Image format libraries, raytracers and stuff

[James Dunne]

Stewart Gordon wrote:
> Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
> 
>> "Stewart Gordon" <smjg_1998 at yahoo.com> wrote in message 
>> news:e3a2ue$1v58$1 at digitaldaemon.com...
>>
>>> 2. The distribution contains .obj files that obviously aren't 
>>> compiler object files, which is what almost every MS-DOS or Windows 
>>> programmer is used to the extension meaning.
>>
>>
>> And which almost every 3D artist knows is the Wavefront OBJ format, 
>> one of the most ubiquitous mesh interchange formats out there ;)
> 
> 
> Just looked it up
> 
> http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/mxr/gfx/3d/OBJ.spec
> 
> Hmm....
> 
> And I see the other WaveFront format is .mod, which is what the Fortrash 
> compilers I've used use for module information files.
> 

.MOD to me means an Amiga multi-track music sequence file.  Hey, even 
DOC used to mean plain-text document back in DOS.

...and what's so bad about Fortran (if I assume correctly that Fortrash 
is derived from)?

>>> 3. It requires OpenGL.  OTOH, I'm going for something more 
>>> self-contained.
>>
>>
>> As if OpenGL isn't supported on, well, everything?
> 
> Good question.  But how many OSs come with OpenGL installed as standard?
> 

Quite a few of them, actually.  Windows ships with OpenGL 1.1 
implementation and headers.  Linux also has native support for OpenGL, 
depending on your graphics hardware.  Solaris, of course... Probably the 
*BSD variants too, but I'm not sure.

> If the purpose is to write your own renderer, then what part does OpenGL 
> play anyway?  It's got me pondering over where Sol's own code ends and 
> OpenGL begins.
> 
> Stewart.
> 

OpenGL plays the part of allowing hardware-level interaction with the 
software renderer.  It is a portable gateway between the application and 
the graphics hardware drivers.  You can use it to any extent you like, 
taking full advantage of its full 3D rendering capabilities or simply 
just using it as a rasterizer and blitting images onto the screen.

I'll have to take a look at Sol to see how it uses OpenGL.

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James Dunne