Re: [boost] Summer of Code 2008 Ideas

From: Rene Rivera (grafikrobot_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-03-05 11:19:54

David Rodríguez Ibeas wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 3:53 PM, Bruno Lalande <bruno.lalande_at_[hidden]>
> wrote:
> 
>> As we're talking about geometry, I have an idea to propose, that came to
>> my
>> mind a couple of times. It would be to have a Boost library that portably
>> handles 3D hardware acceleration capabilities by wrapping the most widely
>> used implementations (I obviously think about OpenGL and Direct3D).
> 
> I don't quite understand the need. OpenGL is an open standard and can be
> used in multiple systems, including windows. Why not use OpenGL directly? If
> you are to provide a library that can run over OpenGL and Direct3D, it can
> only be a subset of OpenGL capabilities (those common to Direct3D), so it
> would be strange working in limiting an already existing library. If the
> idea is to provide a OpenGL wrapper that is more C++ friendly, that is
> another story. Or is there a reason to prefer Direct3D under some
> conditions?

There are various reasons to use Direct3D, most having to do with 
trasportability of some sort. In particular if one wants to move code to 
an Xbox(360). But 3D graphics is a mine field when it comes to what 
abstractions, features, and implementations to support. It brings up 
even worst nightmares than the GUI discussions have brought. I suggest 
Boost stay clear of such a library at the moment, it's just not worth 
the pain. And there are plenty of existing solutions already available. 
What would be useful are core utilities for dealing with 3D data sets. 
One particular problem I ran into recently is the lack of comprehensive 
support for manipulations of 3D data files and model algorithms. For 
example, utility code for synthesizing 3D models and writing them out 
(perhaps as COLLADA data) would be nice to have.

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