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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>introduction to the OpenSceneGraph</title>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Mozilla/4.77 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.3-20mdk i686) [Netscape]">
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<title>introduction to the OpenSceneGraph</title>
|
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="white">
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<img src="images/OpenSceneGraphBanner_Distribution.jpg" width=640 height=77 border=0>
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<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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<img SRC="OpenSceneGraphBanner_Distribution.jpg" BORDER=0 height=77 width=640>
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<table>
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<tr>
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<td><a href="index.html">Index</a> </td>
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<td><a href="introduction.html">Introduction</a> </td>
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<td><a href="contents.html">Contents</a> </td>
|
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<td><a href="install.html">Install</a> </td>
|
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<td><a href="dependencies.html">Dependencies</a> </td>
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<td><a href="demos.html">Demos</a> </td>
|
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<td><a href="data.html">Data</a> </td>
|
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<td><a href="sgv.html">Viewer</a> </td>
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<td><a href="stereo.html">Stereo</a> </td>
|
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<td><a href="documentation.html">Reference Guides</a> </td>
|
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</tr>
|
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<tr>
|
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<td><a href="index.html">Index</a></td>
|
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|
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<td><a href="introduction.html">Introduction</a></td>
|
||||
|
||||
<td><a href="contents.html">Contents</a></td>
|
||||
|
||||
<td><a href="install.html">Install</a></td>
|
||||
|
||||
<td><a href="dependencies.html">Dependencies</a></td>
|
||||
|
||||
<td><a href="demos.html">Demos</a></td>
|
||||
|
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<td><a href="data.html">Data</a></td>
|
||||
|
||||
<td><a href="sgv.html">Viewer</a></td>
|
||||
|
||||
<td><a href="stereo.html">Stereo</a></td>
|
||||
|
||||
<td><a href="documentation.html">Reference Guides</a></td>
|
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</tr>
|
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</table>
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<h2><u>Introduction to the OpenSceneGraph</u></h2>
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<p>Welcome to OpenSceneGraph project!
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</p>
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<p>The OpenSceneGraph is an Open Source (LGPL), Cross Platform (Widows, Linux, Mac OSX, FreeBSD, Irix, Solaris),
|
||||
Standard C++ and OpenGL based graphics development library, uses range from visual simulation, games,
|
||||
virtual reality, sceintific visualization and graphics research. This pages introduces
|
||||
what scene graphs are, why graphics developers use them, and details about the OpenSceneGraph,
|
||||
project, how to learn how to use it and contribute to the OpenSceneGraph community.
|
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</p>
|
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|
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<p>
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<i>Robert Osfield,
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Project Lead.
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April 2002.</i>
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</p>
|
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|
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<h2>
|
||||
<u>Introduction to the OpenSceneGraph</u></h2>
|
||||
Welcome to OpenSceneGraph project!
|
||||
<p>The OpenSceneGraph is an Open Source (LGPL), Cross Platform (Widows,
|
||||
Linux, Mac OSX, FreeBSD, Irix, Solaris), Standard C++ and OpenGL based
|
||||
graphics development library, uses range from visual simulation, games,
|
||||
virtual reality, scientific visualization and graphics research. This pages
|
||||
introduces what scene graphs are, why graphics developers use them, and
|
||||
details about the OpenSceneGraph, project, how to learn how to use it and
|
||||
contribute to the OpenSceneGraph community.
|
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<p><i>Robert Osfield, Project Lead. April 2002.</i>
|
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<br>
|
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<hr>
|
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|
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<h3><u>What is a Scene Graph?</u></h3>
|
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<p>Its a tree! Quite simply one the best and most reusable data structures invented.Typically drawn schematically as
|
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root at the top, leaves at the bottom. It all starts with a topmost root node which
|
||||
encompasses your whole virtual world, be it 2D or 3D. The world is then broken down
|
||||
into hierachy of nodes representing either a spatial grouping of objects,
|
||||
setting the position of objects, animating objects,. or define a logical relationship between objects such as to manage
|
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the various states of a traffic light.The leaves of the graph represent the phyical objects
|
||||
themselves, the drawable geometry and their material properties.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>A scene graph isn't a complete game or simulation engine, although may be one of the main
|
||||
components of such an engine, it's primary focus is representing your 3d worlds, and rendering it efficiently. Physics models, collision detection and audio are left to other development libraries that a user will
|
||||
integrate with.. The fact that scene graphs don't typically integrate all these features
|
||||
is actually a really good thing, it aids interoprability with clients own applications
|
||||
and tools they wish to use and allows them to serve many varied markets from games, visual
|
||||
simulation, virtual reality, scientific and commerical visulasation, training thruogh to modelling
|
||||
programs.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<h3>
|
||||
<u>What is a Scene Graph?</u></h3>
|
||||
Its a tree! Quite simply one the best and most reusable data structures
|
||||
invented. Typically drawn schematically as root at the top, leaves at the
|
||||
bottom. It all starts with a topmost root node which encompasses your whole
|
||||
virtual world, be it 2D or 3D. The world is then broken down into hierarchy
|
||||
of nodes representing either a spatial grouping of objects, setting the
|
||||
position of objects, animating objects,. or define a logical relationship
|
||||
between objects such as to manage the various states of a traffic light.
