Vincent Cadoret Revit & BIM Specialist

HTML5, WebGL and the Web 3.0

This post follows the line of thought of yesterday's post about Revit for the Mac. The conclusion to that post was that Autodesk should be aiming (and I think they are) to put everything on the cloud. The reason is simple: to make everything platform-independent.

Now some will say: "great idea but we can't do that in Javascript and Flash is too slow". And it's true that Flash is slow, there's a reason Apple doesn't use it on the iPhone and iPad. But the good news is there are alternatives to Flash.

HTML5: this web standard is set to replace the current HTML standard soon. What's new in this version are mainly features relating to video playback and 3d graphics. The new HTML tags that interest us are <video> and <canvas>. If you have a browser that is HTML5 compatible (like the latest version of Safari on the Mac or on the iPad) go to Vimeo.com and watch videos in the HTML5 player. You will see right away why we should move away from Flash.

WebGL: As the name implies, WebGL is OpenGL for the web. Using the <canvas> tag and a bit of Javascript you can create full-blown 3D applications that respond just as fast as a desktop OpenGL 3D game. Revit for Firefox anyone?

Web 3.0: This is what is commonly know as the next step for the "internets". Basically, when every website can be queried like a service (similar in concept to querying a database) then you know we have Web 3.0. Just think about all the possibilities this could mean for BIM!!

Obviously, putting everything on the cloud is already possible, including the most advanced 3D apps. The question is: will Autodesk decide to explore this area or will the train leave them behind?