Many programmers can recall a moment when they first felt like a minor deity. My introduction to such hubris-laden megalomania was when I wrote a Modula-2 program to simulate the population dynamics of two competing bird species. I knew better, but it really felt like those digital birds were alive, even though they were represented simply by columns of numbers on a printout! Though now older and slightly wiser, part of me still longs to create even more complex, visual and 3D worlds in the computer, and I envy programmers whose first mythopoeic moment is in creating a VR world.

One of these days I’ll get back to making VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) virtual worlds either for legitimate work or for the sheer euphoria of creating simulated worlds. A year ago, the obvious choice was Pesce’s VRML; currently, I’d recommend VRML Handbook, written by staff members of Silicon Graphics who clearly know whereof they speak.

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Many programmers can recall a moment when they first felt like a minor deity. My introduction to such hubris-laden megalomania was when I wrote a Modula-2 program to simulate the population dynamics of two competing bird species. I knew better, but it really felt like those digital birds were alive, even though they were represented simply by columns of numbers on a printout! Though now older and slightly wiser, part of me still longs to create even more complex, visual and 3D worlds in the computer, and I envy programmers whose first mythopoeic moment is in creating a VR world.

One of these days I’ll get back to making VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) virtual worlds either for legitimate work or for the sheer euphoria of creating simulated worlds. A year ago, the obvious choice was Pesce’s VRML; currently, I’d recommend VRML Handbook, written by staff members of Silicon Graphics who clearly know whereof they speak.

Guides readers through the development of 3D virtual world, using a VRML reconstruction of the Aztec city Tenochtitlan. Detailed examples included. Paper. DLC: Computer graphics.

VRML Hand Book

I lost this book when I borrowed it from a library, my due date was approching so I had to buy it somwhere, I found it with low price in Amazon whereas the high price ticket went to some other web sites. I had to make it for the book by paying $100 or replacing with a new one. I recieved my book in a week and its in good condition.
I had a doubt whether the book was a paperback or a hard bind, its a paperback as my requirement. Totally shopping with Amazon was fun.

At last I can finally read this book

I bought this book about 5 years ago and I am starting to read it now.

I’m an architect and fascinated with 3d and renderings but totally
clueless about programming. At first I got the impression that I needed
Linux to view VRML worlds I dont know if that was true. Scared of
loosing my information put aside the book. After a couple of years
I remembered the book and never found the Tenochtitlan Site!
Completely bizarre. Again I left it to dust for a couple of years.

Now I have the time to read it and finally found the Tenochtitlan Site
(not the original one by the way thank God someone else published it).

[...]

I am starting to understand the book although I think it’s because
I took a crash course on Basic Flash and I’m finally getting it.
I can’t say if VRML is obsolete but I think it can’t hurt to learn
the tech where all began.

Good luck on your buying decision.

At last I can finally read this book

I bought this book about 5 years ago and I am starting to read it now.

I’m an architect and fascinated with 3d and renderings but totally
clueless about programming. At first I got the impression that I needed
Linux to view VRML worlds I dont know if that was true. Scared of
loosing my information put aside the book. After a couple of years
I remembered the book and never found the Tenochtitlan Site!
Completely bizarre. Again I left it to dust for a couple of years.

Now I have the time to read it and finally found the Tenochtitlan Site
(not the original one by the way thank God someone else published it).

[...]

I am starting to understand the book although I think it’s because
I took a crash course on Basic Flash and I’m finally getting it.
I can’t say if VRML is obsolete but I think it can’t hurt to learn
the tech where all began.

Good luck on your buying decision.

Just plain immoral that the publisher still sells this book

Despite the fact that VRML is a dying technology, there is still some need for some people out there to learn and use this language. As other reviewers have pointed out, at the time this book was published it was indeed an excellent guide to VRML, and if it was a self-contained guide I would have no quarrel with it. However, it is largely built around a VRML demo model of an Aztec city that the reader is repeatedly asked to refer to via a website that has long since ceased to exist.
The real tragedy of this older book is something I am starting to see develop as a trend with more recent technical publications. Instead of including a CD with the book that includes all necessary files, the reader is referred to a website to view demos, download source code, etc. Some time in the future this website will cease to exist, and even if the publisher takes the book "out of print" all copies still in existence become worthless.
If you do need to use and learn VRML, I strongly recommend "VRML 2.0 Sourcebook, 2nd Edition" by Andrea Ames. It is completely self-contained and is well organized with many examples of VRML code demonstrating all of the various parts of the language, and the amazing thing is that both that book and this book were published at the same time.