|
||||
The leaves of the graph represent the physical objects themselves, the
|
||||
drawable geometry and their material properties.
|
||||
<p>A scene graph isn't a complete game or simulation engine, although may
|
||||
be one of the main components of such an engine, it's primary focus is
|
||||
representing your 3d worlds, and rendering it efficiently. Physics models,
|
||||
collision detection and audio are left to other development libraries that
|
||||
a user will integrate with.. The fact that scene graphs don't typically
|
||||
integrate all these features is actually a really good thing, it aids interoprability
|
||||
with clients own applications and tools they wish to use and allows them
|
||||
to serve many varied markets from games, visual simulation, virtual reality,
|
||||
scientific and commercial visualization, training through to modeling programs.
|
||||
<br>
|
||||
<hr>
|
||||
|
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<h3><u>Why use a Scene Graph - Performance, Productivity, Portability and Scalability</u>.</h3>
|
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<h3>
|
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<u>Why use a Scene Graph - Performance, Productivity, Portability and Scalability</u>.</h3>
|
||||
|
||||
<ol>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<p><i>Performance</i> - scene graphs provide an excellent framework for maximize graphics
|
||||
performance. A good scene graph employs two key techinques - culling of the objects that won't
|
||||
be seen on screen, and state sorting of properties such as textures and materials
|
||||
so that all similar objects are drawn together. Without culling the CPU, buses and
|
||||
GPU will all become swamped by many times the amount of data tham they acual require.to represent
|
||||
you work accurately. The hierachical structure of the scene graph makes this culling
|
||||
process.very efficient.with whole town being culled with just a few operations! Without state storting, the the buses and GPU will thrash between
|
||||
states, stalling the graphics and destroying graphisc throughout. As GPU's get faster and faster, the cost of
|
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stalling the graphics is also going up, so scene graph are become ever more important.
|
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</p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<p><i>Productivity</i> - scene graphs take much of the hardwork required to develop
|
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high perftomance graphics applications. The scene graphs manage all the graphics for you,
|
||||
reducing what would be thousands of lines of OpenGL down to a few simple calls..Furthermoe,
|
||||
one of most powerfukl concepts in Object Orientated programming is that of object
|
||||
compotsition, enshrined in <i>Composite Design Pattern</i>, which fits the scene graph
|
||||
tree strucutre perfectly which makes it highly flexible and reusable design - in real terms
|
||||
this means that it can be easily adapted it to solve your problems. Scene graph also often come
|
||||
additional utilitie libraries which range for helping users set up and manage graphics
|
||||
windows to import of 3d modes and images. All this together allows the user to achieve
|
||||
a great deal with very little coding. A dozen lines of code can be enough to load your data
|
||||
<li><p>
|
||||
<i>Performance</i> - scene graphs provide an excellent framework for
|
||||
maximize graphics performance. A good scene graph employs two key techniques
|
||||
- culling of the objects that won't be seen on screen, and state sorting
|
||||
of properties such as textures and materials so that all similar objects
|
||||
are drawn together. Without culling the CPU, buses and GPU will all become
|
||||
swamped by many times the amount of data than they actually require to
|
||||
represent you work accurately. The hierarchical structure of the scene
|
||||
graph makes this culling process very efficient with whole town being culled
|
||||
with just a few operations! Without state sorting, the the buses and GPU
|
||||
will thrash between states, stalling the graphics and destroying graphics
|
||||
throughout. As GPU's get faster and faster, the cost of stalling the graphics
|
||||
is also going up, so scene graph are become ever more important.
