Remembering VRML....

I was going through old files this past weekend, and came across some notes for some projects I worked on from 1997-2000. One of the projects I worked on at that time was for the US Air Force. I was part of a virtual prototyping initiative betwen the Government and the leading-edge players in the aerospace industry -- Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. Each company was already doing CAD (computer-aided design), but used different 3D modeling packages -- if I remember correctly, Boeing used CATIA, someone else used AutoCAD, and Lockheed Martin used a home-developed (and proprietary) system called ACAD.

How would these companies exchange part and airframe information? This was where VRML came in. VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) was selected as the lingua franca between the various players. Companies would export their data to VRML and send it to another company, who would then import it into their system. Companies would use a plug-in to a web browser to view the VRML data. The ultimate goal of this project was to reduce part and/or airframe design time and cost.

( I got to play with Cool Stuff for a while. )