Move over Second Life. The 3D Web is starting to make inroads into the plain old browser. By “plain,” I mean only Internet Explorer on Windows machines—which for now is what you need to experience Vivaty Scenes. But at least it’s a start. (Firefox support on PCs is coming in a few weeks, but Mac support is being pushed off further).
Vivaty Scenes is launching today in public beta on AIM and in Facebook. These are realistic rooms that act as virtual personal environments—a 3D version of your personal page. You can set the theme, decorate with furniture and other virtual goods, and chat with the avatars of friends who enter your room (they need to install the app as well). The best part is that you can bring in photos from Flickr and Facebook, or videos from YouTube and display them on screens in your room. You can play MP3 songs as well.
The graphics are a cut above what you’d find in pre-teen virtual-world social networks like Club Penguin, Habbo Hotel, or Cyworld. They are more along the lines of Second Life or a Sims videogame. Vivaty is backed by Kleiner Perkins and Mohr Davidow. It raised $9.2 million in August, 2007, and a $200,000 seed round before that. Says CEO Keith McCurdy:
We are enabling full-featured 3D experiences inside a Web browser, instead of a separate application like Second Life. Every virtual environment—we call them scenes—is a URL.
That could be a game-changer if Vivaty’s platform takes off. It is deep linking into the 3D Web. Since they have regular URLs, each 3D scene can be linked to from the regular Web. Even objects within each room can each have their own URL. That is what is exciting about Vivty Scenes. It is extending the Web to 3D environments. Vivaty Scenes work only with AIM and Facebook for now, but they can work with other services such as iGoogle, My Yahoo, or as standalone Web pages.
Here is a demo video that shows what you can do in a Vivaty Scene. Remember, this is all browser-based.
McCurdy used to be the VP of worldwide technology at Electronic Arts, where he started Ultima Online. But he thinks that treating virtual worlds like a big online videogame is a mistake. Making a dig at the parcel approach used by Second Life to distribute and develop virtual land, McCurdy notes:
If you wanted to build the original 2D Web, you wouldn’t build it knowing the exact size of every Webpage. The beauty of the Web is that it is an unknown number of links.
While Vivaty is hosting all the rooms to begin with, its technology is architected to become distributed, like the Web itself. Vivaty Scenes are created using standard Javascript and PHP, and can be hosted on standard Web servers. McCurdy doesn’t want to create another walled garden. He wants to bring the Web into the 3D world.
The way he plans to make money is to become the virtual “cash register” for all the virtual goods he expects will be traded between Vivaty users. He also thinks there are obvious advertising opprotunities, including videos on the in-room screen, posters, and billboards, virtual product placement. It would be similar to videogame advertising, except that it need not be disconnected from ad campaigns on the Web.
The big money, though, could be in branded scenes and Websites. For instance, today Target is launching its own Vivaty-powered Facebook application called the Target and Coke Zero Virtual Dorm Room. It’s a back-to-college thing where students can play around with furnishing and decorating their own rooms. The gallery of virtual items features products that can be found at Target, of course.
This sorts of virtual-world advertising hasn’t worked that well because it was disconnected from the regular Web and people’s social networks. Vivaty hopes to prove that, given the right context, this kind of branding can thrive. We’ll see.
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Now this is a really interesting. I gave up on second life long long time back just because I had to download, install and do all the chores like any other desktop application. Living in web 2.0 world and not using browser to do stuff makes me uncomfortable….and 3d web is definitely the future.
Paging Jaron Lanier….
Looks hot
For me reading webpages or watching videos “in 3D” is not very useful. What I like in virtual worlds like SL is the ability to discover content and to get in touch with new people in a casual manner. However what I dislike the most in SL in the poverty in content, SL is not the web, few people contribute.
Who would not dream of a virtual world as rich as the web and as vast as the planet ?
http://twinverse.com/ - Our planet is a Virtual World
3d internet? Really? Navigating the regular internet is all about getting to the information and media quickly. Why would I want to walk around confusing 3D rooms to find al link?
3D web could be the future, but I’m sure it won’t look like this. If it is 3D they want, they should be focused on improving conventional usability, not slapping links into a stripped down version of the Sims. Yuck.
VRML didn’t make it not because it did not work, but because it did not offer what people want from internet - instant access to information and entertainment.
While this surely can’t fulfill the need for fast navigation through information, it might have a shot regarding entertainment. Replacing the space currently dominated by Second Life in a more distributed manner.