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><p>
|
||||
<i>Productivity</i> - scene graphs take much of the hard work required
|
||||
to develop high performance graphics applications. The scene graphs manage
|
||||
all the graphics for you, reducing what would be thousands of lines of
|
||||
OpenGL down to a few simple calls. Furthermoe, one of most powerful concepts
|
||||
in Object Orientated programming is that of object composition, enshrined
|
||||
in <i>Composite Design Pattern</i>, which fits the scene graph tree structure
|
||||
perfectly which makes it highly flexible and reusable design - in real
|
||||
terms this means that it can be easily adapted it to solve your problems.
|
||||
Scene graph also often come additional utility libraries which range for
|
||||
helping users set up and manage graphics windows to import of 3d modes
|
||||
and images. All this together allows the user to achieve a great deal with
|
||||
very little coding. A dozen lines of code can be enough to load your data
|
||||
and create an interactive viewer!
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
<i>Portability</i> - scene graphs encapsulate much of the lower level tasks of rendering
|
||||
graphics and reading and writing data, reducing or even eradicating the platform specific
|
||||
coding that you require in your own application. If the underlying scene graph is portable
|
||||
then moving from platform to platform can be a simple as recompiling your source code.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<i>Scalability</i> - along with being able to dynamic manage the complexity of scenes
|
||||
automatically to account for differences in graphics performance across a range of machines,
|
||||
scene graphs also make it much easier to manage complex hardware configurations, such as clusters
|
||||
of graphics machines, or multiprocessor/multipipe systems such as SGI's Onyx. A good scene graph
|
||||
will allow the developer to concentrate on developing their own application while the rendering
|
||||
framework of the scene graph handles the differnt underlying hardware configurations.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><p>
|
||||
<i>Portability</i> - scene graphs encapsulate much of the lower level
|
||||
tasks of rendering graphics and reading and writing data, reducing or even
|
||||
eradicating the platform specific coding that you require in your own application.
|
||||
If the underlying scene graph is portable then moving from platform to
|
||||
platform can be a simple as recompiling your source code.
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><p>
|
||||
<i>Scalability</i> - along with being able to dynamic manage the complexity
|
||||
of scenes automatically to account for differences in graphics performance
|
||||
across a range of machines, scene graphs also make it much easier to manage
|
||||
complex hardware configurations, such as clusters of graphics machines,
|
||||
or multiprocessor/multipipe systems such as SGI's Onyx. A good scene graph
|
||||
will allow the developer to concentrate on developing their own application
|
||||
while the rendering framework of the scene graph handles the different
|
||||
underlying hardware configurations.
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
</ol>
|
||||
|
||||
<hr>
|
||||
|
||||
<h3><u>So what about the OpenSceneGraph project?</u></h3>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The OpenSceneGraph is an Open Source Scene Graph, and our goal is make the benifits
|
||||
of scene gaph technology available to all. Our scene gaph is still in development,
|
||||
but has already gained a great deal of respect amoungst the development community
|
||||
for its high performance, cleaness of design and portability. Written entitely in
|
||||
Standard C++ and OpenGL, it makes full use of STL and Design Patterns, and leverages
|
||||
the open source development model to provide a development library that is legacy
|
||||
free and well focused on the solving the task. The OpenSceneGraph delivers on
|
||||
the four key benifits of scene graph techonolgy outlined above using the following
|
||||
features:
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<h3>
|
||||
<u>So what about the OpenSceneGraph project?</u></h3>
|
||||
The OpenSceneGraph is an Open Source Scene Graph, and our goal is make
|
||||
the benefits of scene graph technology available to all. Our scene graph
|
||||
is still in development, but has already gained a great deal of respect
|
||||
amongst the development community for its high performance, cleanness of
|
||||
design and portability. Written entirely in Standard C++ and OpenGL, it
|
||||
makes full use of STL and Design Patterns, and leverages the open source
|
||||
development model to provide a development library that is legacy free
|
||||
and well focused on the solving the task. The OpenSceneGraph delivers on
|
||||
the four key benefits of scene graph technology outlined above using the
|
||||
following features:
|
||||
