OZ Virtual was a 3D world viewer created by OZ Interactive that enabled real-time collaboration communications in shared spaces on the Internet with a strong focus on creative content production.OZ Virtual Journey to the Dark Star
The viewer supported the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML 2.0) a standard for creating and experiencing virtual reality worlds on the Internet. It came with an avatar editor that allowed the user to select from a set of pre-defined avatars with body movements and modify their appearance. Users could communicate using voice chat using low bandwidth codecs supplied by Voxware.
One of the features of this VRML browser was that anyone browsing a given URL could see and interact with any other users visiting the same URL at the same time,Putting a human face on cyberspace (panel): designing avatars and the virtual worlds they live in thus making it an instantaneous shared virtual space.
Timeline The first version of the software was released in beta on July 24, 1996, with support for VRML 1.0, avatars, and social interaction. A subsequent release on December 11, 1996 added support for VRML 2.0 including support for VRML 2 scripting using Java. OZ Virtual 2.0, released March 12, 1997, enabled editing of avatars, and embedding of various components of OZ Virtual onto web pages using ActiveX technology The OZ Virtual technology was spun off from OZ Interactive into a separate company named SmartVR on November 24, 1999. The SmartVR team and tech stack then emerged into CCP to be the foundation for EVE Online. In 2018, there is still source code in EVE Online that originates from OZ Virtual.
Partnerships OZ Virtual was used to broadcast, in 3D using motion capture, a live concert co-hosted by Intel and OZ Interactive. OZ Virtual 2.0 was used to create a 3D product showcase for Ericsson. OZ Virtual 2.0 was also used to create a 3D world composed of Cartoon Network characters for Time Warner.Forbes: The land of OZ Atlantic Records used OZ Virtual to create a 3D site for its artists.Billboard: Atlantic to Bow 3D Web Site The Van Gogh Museum offered 3D renderings of some of Van Gogh's pictures which were created in OZ Virtual and made available on the museum's website.The Van Gogh Museum goes virtual at www.vangoghmuseum.nl
References
External links OZ Virtual Journey to the Dark Star is a comprehensive review of the OZ Virtual VRML browser Forbes: The land of OZ provides a brief history of OZ Interactive, makers of OZ Virtual OZ Virtual: Promotional Video is an archived version of an early promotional video for OZ Virtual