Tutorial #1: WebGL Browsers

C3DL 2.x+ uses webGL. As of the the writing of this tutorial, this is not supported in current release versions of browsers but it will be included in an upcoming release of several browsers. This tutorial discusses where to get a webGL enabled browser and how to enable it. NOTE:  because you are installing nightly builds, it is possible that any one particular build may crash.  If you are having problems with a build try one that was done at a different time or on a different day.

Minefield (firefox):

The easiest way to get a Firefox browser that supports webGL is to get a nightly build. Once you have the browser installed you will need to enable webGL.  This can be done in the following manner:
  • In the address bar type: about:config .  This will give you a page with a warning and a button.  Hit the “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button.

    aboutconfig

  • in the filter bar type webgl
  • for webgl.enable_for_all_sites set the value to true (double click on it) enablewebgl
  • If your computer requires software rendering (for computers with older video cards that do not support openGL 2.0x) you may also need to enable the software renderer.

Webkit (Safari):

You can download webkit nightly from: http://nightly.webkit.org/

Enabling webGL for OS X

open a terminal and type the command:
defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitWebGLEnabled -bool YES

Restart the browser. webGL will be enabled by default after you run the above command.

Chromium (Chrome):

Download from: http://build.chromium.org/buildbot/continuous/ Run the browser with following options enabled: Chromium –no-sandbox –enable-webgl

Test Page:

Go to this url using one of the webGL enabled browser above: http://www.c3dl.org/index.php/webgl-demos/cross-browser-orbiter/ If you see something that looks like then you have successfully configured a browser supporting webGL:

orbiter

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