<ol>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<p><i>Performance</i> - supports view frustum culling, small feature culling,
|
||||
Leval Of Details (LOD') nodes, state sorting, vertex arrays and display list
|
||||
as part of the core scene graph, these together make the OpenSceneGraph one
|
||||
highest performance scene graph available. User feedback is that performance
|
||||
surpasses much more established scene graphs such as Performer, VTee,
|
||||
Vega Scene Graph and Jave3D! The OpenSceneGraph also supports easy customization
|
||||
of the drawing process, which has allowed implemention of Continous Level of
|
||||
Detail (CLOD) meshes ontop the scene graph, these allow the visualisation of
|
||||
massive terrain databases interactively, examples of this approach can be
|
||||
found at both Vterrain.org and TerrainEngine.com which both integrate with the
|
||||
OpenSceneGraph.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<p><i>Productivity</i> - by combining lessons learned from established scene graph like
|
||||
Performer and Open Inventor, with modern software engineering
|
||||
<li><p>
|
||||
<i>Performance</i> - supports view frustum culling, small feature culling,
|
||||
Level Of Details (LOD') nodes, state sorting, vertex arrays and display
|
||||
list as part of the core scene graph, these together make the OpenSceneGraph
|
||||
one highest performance scene graph available. User feedback is that performance
|
||||
surpasses much more established scene graphs such as Performer, VTee, Vega
|
||||
Scene Graph and Jave3D! The OpenSceneGraph also supports easy customization
|
||||
of the drawing process, which has allowed implementation of Continuos Level
|
||||
of Detail (CLOD) meshes on top the scene graph, these allow the visualization
|
||||
of massive terrain databases interactively, examples of this approach can
|
||||
be found at both Vterrain.org and TerrainEngine.com which both integrate
|
||||
with the OpenSceneGraph.
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><p>
|
||||
<i>Productivity</i> - by combining lessons learned from established
|
||||
scene graph like Performer and Open Inventor, with modern software engineering
|
||||
methodologies like Design Patterns and a great deal of feedback early on
|
||||
in the development cycle, it has been possible to design a design that clean
|
||||
and highly interporable. This has made it easy for user to adopt to the
|
||||
OpenSceneGraph and to integrate with their own applications. With a full
|
||||
feature set in the core scene graph, utilities to set up the scene graph and
|
||||
viewers and a wide range of loaders it is possible to create an application
|
||||
and bring in user data with a very small amount of code.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
<i>Portability</i> - The core scene graph has also been designed to be have minimal
|
||||
platform speciific dependancy, requiring little more than Standard C++ and OpenGL.
|
||||
The has allowed the scene graph to be rapidly ported on wide range of platforms -
|
||||
originally developed on IRIX, then ported to Linux, then to Windows, then FreeBSD, then Mac OSX
|
||||
and most recently Solaris! Being completely windowing system independant makes it easy
|
||||
for users to add their own window specific libraries and applications on top.
|
||||
In the distribution there is aleady the osgGLUT library, and in the Bazaar found
|
||||
at openscenegrph.org/download/ once can find examples of how applications written
|
||||
ontop Qt, MFC, WxWindows and SDL. Users have also integrated it with Motif, and X.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
|
||||
<li>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<i>Scalability</i> - the scene graph not only runs from portables all the way up
|
||||
to Onyx Infinite Reality Monsters, it supports the multiple graphics subsystems
|
||||
found on machines like the a mulitpipe Onyx. This is possible since the core scene
|
||||
graph supports multiple graphics context for both OpenGL DisplayLists and texture objects,
|
||||
and the cull and draw traversals have been designed to cache rendering data locally and
|
||||
use the scene gaph almost entirely as a read only operation. This allows multiple
|
||||
cull-draw pairs to run on multiple CPU's which are bound to multiple graphics subsystems.
|
||||
This has been demonstrated using the OpenSceneGraph in conjunction with sgi's OpenGL
|
||||
multipipe SDK. We also have osgMP in development which will be cross platform and
|
||||
transparently support multiple multipipe systems like th Onyx and gaphics clusters.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
in the development cycle, it has been possible to design a design that
|
||||
clean and highly interpretable. This has made it easy for user to adopt
|
||||
to the OpenSceneGraph and to integrate with their own applications. With
|
||||
a full feature set in the core scene graph, utilities to set up the scene
|
||||
graph and viewers and a wide range of loaders it is possible to create
|
||||
an application and bring in user data with a very small amount of code.
