Rendering three-dimensional objects on a server computer

A system for rendering a three-dimensional object on a server computer, the system comprising:

• a first server component operative to receive a request from a client computer to render a document, to parse the document to determine whether the document contains a three-dimensional object, and in response to determining that the document contains a three-dimensional object, extract the three-dimensional object from the document at the first server component, and transmit a request to a second server component to render the three-dimensional object;
• and
• the second server component operative to receive the request to render the three-dimensional object from the first server component, to render the three-dimensional object, and to return the rendered three-dimensional object to the first server component in response to the request received from the first server component to render the three-dimensional object, the first server component further operative to
• receive the rendered three-dimensional object from the second server component;
• render a portion of the document excluding the three-dimensional object;
• include the rendered three-dimensional object with the rendered portion of the document to create a rendered document comprising a single image format, and
• provide the rendered document comprising the single image format to the client computer in response to the request to render the document.

A computer-readable hardware medium that is not a signal having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

• receive a request to render a document from a client computer;
• in response to receiving the request, to parse the document to determine whether the document contains a three-dimensional object;
• in response to determining that the document contains a three-dimensional object,
• to extract the three-dimensional object from the document by the computer,
• to render the three-dimensional object to a single standard image format by another computer,
• to render a portion of the document excluding the three-dimensional object,
• to include including the rendered three-dimensional object with the rendered portion of the document to create a rendered document in the single standard image format that is substantially similar to a rendering of the document generated by an application program utilized to create the document;
• in response to determining that the document does not contain a three-dimensional object, to render the document to create a rendered document in the single standard image format that is substantially similar to a rendering of the document generated by an application program utilized to create the document;
• and
• to provide the rendered document comprising the single standard image format to the client computer in response to the request to render the document.