I have not used any of these VRML resources, but some may be helpful.
I think that Blender can output VRML. SketchUp definitely can.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/freewrlvrmlx3dviewer.html
http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=114420
http://www.macweb3d.org/
---
Blender includes a game engine:
http://download.blender.org/documentation/NaN_docs/BlenderGameReference/ketsji.html
---
There are lots of open source samples of loading 3D models from
various tool chains. For example, the entire Quake game engine is
available including Quake model exporters for popular commercial 3D
editors.
Effective 3D graphics programming requires math beyond high school.
Moderately advanced software data structures are involved. Loading
models is to tip of the iceberg. You will need Euler angles, view
frustum culling, and lots of linear algebra. You will need to
understand the archaic and sometimes absurd quirks of the OpenGL API
that are left over from the dark ages of programming. Basically, SGI
documented the current capabilities of its esoteric graphics hardware
in about 1991 and that became the OpenGL standard. If SGI hardware
couldn't do something, that feature was not in the original standard.
If SGI hardware did something stupid like not scaling vertex lighting
calculations, OpenGL has been forced to preserve the stupidity ever
since. For example, OpenGL 1.1 partly solved a problem that had been
in OpenGL from the beginning because the reference SGI hardware could
not correctly calculate lighting if there was any scaling in the
current transformation matrix. See glEnable(GL_NORMALIZE). That
solution doesn't work very well so OpenGL 1.2 added
glEnable(GL_RESCALE_NORMAL). The OpenGL ARB works at a glacial pace...
As a Mac fanboy, I have to say that Apple and the open source
community are a decade or more behind Microsoft in every regard to 3D
graphics programming. OpenGL ES cuts a lot of crud out of OpenGL and
offers a hopeful future...
Don't be too discouraged. If you choose to learn OpenGL programming
and write your own model loading and display code, you will likely
find it a rewarding and educational experience. I certainly did.
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