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><p>
|
||||
<i>Portability</i> - The core scene graph has also been designed to
|
||||
be have minimal platform specific dependency, requiring little more than
|
||||
Standard C++ and OpenGL. The has allowed the scene graph to be rapidly
|
||||
ported on wide range of platforms -
|
||||
originally developed on IRIX, then
|
||||
ported to Linux, then to Windows, then FreeBSD, then Mac OSX and most recently
|
||||
Solaris! Being completely windowing system independent makes it easy for
|
||||
users to add their own window specific libraries and applications on top.
|
||||
In the distribution there is already the osgGLUT library, and in the Bazaar
|
||||
found at openscenegrph.org/download/ once can find examples of how applications
|
||||
written on top Qt, MFC, WxWindows and SDL. Users have also integrated it
|
||||
with Motif, and X.
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><p>
|
||||
<i>Scalability</i> - the scene graph not only runs from portables all the
|
||||
way up to Onyx Infinite Reality Monsters, it supports the multiple graphics
|
||||
subsystems found on machines like the a mulitpipe Onyx. This is possible
|
||||
since the core scene graph supports multiple graphics context for both
|
||||
OpenGL DisplayLists and texture objects, and the cull and draw traversals
|
||||
have been designed to cache rendering data locally and use the scene gaph
|
||||
almost entirely as a read only operation. This allows multiple cull-draw
|
||||
pairs to run on multiple CPU's which are bound to multiple graphics subsystems.
|
||||
This has been demonstrated using the OpenSceneGraph in conjunction with
|
||||
sgi's OpenGL multipipe SDK. We also have osgMP in development which will
|
||||
be cross platform and transparently support multiple multipipe systems
|
||||
like the Onyx and graphics clusters
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
</ol>
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
All the source to is published under the GNU Library General Public License (LGPL)
|
||||
which allows both open source and closed source projects to use, modify and
|
||||
distribute it freely as long its usage complies with the LGPL. The project has been
|
||||
developed over the last four years, initliated by Don Burns, and then taken over
|
||||
by Robert Osfield who continues to lead project today, there are many other
|
||||
contributors to the library, for a full list check out the AUTHORS file. Both Robert
|
||||
and Don now work on the OpenSceneGraph in a professional capaciity providing consultancy
|
||||
and bespoke developments ontop the library, and are also colloborating on the book.Work on
|
||||
the core scene graph and support of public mailing list remains unpaid as are the
|
||||
contributions of the rest of the communinity, but this hasn't impacted the quality of the
|
||||
source or support which once you get stuck in you grow to appreciate.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The project is current in alpha, which means parts of the API are still to be
|
||||
developerd, or subjec to change, but the vast majority of the scene graph is there, and a beta will
|
||||
be published within the next few months, wiht a 1.0 release in late summer. Despite the
|
||||
alpha development status, the project has alrady earned the reputation the leading
|
||||
open source scene graph, and is establishing itself a vialbe alternative to the commericial
|
||||
scene graphs. Numerous companies, university researchers and graphics enthusasts have
|
||||
already adopted their projects, and are from all over the world.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
All the source to is published under the GNU Library General Public License
|
||||
(LGPL) which allows both open source and closed source projects to use,
|
||||
modify and distribute it freely as long its usage complies with the LGPL.
|
||||
The project has been developed over the last four years, initiated by Don
|
||||
Burns, and then taken over by Robert Osfield who continues to lead project
|
||||
today, there are many other contributors to the library, for a full list
|
||||
check out the AUTHORS file. Both Robert and Don now work on the OpenSceneGraph
|
||||
in a professional capacity providing consultancy and bespoke developments
|
||||
on top the library, and are also collaborating on the book. Work on the
|
||||
core scene graph and support of public mailing list remains unpaid as are
|
||||
the contributions of the rest of the community, but this hasn't impacted
|
||||
the quality of the source or support which once you get stuck in you grow
|
||||
to appreciate.
|
||||
<p>The project is current in alpha, which means parts of the API are still
|
||||
to be developed, or subject to change, but the vast majority of the scene
|
||||
graph is there, and a beta will be published within the next few months,
|
||||
with a 1.0 release in late summer. Despite the alpha development status,
|
||||
the project has already earned the reputation the leading open source scene
|
||||
graph, and is establishing itself a viable alternative to the commercial
|
||||
scene graphs. Numerous companies, university researchers and graphics enthusiasts
|
||||
have already adopted their projects, and are from all over the world.
