🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Apr16.185210.8027@leland.Stanford.EDU>  
kocks@jessica.stanford.edu (Peter Kocks) writes:
> As was pointed out earlier, OpenGL is a kind of fast procedural
> language for doing 3D graphics, whereas Renderman is object oriented
> and photorealistic.  Given that in time Renderman will become fast
> enough for realtime use, why not write an OpenGL interface to the
> RenderMan rendering software?  Basically, write procedural type calls
> in the exact same format as OpenGL requires.   This would be a big
> boon for scientist who like OpenGL and the NeXT platform.
> 
> Is it possilbe?  Is it legal?

- VOGL, a 3D library from those Beer Drinkers in Australia has been available
as ``beerware'' for quite some time. It's a subset of gl , the main purpose 
of it is that ``all code that runs in vogl should compile and run in real gl''
It lacks much of the spiffy features of GL and runs on just about anything,
even our favorite black box %-) ! OpenGL is the death of pex and phigs ( thank  
you , thank you , thank you SGI !), comparing it to Renderman is somewhat of 
an apples and oranges comparsion. I'm sure you'll see a gl version of  
Interactive Renderman in the near future. 

- You can get vogl at any reputable ftp repository , ftp.uu.net comes to mind. 

- SGI has not sued anybody yet, they have a really good rep as a  
software/hardware company. By far the most reliable and helpful that I've 
dealt with ( including the company that builds our favorite black hardware ). 
They've built an Object-oriented ``Interface Builder'' but unfortunately 
crippled to only do ``visualization'' ( It's called Explorer). If they'd spent
a little more time looking at IB rather than AVS, NeXTStep might have had real
competition. Unfortunately they're stuck in the X/motif world and everything is  
twice as difficult. I really thought they were moving into to `PC-like' world  
with the Indigo Machine, but they have not followed up with the software
necessary to compete. I guess they're focusing on the Eng/Sci market were they
are the leaders. 

---
- Booker C. Bense                    
prefered: benseb@grumpy.sdsc.edu  "I think it's GOOD that everyone 
NeXT Mail: benseb@next.sdsc.edu            becomes food " - Hobbes