Re: [Closed REQ 5327]: Newbie Questions

["Tim Rowley" <trowley>]

> Is it true that Geomview uses vogle? Is there a way to easily extract
> just the rendering functionality of Geomview? I have poked around in
> the source code and I really can't figure out where things are. We need
> the code to run on any X11 system.

No, Geomview doesn't use vogle -- we rolled our own software
renderer.  The rendering library is in src/lib/mg.  It has
drivers for Renderman, Quick Renderman, GL, and X11.
Theoretically it should be easy to extract this library -- you'll
just have to play with the makefiles if you take it out of the
Geomview source tree.  Practically, I'm not aware that anyone has
actually attempted this.  If you're looking for code that runs on
_all_ X11 systems, this won't quite do it.  It supports 1, 8, and
24 bit (and we have code for 16 ready but not distrubuted).
While this is a vast majority of X11 systems out there, there's
quite a few oddballs which won't work, ie. 8-Grayscale, 8-Static,
32-TrueColor.

Some other packages which you should probably look at are listed below.

**** TAGL -- "Threedee Advanced Graphic Library" ****
MIT XShm support.
8bpp, 15bpp, 16bpp, 24bpp and 32bpp graphic display.
Can be easily ported to a system with linear adressing
and linear graphic memory.
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/packages/development/graphics/

**** DORE ****
Dore' is a powerful 3D graphics subroutine library, made freely
available by the Kubota Graphics Corp.  It provides a comprehensive set
of tools for creating graphics applications. It is also easy to use,
portable, and extendable. This version has interfaces/drivers to X11,
PEX, IrisGL, OpenGL, Postscript and more. It has been ported onto most
Unix systems, including Linux, NetBSD, and FreeBSD. It has also been
ported to Windows NT 3.5.     [From the Dore' release notice]
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/packages/development/graphics/Dore

**** Mesa ****
Mesa is a 3-D graphics library with an API which is very similar
to that of OpenGL.* To the extent that Mesa utilizes the OpenGL
command syntax or state machine, it is being used with
authorization from Silicon Graphics, Inc. However, the author
makes no claim that Mesa is in any way a compatible replacement
for OpenGL or associated with Silicon Graphics, Inc. Those who
want a licensed implementaion of OpenGL should contact a licensed
vendor. This software is distributed under the terms of the GNU
Library General Public License, see the LICENSE file for details.

Currently, Mesa only works on X-based systems. An out dated Amiga
driver is also included (but needs some work). Other device
drivers for MS Windows, Mac, NT, etc. should be available
eventually. Mesa was written with portability in mind.

Mesa has been compiled and tested on most major Unix systems.
Performance is directly related to CPU and X server performance.
A few thousand small, lit, smooth-shaded triangles per second is
attainable on some systems.
ftp://iris.ssec.wisc.edu/pub/misc/

Hope this helps.


-- 
Tim Rowley  --  trowley at geom.umn.edu  --  "Do or do not, there is no try."