A look at the future of 3D Internet: expanding into education, business, medicine and beyond.
The Internet is having a mid-life crisis: Having just turned 40, it’s starting to go 3D. The transition is still in its early stages, but champions of the cause say it’s both natural and inevitable, with mass adoption expected within a few years. 3D will make the Web more social, they say, and it will introduce powerful new ways for people in education, business and medicine to interact with content and with each other. Jani Pirkola, an evangelist of the 3D Internet in the Finnish high-tech hotbed of Oulu, predicts it will take off in 2018, with younger users and educational institutions leading the way. And he expects it will catch on faster than the 2D Internet did.
“Going from the Web to the 3D Internet is not as big a step as it was going from e-mail and telephones to the Web,” says Pirkola, who is co-founder of an open-source 3D platform called realXtend. “People already grasp the idea of surfing around and doing things with computers.”
What is the 3D Internet? Think of it as a set of interconnected virtual worlds that users can visit to consume services, “teleporting” from one world to another. It uses many of the same basic technology components as the 2D Internet—a browser, search engine and servers, for example. But what sets it apart is the use of 3D computer graphics and, in many cases, avatars—which Pirkola says will make it more social than the 2D Web.
“The 3D Internet is inherently social,” says Pirkola, who is also managing director of a 3D company called CyberLightning. “If you’re reading a document, you can see other people reading the same document. You naturally connect with people who are interested in the same things and consume the same services.”
Virtual Worlds Going Mainstream
Virtual worlds and the use of 3D online are nothing new, but their use so far has been mainly recreational. Avatars, teleporting and 3D environments are the stuff of numerous video games as well as online virtual worlds such as Second Life. Meanwhile, companies such as 3DInternetuse 3D videos and simulations to create immersive training programs for electric utilities, the military and first responders, among other clients.
Continue reading…
Special thanks to our source, 3Droundabout.com | Article by Laurence Cruz
Have a question for the 3DGuy?
Please leave a comment and we will reply to you.
Copyright ©2013 Al Caudullo All rights reserved. The content and photos within may not be distributed electronically or copied mechanically without specific written permission. The content within is based upon information provided to the editor, which is believed to be reliable. Data within is subject to change. Al Caudullo is not responsible for errors or omissions.