The release of the Wolvic 1.4 web browser, designed for use in augmented and virtual reality systems, has been published. The project continues the development of the Firefox Reality browser, previously developed by Mozilla. After the Firefox Reality codebase stagnated under the Wolvic project, its development was continued by Igalia, known for its participation in the development of such free projects as GNOME, GTK, WebKitGTK, Epiphany, GStreamer, Wine, Mesa and freedesktop.org. The Wolvic code is written in Java and C++, and distributed under the MPLv2 license. Ready assemblies are generated for the Android platform. Work with 3D helmets Oculus, Huawei VR Glass, Lenovo VRX, Lenovo A3, HTC Vive Focus, Pico Neo, Pico4, Pico4E, Meta Quest Pro and Lynx is supported (the browser is also being ported for Qualcomm devices).
The browser uses the GeckoView web engine, a variant of Mozilla's Gecko engine packaged as a separate library that can be updated independently. Management is carried out through a fundamentally different three-dimensional user interface, which allows you to navigate through sites within the virtual world or as part of augmented reality systems. In addition to a 3D helmet-driven interface that lets you view traditional 3D pages, web developers can use the WebXR, WebAR, and WebVR APIs to create custom 360D web applications that interact in virtual space. It also supports viewing spatial videos shot in XNUMX-degree mode in a XNUMXD helmet.
VR controllers are used for navigation, and a virtual or real keyboard is used to enter data into web forms. In addition, a voice input system is offered for user interaction, which makes it possible to fill out forms and send search queries using the speech recognition engine developed in Mozilla. As a home page, the browser provides an interface for accessing selected content and navigating through a collection of 3D-adapted games, web applications, 3D models, and XNUMXD videos.
In the new version:
- Added support for Lenovo VRX 3D helmet, and experimental support for Lenovo A3 and Lynx-R1 helmets.
- Implemented realistic XNUMXD models for visual tracking of hand movements. Improved handling of control gestures, solved problems with false recognition of gestures for tap and zoom.
- Added a button to send your feedback or report a problem.
- The ability to transfer images from external cameras to a virtual screen has been added, which allows the user to see in real time what is happening around while wearing a virtual reality helmet. Windows, models and arbitrary 3D objects can be superimposed on the picture broadcast from the cameras, creating the effect of augmented reality. Several display strategies are supported: OpenXR-based overlay mode, turning off the background image (skybox) and using an additional composite manager.
- The Android app is now recognized by the platform as a web browser.
- Added support for videos from the Japanese streaming service U-NEXT.
- An initial implementation of a Chromium-based backend with a simple interface for navigating through the address bar is proposed. The backend implements support for the WebContents and WebXR APIs.
Source: opennet.ru