View Full Version : Will There Ever be Another 3DKit?
I know this has been batted back and forth a lot in the past, but it's still a valid topic. Will Apple release a high-level, object oriented framework for 3D graphics? NeXTstep had 3D kit. And it seems with Apple's heavy use of 3D graphics in their own applications, and the system as a whole, they stand to benefit from this as much as anyone.
We're not really talking about a Core3D. OpenGL fills that role nicely. What I mean is a Cocoa API for working with 3D graphics. Does anyone else see this ever happening?
Apple's heavy use of 3D graphics in their own applications, and the system as a whole
Such as? :confused:
I see lots of 2D transformations and compositing of 2D layers, but I cannot think of anything for which Apple uses 3D rendering.
Such as? :confused:
I see lots of 2D transformations and compositing of 2D layers, but I cannot think of anything for which Apple uses 3D rendering.
But there is a heavy reliance on OpenGL throughout the system. Surely a more high-level abstraction of things like OpenGL textures and lighting would be handy. I'm not necessarily talking about models, but 3D graphics concepts in the more general sense.
Isn't the user switching "cube" a 3D effect? Although it's the only obvious one that comes to mind.
I thought about that too and I really doubt it. The cube effect is just as easily a very simple 2D transformation.
We're not really talking about a Core3D. OpenGL fills that role nicely. What I mean is a Cocoa API for working with 3D graphics.
How would that not be Core3D? CoreImage and CoreVideo are on top of CoreGraphics and OpenGL. Core3D would be on top of CoreGraphics and OpenGL just as much.
Most of Apple's "3D" is really "2.5D", as Brad(?) recently dubbed it, or "faux 3D". Shadows, transparencies, perspectives and unusual shapes, but hardly anything that can be rotated or otherwise altered in a 3D space.
Remember: true 3D is entirely impractical and retardedly stupid on a 2D space, and current screens are just that, a 2D space. Not only that, but input devices are designed for 2D just as much, perhaps with the exception of some joysticks and other gaming devices. (Graphics tablets could be seen as semi-3D, as they have pressure.)
There's various 3D screen concepts, usually in form of a sphere, but they would require a lot of rethinking of GUIs.
Then there's the concept of multi-layer 2D, as seen in Minority Report. That might be doable at some point in the near future, but OS X is already prepared for that, thanks to its compositing, Exposé, etc. It already does work on multiple layers, you just don't get to see all of them at a time.
Most of Apple's "3D" is really "2.5D", as Brad(?) recently dubbed it
Yeah, I called it that, but I believe I originally got the term from John Siracusa.
Isn't the user switching "cube" a 3D effect? Although it's the only obvious one that comes to mind.
It could be seen as that, but in the end, it's really just two textures mapped on an otherwise texture-less cube. The cube itself is 3D, yes, and the effect uses OpenGL, yes.
Incidentally, the cube effect is (somewhat) available for third-party developers and has been for a while.
Yeah, I called it that, but I believe I originally got the term from John Siracusa.
I've seen it before but I'm not sure from whom.
Wikipedia has an article about it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.5D), but no history section. So it isn't clear on who first coined the term.
Incidentally, the cube effect is (somewhat) available for third-party developers and has been for a while.
Yeah, I know that You Control: Desktops uses that and Virtual Desktops probably does as well. Although I don't know if it's customizable, as in applying the effect to a window or icon only and not the whole desktop.
If you want a 3DKite (<- should read 'Scene Graph') check out Open Scene Graph. (Google is your friend).
It's the next level up from OpenGL, does not have any silly dependancies (with the small exception of the Terrain stuff - which only needs GDAL).
It's Open Source, Open GL based, got a great community, and comes with an Xcode project, and even Xcode templates. Personally I think it should be adopted as an industry standard.
It just hit v1.0.0 and is still being worked on daily.
EDIT - It even comes with demos that run and compile first time, as well as data sets for those demos.
EDIT2 - And a lot of other cool stuff like terrain modelling Open Source code is built on top of it..
Yeah, I know that You Control: Desktops uses that and Virtual Desktops probably does as well. Although I don't know if it's customizable, as in applying the effect to a window or icon only and not the whole desktop.
Image Capture uses it (maybe custom-implemented) for importing images from a camera.
curiousuburb
2005-12-19, 05:22
Back in the day, Apple made QuickDraw3D, complete with a demo of a roller coaster over texture mapped grids. There are still some QD3D and 3DMF resources online (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=QD3D&btnG=Search)
QTVR would probably be technically considered 2.5D, since the barrel distortions required to stitch images into cylindrical or spherical panoramas and objects merely remap flat pictures into a virtual projection. Linked object movies reverse the effect, and the embedded hotspots are for the most part painted onto the pano.
There are, however some good uses of 3D directional audio within some QTVRs that improve the simulacra sensation. If you've got the proper plugin, check out SeeBeale (http://www.seebeale.com/seebeale.html) and spin in the nodes with the audio symbol.
I had a few more links, but Safari or PithHelmet didn't like one of them and crashed, so this is a rewrite.
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