|
||||
<br>
|
||||
<hr>
|
||||
|
||||
<h3><u>Getting started</u></h3>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The first thing is to select the distribution which suits you, there are binary, development and
|
||||
source code distributions, these can be loaded from the
|
||||
<a href="http://www.openscenegraph.org/download">http://www.openscenegraph.org/download</a> page.
|
||||
The latest developments area available as via a nightly tarball or via cvs.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The binary distribution contains just the libraries (.dll's /.so's) and demo executables.
|
||||
This is suitable for using the OpenSceneGraph with an application that has already been compiled
|
||||
but depends at runtime on the OpenSceneGraph.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The development distribution contains the libraries (.dll's /.so's), demo executabls, include files, and source to
|
||||
the demos. This is suitable for using the developers using the OpenSceneGraph.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The source distribution contains the all the source and include files required to build the OpenSceneGraph from
|
||||
sratch, and is ideal if you want to learn more about how the scene gaph works, how to extend it, and to track
|
||||
down and fix any problems that you come across.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
If you are using a source disitribution then read the <a href="install.html">installation</a> instructions
|
||||
for how to get the OpenSceneGraph compiling and installed on your system. You may also need to download
|
||||
libraries that parts of the OpenSceneGraph is dependant upon such as glut, check the
|
||||
<a href="dependencies.html">dependencies</a> list for futher details.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
<h3>
|
||||
<u>Getting started</u></h3>
|
||||
The first thing is to select the distribution which suits you, there are
|
||||
binary, development and source code distributions, these can be loaded
|
||||
from the
|
||||
<a href="http://www.openscenegraph.org/download">http://www.openscenegraph.org/download</a>
|
||||
page. The latest developments area available as via a nightly tarball or
|
||||
via cvs.
|
||||
<p>The binary distribution contains just the libraries (.dll's /.so's)
|
||||
and demo executables. This is suitable for using the OpenSceneGraph with
|
||||
an application that has already been compiled but depends at runtime on
|
||||
the OpenSceneGraph.
|
||||
<p>The development distribution contains the libraries (.dll's /.so's),
|
||||
demo executables, include files, and source to the demos. This is suitable
|
||||
for using the developers using the OpenSceneGraph.
|
||||
<p>The source distribution contains the all the source and include files
|
||||
required to build the OpenSceneGraph from scratch, and is ideal if you
|
||||
want to learn more about how the scene graph works, how to extend it, and
|
||||
to track down and fix any problems that you come across.
|
||||
<p>If you are using a source distribution then read the <a href="install.html">installation</a>
|
||||
instructions for how to get the OpenSceneGraph compiling and installed
|
||||
on your system. You may also need to download libraries that parts of the
|
||||
OpenSceneGraph is dependent upon such as glut, check the
|
||||
<a href="dependencies.html">dependencies</a>
|
||||
list for further details.
|
||||
<br>
|
||||
<hr>
|
||||
|
||||
<h3><u>How to learn to use the OpenSceneGraph</u></h3>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The OpenSceneGraph distribution comes with a reference guide for each of the componet libraries - osg, osgDB,
|
||||
osgUtil, osgText and osgGLUT, a set of demos - the source of which can be found in src/Demos/.For questions
|
||||
or help which can't be easily be answered by the reference guide and demo source, one should join the openscene
|
||||
gaph mailing list (details below).There is also the beginings of <a href="http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?OpenSceneGraphFaq">Wiki based FAQ</a>
|
||||
which may help answer a few of the common querries.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
<p>A programming guide will be avaialbe in form of a OpenSceneGraph book which is being
|
||||
written by Don Burns and Robert Osfield, parts of it will be available.online.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Although not directly releated to the OpenSceneGraph, once can learn about scene graph technolgy from
|
||||
such sources as the <a href="http://www.sgi.com/software/inventor/manuals.html">Open Inventor Mentor</a>, and <a href="http://www.cineca.it/manuali/Performer/ProgGuide24/html"> Performer Programming Guides</a>.