A good book for a dying technology

Well, I could have started talking about the book and how nicely written it was, but first, I believe you should ponder if learning virtual reality technology would really add some ’plus’ to your CV.
VRML was a good idea that could not survive to Macromedia Flash and 3D Studio tachnical marriage through Vecta 3D. Until 1999 when Vecta 3D, the 3d studio plugin that exports 3D studio files to Flash animation, was created and a bunch of other minor programs also intended to produce 3D animation for the Web popped out, VRML seemed a good alternative to the interactivity we all missed. I myself bought this book in 1998 and was impressed with the quantity of sites that were using VRML. I remember Cosmo had a wonderful page full of demo software and I had all of them, Blaxxun was and still is one of the major exponents of that technology and I was constantly visiting their page for plugin updates. But soon, Cosmo pages could not be reached anymore and all that software simply disappeared into the far distant world of SGI platforms. At that time, there was a boom of chats and virtual worlds and each one of them seemed to be programmed in a different way with a different language than VRML, you could settle in one of these worlds but you could not create your own furniture, or design your garden with the pictures of your own real life house garden. You could not add your own touch, you had to pay to be there and you did not have a place to put what you designed.
Then it came the final cut, SGI simply removed the city it had created for the book, the case study simply disappeared. In a certain point-of-view, it is kind of immoral that a company still sell a book they do not back up anymore.
I would really appreciate to know where I can find the great Tenochtitlan, the SGI virtual capital of VRML vanished along with Cosmo and all other VRML paramounts.
If you still think you do not want to learn Flash, to what I strongly advise Graphics, Animation and Interactivity with Flash 4.0 by Mohler and afterwards sneak into the world of 3D, I tell you why you should buy this book on VRML.
1. It is not based on software but hand written code.
2. It is not difficult to follow as said by a reviewer here, it is quite easy, project based and gives you freedom to deploy your own project. If you run into something difficult you can continue your project (mine was a temple where people could find details of my life) using simple programming.
3. You do not need to know absolutely nothing of programming, this book deals with pure VRML in a very simple way.
Unfortunately you will not find most of the urls listed in the book, due to the fact that this language is getting more and more rare on the web. I was tempted to send all to hell and give one star but this book does not deserve it. I give five stars to Macromedia and Kinetix/Discreet for the alternative to VRML (there is a lot more to be done but we are getting there), five stars to the authors who wrote it as one, 1 star (and that is a lot) to SGI for being incompetent in maintaining the attention the ones who bought and are still buying the book deserve and being dishonest by offering a book whose links and case study are not available anymore.

no site found for the samples mentioned in book

hi this is umesh, I could not find the site mentioned in the book to work with the examples ,it always takes me to the SG website,can somebody help me out, you can get me on umesh_ban@usa.net at the earliest cause i’m loosing time , thanks umesh

The VRML 2.0 Handbook

As mentioned before by other customers, the URL for the case study cannot be found. This book has been recommended by a professor teaching computer graphics, which is why I purchased it. Not finding this code on the web as promised infuriates me. Time is of the essence in classroom assignments and wasting time searching for something that turns out not to be there is frustrating. SGI, Hartman and Wernecke should be ashamed of themselves.

The VRML Handbook 2.0 by Hartman & Wernecke

I bought this book recently (although in computing book terms it is old - being published in 1996). It had some good reviews. The book is not for the complete beginner to IT. Some experience of VRML 1.0 or HTML or other programming systems is needed. I am an experienced programmer of 30 years with Web and other IT skills.

The book relies very heavily on a case study whose URL is given in the book; And herein lies the problem with this book - the case study is no longer available at the given URL or anywhere else. Despite extensive searches on the web and in newsgroups (with many helpful suggestions) the case study has disappeared. The publishers were unable to help and stated ’political issues’.

The book should be bought with extreme caution. It would take the most determined devotee to gain the maximum benefit from the book since some of the case study is not printed in the book. It might be wise for the publishers to either withdraw the book or sell the book at a reduced price with a warning. All publishers should ensure that software supporting a book should be either available at the publisher’s web site where they can have control over it, or issued on a CD-Rom with the book.

The book may be a worthwhile purchase but I am unable to say as I am not yet the ’most determined devotee’. The Star Rating above is arbitrary. I would have preferred to have left it blank. I shall be looking for another book to help me learn VRML.

What a book !

VRML nowadays is a powerful tool to comunicate in a visual form to thowsands of web users. The way the authors wrote this book really motivates the reader to start a journey into the VRML standard. No deep CG knowledge is needed to understand the contents. Great job !