Firefox 4 Beta Provides Support for 3-D Graphics
Mozilla launched a new Firefox 4 beta release for PCs and laptops Wednesday featuring expanded support for 3-D graphics, together with a revamped Firefox add-on manager. And on the mobile side, Mozilla introduced several enhancements to the mobile version of Firefox 4 beta for smartphones based on Google’s Android and Nokia’s Maemo platforms.
The popular browser’s new 3-D enhancements are based on WebGL — an open standard for accelerated 3-D graphics rendering on the web that eliminates the need for users to install special plug-ins. As a result, developers will be able to render amazing visual experiences directly within the browser window, noted Firefox Product Manager Mike Beltzner.
“Firefox 4 beta now supports WebGL for most modern built-in graphics cards, making it easier for developers to create interactive 3-D games, vivid graphics, and new visual experiences for the web without the use of third-party plug-ins,” Beltzner wrote in a blog.
Browser-based 3-D
Applications that formerly would have been possible only on the desktop or with plug-ins become possible in any modern browser that supports WebGL, noted Principal Firefox Engineer Vlad Vukicevic. “3-D games, interactive product displays, scientific and medical visualization, shared virtual environments, and 3-D content creation all become possible on the web,” he wrote in a blog.
WebGL is based on OpenGL ES 2.0 — the same 3D API used for Android and iOS development, Vukicevic observed. By including WebGL — together with Mozilla’s work on HTML5 video and audio support — Firefox 4 beta now supports “a full set of web technologies” for building rich and compelling applications on the web, he wrote.
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