|
||||
The later is the closest in design concepts to the OpenSceneGraph, although Performer manuals is in C alas.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
The OpenSceneGraph uses OpenGL and does with a deliberately thin layer, making it easy to control the underlying
|
||||
OpenGL and to extend it with OpenGL extensions. The close tie with OpenGL is also reflected in the nameing
|
||||
of many of the OpenGL state related classes, the the parameters that they encapsulate and means that knowledge
|
||||
of OpenGL itself will go a long way to understanding how to get the best out of the OpenSceneGraph. To this
|
||||
end it is worth obtaining a copy of the OpenGL programming guide - <a href="http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~unreal/theredbook/">`Red Book`</a>
|
||||
and OpenGL reference guide 'Blue Book'. The main <a href="http://www.opengl.org">OpenGL website</a> is also a good source of links and further information.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3>
|
||||
<u>How to learn to use the OpenSceneGraph</u></h3>
|
||||
The OpenSceneGraph distribution comes with a reference guide for each of
|
||||
the component libraries - osg, osgDB, osgUtil, osgText and osgGLUT, a set
|
||||
of demos - the source of which can be found in src/Demos/. For questions
|
||||
or help which can't be easily be answered by the reference guide and demo
|
||||
source, one should join the mailing list (details below). There is also
|
||||
the beginnings of <a href="http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?OpenSceneGraphFaq">Wiki
|
||||
based FAQ</a> which may help answer a few of the common queries.
|
||||
<p>A programming guide will be available in form of a OpenSceneGraph book
|
||||
which is being written by Don Burns and Robert Osfield, parts of it will
|
||||
be available online.
|
||||
<p>Although not directly related to the OpenSceneGraph, once can learn
|
||||
about scene graph technology from such sources as the <a href="http://www.sgi.com/software/inventor/manuals.html">Open
|
||||
Inventor Mentor</a>, and <a href="http://www.cineca.it/manuali/Performer/ProgGuide24/html">Performer
|
||||
Programming Guides</a>. The later is the closest in design concepts to
|
||||
the OpenSceneGraph, although Performer manuals is in C alas. Also of use
|
||||
as a background to some of the techniques used is a SIGGRAPH <a href="http://www.opengl.org/developers/code/sig99/advanced99/course_slides/vissim/index.htm">Vis-Sim
|
||||
course</a>.
|
||||
<p>The OpenSceneGraph uses OpenGL and does with a deliberately thin layer,
|
||||
making it easy to control the underlying OpenGL and to extend it with OpenGL
|
||||
extensions. The close tie with OpenGL is also reflected in the naming of
|
||||
many of the OpenGL state related classes, the the parameters that they
|
||||
encapsulate and means that knowledge of OpenGL itself will go a long way
|
||||
to understanding how to get the best out of the OpenSceneGraph. To this
|
||||
end it is worth obtaining a copy of the OpenGL programming guide - <a href="http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~unreal/theredbook/">`Red
|
||||
Book`</a> and OpenGL reference guide 'Blue Book'. The main <a href="http://www.opengl.org">OpenGL
|
||||
website</a> is also a good source of links and further information.
|
||||
<br>
|
||||
<hr>
|
||||
|
||||
<h3><u>Support and discussion - the <i>openscenegraph-news</i> mailing list</u></h3>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
For scene graph related questions, bug reports, bug fixes, and general design and development discussion one should
|
||||
join the <a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/openscenegraph-news">openscenegraph-news</a> mailing list,
|
||||
and check the the mailing list <a href="http://www.geocrawler.com/redir-sf.php3?list=openscenegraph-news">archives</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p>
|
||||
Professional support is also available in the form of confidential online, phone and onsite support and
|
||||
consultancy, for details contact Robert Osfield at <a href="mailto:robert@openscenegraph.com">robert@openscenegraph.com</a>.</p>
|
||||
<h3>
|
||||
<u>Support and discussion - the <i>openscenegraph-news</i> mailing list</u></h3>
|
||||
For scene graph related questions, bug reports, bug fixes, and general
|
||||
design and development discussion one should join the <a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/openscenegraph-news">openscenegraph-news</a>
|
||||
mailing list, and check the the mailing list <a href="http://www.geocrawler.com/redir-sf.php3?list=openscenegraph-news">archives</a>.
|
||||
<p>Professional support is also available in the form of confidential online,
|
||||
phone and onsite support and consultancy, for details contact Robert Osfield
|
||||
at <a href="mailto:robert@openscenegraph.com">robert@openscenegraph.com</a>.
|
||||
</body>
|
||||
</html>
|
||||
|
||||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue
Block a user