By Larry Dignan
Google has brought WebGL, a 3D graphics technology, to its latest beta of its Chrome browser along with some other goodies. Unfortunately, performance issues plague the WebGL demonstrations.
According to Google, the idea here is that Chrome will allow you to get 3D experiences in a browser without additional software. The technology, called WebGL, has been highlighted in demos of late—think Google Body. Google also rolled out its Chrome App Store to all and Chrome Instant.
But 3D is the main draw with the new Chrome beta. What remains to be seen is whether embedded 3D really changes the browsing experience. I downloaded the latest Chrome beta to put together a quick gallery of Google’s WebGL demonstrations. The problem: I found the performance to be lagging on the WebGL experiments site. The Chrome Experiments frequently choked on these demonstrations in my tests.
I tried a bevy of these demonstrations and found the loading time to be terrible. Most of these demonstrations didn’t load at all. Others needed components. Traffic doesn’t seem to be the issue since it’s 5:45 a.m. EST. However, I’m not alone. Here are a few comments from others trying to take 3D browsing for a spin:
One reader notes:
Google has brought WebGL, a 3D graphics technology, to its latest beta of its Chrome browser along with some other goodies. Unfortunately, performance issues plague the WebGL demonstrations.
According to Google, the idea here is that Chrome will allow you to get 3D experiences in a browser without additional software. The technology, called WebGL, has been highlighted in demos of late—think Google Body. Google also rolled out its Chrome App Store to all and Chrome Instant.
But 3D is the main draw with the new Chrome beta. What remains to be seen is whether embedded 3D really changes the browsing experience. I downloaded the latest Chrome beta to put together a quick gallery of Google’s WebGL demonstrations. The problem: I found the performance to be lagging on the WebGL experiments site. The Chrome Experiments frequently choked on these demonstrations in my tests.
I tried a bevy of these demonstrations and found the loading time to be terrible. Most of these demonstrations didn’t load at all. Others needed components. Traffic doesn’t seem to be the issue since it’s 5:45 a.m. EST. However, I’m not alone. Here are a few comments from others trying to take 3D browsing for a spin:
- By Austin on February 04, 2011
Crashes my alienware… - By Jason on February 04, 2011
Just makes Chrome crash??
One reader notes:
I tried alot of of the WEBGL examples and had no problems at all. They did use alot of the resources of my video card. I would suggest if you were to use WEBGL on a regular basis to get a high quality video card. My card is low end and it uses a lot of the GPU resources with temps at 60C and over.
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