Question:
Please explain Dynamic Worlds.
Answer:
“The Power of Dynamic Worlds” proposal from the German National Research Center (GMD) is based on an interaction model developed for collaborative distributed virtual environments, and adapted for VRML. It shows how extensions to support multiple users in distributed environments can be embedded in VRML.
This is an issue that may be avoided entirely by this second version of VRML, as synchronized shared behavior is very demanding of the server and complex to implement. The goals of the proposal will hopefully influence design of the next generation of world builders.
Simplicity of use is one of the critical aspirations of the German team. They claim no programming should be required to define object behaviors, and behaviors should be easily transferable to new objects. But complexity of the objects themselves is necessary to produce credible real-world objects. They do not totally get away from the need for a scripting language but they are flexible as to which language is used. Their proposal has a lot in common with Moving Worlds and will most likely be merged in with it.
Availability: the technology described in their proposal is given to the VRML community for the development of a new VRML standard. A reference proposal is available at GMD.
