help make you productive: Three.js, Tween.js, new application frameworks, and the many options for 3D content creation.

Readers of my first book, WebGL Up and Running , will see a fair amount of overlap between that book and the early chapters of this one. This is unavoidable. Much of the material in the early chapters is overview and introductory; as such, it must stand on its own without requiring readers to get the earlier book. Regardless, despite the superficial similarities in the early chapters, readers of the first book will find much additional information. Even the introductory chapters here go far deeper into the material than the first book could afford, given its mission. And once we get past the initial three chapters, the material is almost completely different. WebGL Up and Running was intended to provide readers with an approachable introduction to a new and daunting subject. I like to think that what it lacked in technical rigor, it made up for in enthusiasm; if you came away from reading it with nothing other than an appetite to learn more, I consider my job well done. On the other hand, this book aims to give readers a thorough grounding in both theory and practice, allowing them to emerge from the experience ready to build production 3D applications.