My bet is on the first one that does all this in Flash and browser-independently. Big critical mass is a must and in order to get it they need no-hassle deployment.
And objects having URLs is great, welcome to semantic 3D web. But will it blend errrr stick?
Andraz Tori
Exitreality.com has been out now for a while, does this and a whole lot more..
Looks like they are trying to catch up.
this is really buggy. First, it does not work on Firefox. Second, i had to download a proprietary player. Then it said: Not enough memory on your PC. Please guys: Don’t call it beta, call it zeta.
Looks nice, waiting for a better version.
ExitReality is my prefered choice for 3D immersive social network surfing. By far the best way to intereact with 19 year old girls who I will never meet in person.
This is definitely for the post Myspace generation of delinquent teens with prospects of working in call centres when they graduate from highschool.
Virtual environments are absolutely useless. Can anyone give me one good example of a productive use of this type of platform?
Whatever happened to basic human contact? I really feel sorry for an entire generation that hides behind computers and has no social and interpersonal skills. Folks, in the real world you actually have to deal with human beings directly to succeed.
Most of you who think you’re going to create the next tech phenomenon with your sophisticated digital skills will fail - that’s just the law of the jungle. I do salute your effort and hope that you keep pursuing your dreams, but you need to quit relying on technology as a replacement for human contact - you’re short changing yourself.
By the way, I founded a tech company and eventually sold my interest to investors, so I’m not just a gray haired “Luddite” dissing technology.
Aw man, another one of these things? Is this thing creating community? Is this thing actually a step forward int he way people communicate with each other?
NO not at all. Unless I am wearing special glasses and the people look like they are coming right at me, this is not 3D. This is crappy graphics. Starfox for the SNES looked better.
Of course that is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Comments (5) and (11) are right on. This is technology for the sake of technology, sacrificing usability and productivity.
Plus, I’m pretty sure the original Wolfenstein had better graphics.
check back in 6 hours for more news re: 3D
I wish they’d let this “walking around in a computer” concept die. There are uses for it, of course, just not in navigating file systems or websites unless they can make it seamless (no “paintings on the wall” crap.)
You missed a competitor,
http://www.scenecaster.com/web/home.php
and their Facebook application
http://www.facebook.com/apps/a.....2394883157
This will be another place to put advertisement. From this article about marketing in Virtual Worlds you can see that it’s a growing trend.
Why would any 18-24 year old want a virtual dorm room when they have a real dorm room?
Gonna have to go with Andraz and Joe on this one. This whole concept doesn’t add any value to the traditional web. The only way it can “succeed” is as an entertainment platform. And frankly, it’s going to have to work hard to be more entertaining then regular movies, music, and video games.
What is this, VRML all over again?
*ring* *ring* 1996 called. It wants its internet enabled realistic 3D rooms back.
Remember Techcrunchers, you aren’t the target market here. It’s the millions of MySpacers that will populate a world like this.
I mean, MySpace is about as 1999 as it gets (in terms of usability) so I don’t think that will be a barrier.
Making every room/object have it’s own URL is simply brilliant. But, how can we SEO our dorm room!?
A new era of 3D social networks and 3D web is opening! I’ve been expecting that for years…
TechCrunch France has spotted a similar concept called Yoowalk, a virtual world that could become “as rich as the web and as vast as the planet”, to answer comment (4): TechCrunch France on Yoowalk
Beta version still a bit clumsy, but seems promising.
saw Jaron Lanier in the early 90s touting 3D virtual bands- had an animation movie that was the roadmap.
Didn’t want it 10 years ago; want it even less now. Tie it into MySpace and maybe you could build a market out of 13-year-olds.
I’ve been looking for an update to TurboGopher VR for years! Thanks!
Hm…requires a plug-in, only certain broswers are supported, only certain OS are supported…this is not that much easier to get into than Second Life.
Seems interesting, but it’s still very much in it’s infancy (even coming as far as the tech has come). I’ll hold out on using this until it’s actually useful. But it does seem like they are getting closer every year.
Eric, you’re usually spot-on in the tech analysis, but in this case, their IE browser plugin (read: ActiveX control) is not significantly different than a stand-alone 3D graphics app, except that it owns a section of the browser window vs. a whole desktop window, and that javascript can more easily control it.
