The Web3D Consortium has released their Xj3D browser and toolkit for Mac OS X. Xj3D is Java-based software that supports X3D — an open standard for 3D content delivery that supports Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the heir apparent to Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML).
The first Mac OS X release from the Web3D Consortium, the group behind X3D’s specification and adoption, Xj3D uses OpenGL to hardware-accelerate 3D imagery. Xj3D is more than just a browser of X3D content, however — it’s also an open source toolkit that the Web Consortium hopes will draw more Mac OS X developers “to take an active role in the development of 3D for real time communication.” Key markets for X3D include VR, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), medicine and Computer-Aided Design (CAD).
The M10 release features support for key X3D components including CADGeometry, DIS (distributed interactive simulation), Human Animation and GeoSpatial. Custom extensions include Rigid Body Physics, Particle Systems, Clipping planes, Picking Utilities and Abstract Device IO.
System requirements call for Java 1.4.2 or later.