What is WebGL-Publisher?

WebGL-Publisher is used for publishing geometric data in a 3D environment for the Web.
It uses the WebGL-Standard which is supported by various browsers on different platforms and operating systems.
WebGL-Publisher can import different geometry formats.
This geometry can be modified in its appearance by changing colors or transparency, adding textures or applying pre-defined shaders to it.
Afterwards the geometry can be exported into a html representation and published in the Web without additional costs.

WebGL-Publisher is based the core libraries of CADMAI (which is a relational 3D CAD system).
Although it includes the complete functionality of a 3D CAD system, it hides the complexity of CAD from the user and thus is very easy to use.
An export to the web representation for example can be performed with only 3 mouse clicks.

WebGL-Publisher can be used under Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and is available as an online download only.


How does it work?

To publish 3D data to the Web the following steps must be performed:
  1. Import the geometric data into the WebGL-Publisher application
  2. Apply color/texture/shaders/urls to the geometry
  3. Optionally save it to a WebGL-Publisher project file
  4. Export it into the WebGL-Publisher format
The user must define a target directory where the export should be written to.
The export itself creates a wpm file (WebGL-Publisher Model) and a html file which displays the exported model.
In addition to that all needed textures and JavaScript libraries are copied to the target directory.
The generated html file can then be opened directly in a WebGL enabled browser.
To publish the model in the Web, the content of the target directory must just be copied to a web site.


Why uses WebGL-Publisher an own format?

WebGL-Publisher writes the geometric information into an own model format with the extension wpm (WebGL-Publisher Model).

The reasons for defining an own model format are:

What are the differences compared to pure cloud solutions?

There are numerous cloud based solutions to display models via WebGL in web browsers.
In doing so the native models are uploaded into a portal and are converted by a remote server. The generated output is publisher under a specific URL from the provider.
The following aspects illustrate the benefits of WebGL-Publisher compared to these solutions.

What are the system requirements?

In case of handling 3D data, a computer should have a reasonable configuration of processor power, RAM and graphics.
An additional performance influence is the size of the models which should be handled.
So it is hard to say which are the minimum requirements for using WebGL-Publisher but we have tested it on a 12 inch low end laptop with a small assembly (42 components) and it worked satisfyingly.
This laptop had the following configuration: Although WebGL-Publisher can handle touch input a three button mouse (with a mouse wheel) and a keyboard is strongly recommended.


How it is licensed?

Without a registration the software is restricted in the following way: After the software is licensed the background text can be set individually and the software can be used without restrictions.

The WebGL-Publisher license contains the permission to publish the needed infrastructure (JavaScript libraries and textures) in the Web as long as the possessor of the web site where the WebGL-Publisher model is published is the owner of the WebGL-Publisher license.
If you want to publish WebGL-Publisher models for others, each possessor of the web site where the model is published must hold a valid WebGL-Publisher license.


How much does it cost?

Since WebGL-Publisher should be usable for everyone we have set the prize range for a license to around 30 Euro incl. VAT.


Which import formats are supported?

The following import formats are supported by WebGL-Publisher:

Which Internet Browsers are supported?

The exported data can be displayed with WebGL enabled internet browsers under different operating systems.
The support of WebGL varies from browser to browser.
The WebGL-Publisher export was tested with the following constellations:
For some browsers WebGL must be activated explicitly.
Please find more information here


Additional links regarding 3D graphics