What “runs in a browser” should mean, if anything, is that it doesn’t require a plug-in or download to install. In other words, it uses ubiquitous infrastructure, which isn’t the case with this or any of the competitors listed here.
What the so-called 3D web really needs IMO is not a 3D app that runs in a 2D page, but a real 3D browser, which could do for the web what virtual 3D globes did for geographic content — organize it into a coherent framework to navigate and make it easy and effective to add on. It just doesn’t need to be Cartesian is all. There is still no viable equivalent for more abstract 3D spaces, and that’s partly because no one has yet successfully answered the question “why?” i.e., what can I do in that 3D space that makes it fun or interesting or useful?
@Joe (#11):
There are plans to build a new school in my area in about one year. The blueprints are drawn up and ground will break soon. In the meantime, my partner is building them an exact 3D replica of the building on a private island in SL, so that builders, educators and students may explore the grounds and start planning how they will use various spaces. They can even start hosting conferences and meetings IN those spaces, while waiting for brick and mortar construction to finish.
There’s your one example.
thaumata (#30), thanks for the example. My daughter runs a teen group on SL through her school and I, for the life of me, cannot see a commercial use in that venue (yet). SL is too rudimentary; however, I can see your example working well in a more sophisticated environment (which doesn’t exist).
To tell you the truth, if my architect told me they were using SL for demos and collaborative meetings, I’d fire them. But to each their own I guess.
IE only? Pass.
@11: You’re old. Go die.
@32 is a joke, please don’t crucify me like Loren Feldman ;(
OMG VRML
No Firefox. No Mac. No open standards. No chance. No thank you. Survey says: deadpool.
Hey Vivaty…what’s that sucking sound I hear? Oh yeah, it’s Google sucking all your marketing buzz and KP’s cash from your bank account. It was a great six hours while it lasted. Good luck and good bye.
A few question for Vivaty…
Can we create our own 3d spaces, customize them and add our own free 3d objects? If so how do we build our own 3d spaces, is it vrml, x3d etc?
Its exciting to see this. I’m part of an marketing/brand agency so i do have a few concerns with Vivaty’s control of virtual goods and advertising. I know ExitReality (http://www.exitreality.com) are playing in the social networking space but they do look to be giving more control to site developers, maybe its a totally different product???
Are Vivaty allowing agencies to create environments and items for client leveraging their platform?
I have so many questions
Vivaty, Lively, IMVU, Meez, Exit Reality, etc. At the end of the day, all these so-called 3D worlds are about the “hook up”. It’s about kids and teens chatting each other up to get dates or get laid. They are marginally interesting and entertaining beyond that but mostly it’s about scoring online with a goofy looking avatar. Is that what the 3D Web has come to? How about some utility, some deep engagement, artistic contribution, socio-political discussion, storytelling, etc.? Maybe I’m a jaded old man but I want and expect more. Second Life may not be browser based but at least it strives for more (notwithstanding the flying penises). So does something like SceneCaster which I see as an interesting approach to 3D user engagement, storytelling and creative expression. Let’s all grow up a bit.
ZOMG!!!!!
I love this! I am setting up my rooms right NOW.
Re Bradley and Brent.
Vivaty uses X3D, so it does use open standards (and all those comments about VRML are close). You will be able to make your own stuff with any program that exports X3D.
Agree that it sucks that support for Firefox and Mac aren’t there yet, but they are coming apparently.
Hmmm looks cool think I’ll investigate ^_^
blithe
Blithe … Vivaty Brings The 3D Web
Wow!!!!
I love this - funny! I am setting up my rooms right NOW.
HTML, XML, and the simple scripting that is possible with a Web browser is very limited. Heck, most of the cool content you see on the Web are hacks compared to the robust abilities of C++ and Java.
Trying to fit a 3D environment into a 2D browser doesn’t make any sense. It’s like using a horse to pull a car.
You need a more powerful browser, and that is why the Second Life system works so well. They will be building Web functionality into the 3D space, but it will quickly become apparent the Web is a lot less useful than we thought it was before virtual worlds came along.
The Web is great for displaying static content, but data visualization and intuitive manipulation can only be achieved in a 3D space.
For me its not a problem, that it don´t work with mozilla or opera. Important is, that this a great idea and I love to use it. That´s what its all about. Right?
I have used Exit-Reality to see my web in 3d walls and rooms and all that fancy stuff. But its not that fascinating at all. May be slow speed or may be not serving the purpose. I still doubt what really good for web in 3d rooms?