Part 5: Putting models on the Web with VRML and AVI

Model Size
When creating any 3D model for output via the web, file size is, of course, an important consideration. Performance on "average" computers is also an issue. To optimize my VRML output, I tried several methods:

• Reduce the number of polygons in the model
• Delete unnecessary items, such as clear glass windows.
• Compress the WRL file with GZIP.
• Try both colour and grayscale variations.

As it turned out, all of the options had both pros and cons.

Options #3 and #4 ended up providing the best image fidelity and performance, while option #1 sacrificed more image quality for extra performance that didn't seem necessary, as even the largest, highest-resolution version of the model seemed to work well on a 300 MHz Pentium II without hardware accelerated 3D. As nearly everyone has at least this much computing power these days, option #1 was not pursued further.

Option #2, however, proved to have a much more subtle problem. Everything looked fine with the transparent windows removed, but when the web surfer clicks on any surface with the "Go To" tool selected, the resulting camera angle is typically facing a solid wall. This necessitates either (a) rotating the camera around, or (b) manually navigating further into the scene using the cursor keys and/or other modifiers.