How to put interactive 3D images on a web page? What technical solutions for them to be visible by a maximum of Internet users, in other words supported by a wide range of browsers? How to implement them?

Several solutions exist, but none has yet emerged: technologies, equipment and standards are constantly changing in this area, so the choices are not obvious. To schematize, there are solutions that have proven themselves but which do not seem to have a future (Flash 3D, Java3D) and promising solutions based on standards but which are not yet universally supported (WebGL, CSS3 3D).

Flash 3D: proprietary solution (Adobe), user side requires the Flash plug-in, design side a good knowledge of ActionScript or go through a dedicated 3D Flash engine (Away3D, CopperCube …).

Java3D: open-source solution, Java API (not included in the JDK), user side requires the Java virtual machine, design side some knowledge of 3D programming or go through software like WireFusion.

The Flash plug-in and the JVM are installed on almost all (98%) desktop computers. Continue reading →