TOKYO, JAPAN: 3Di, Inc., which develops and offers 3D Internet solutions has launched an open source project, named 3Di Viewer "Rei", for viewing and interacting with OpenSim-based 3D virtual worlds in web browsers.

With this public release of open source technology, 3Di hopes to assist industry adoption and standardization of 3D Internet technology. Using the same core technology as 3Di's commercial product 3Di OpenViewer, the open source project 3Di Viewer "Rei" offers software developers an open platform for delivering multi-user 3D Internet content inside the web browser.

Multi-user 3D virtual worlds have achieved success in focused application areas, but they have not yet achieved broad penetration and universal adoption, like traditional 2D web media. 3Di Viewer "Rei" addresses this problem by integrating 3D content inside of traditional 2D web pages, allowing existing 2D content to merge with or migrate to 3D content.

According to Norman Lin, Technology Group Manager at 3Di: "We have been receiving quite some interest about the possibilities of a viewer running inside the web browser. Also, the OpenSim community has been looking for a new BSD-licensed viewer solution. By offering our viewer as open source under the BSD license, we're hoping to help accelerate the standardization and industry-wide adoption of 3D Internet technologies."

Since 3Di Viewer "Rei" is open source, application developers can customize the platform as needed. 3Di Viewer "Rei" is currently designed for use with OpenSim-based virtual world servers, such as the commercial 3Di OpenSim Enterprise or the community-supported open source OpenSim.