Vlad Vukićević is a technology innovator at Mozilla trying to figure out how virtual reality fits into the web. He’s the inventor of WebGL, and he’s been working with Unity & Unreal Engine 4 to be able to create plug-in free gaming and VR experiences on the web.

Vlad sees that we’re on the cusp of a VR revolution, and he wants to be sure the web is treated as a first-class citizen. He talks about JavaScript performance, asm.js, libraries like three.js, Unity’s IL2CPP, and the challenge of working with compiled libraries on the web.

We talk about the process of giving web developers the data and output capabilities that are necessary for VR on the web. And then talks about the implications of responsive web design when adding an additional dimension and abilities to provide a fully immersive experience.

Reddit discussion here.

TOPICS

0:00 – How VR fits into the web. WebGL and enabling high performance games on the web via Unity & UE4, and making sure the web is a first-class citizen in this upcoming VR revolution

0:57 – What is the importance of OpenGL and how did that lead to WebGL? Making sure the WebGl runs as well in mobile as it does on desktop PCs.

1:55 – Is three.js using WebGL in order to do the 3D rendering functionality that it provides? All of the browsers provide access to WebGL

2:28 – Is JavaScript fast enough to be equivalent to natively compiled code? asm.js A lot of graphically intense content comes from the graphics card, and Mozilla believes that JavaScript is up to the task

3:39 – What is asm.js? A subset of JavaScript design to be highly opimizable.

4:28 – The meaning behind the 1.4x times slower metric. The goal is to get as close to 1x parity as possible.

4:58 – Other cases in which asm.js can make the application faster?

5:26 – What is IL2CPP for Unity, and how does that enable Unity to get to the web

6:30 – Unity’s embedded player and moving to a plug-in free experience for the Web

7:21 – Moving away from walled gardens

7:38 – Custom binaries as being a blocker for putting VR content onto the web.

8:49 – Being aware of decisions for your VR experience that may prevent it from putting it on the web

9:37 – What’s the potential for the web and VR. Presenting content in VR via the web. Giving web developers to the data and output capabilities that are necessary for VR.

10:39 – The future of responsive web design after adding an additional dimension

11:42 – What makes you excited about virtual reality

Theme music: “Fatality” by Tigoolio