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From: llw@corwin.eng.yale.edu (Louis L. Whitcomb)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x,comp.graphics
Subject: 3-D Objects, PHIGS, X, PEX, and all that.
Message-ID: <LLW.91Feb22110248@corwin.eng.yale.edu>
Date: 22 Feb 91 16:02:48 GMT
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Organization: Yale University, Center for Systems Sciences
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Greetings:

  I am in need of a device-independent (Sun, SGI, postscript) 3-D
graphics package for rendering and animating the movement of solid
rigid-body objects. I would prefer to avoid writing non-portable code
for proprietary interfaces such as SGI's GL.

  My (naive) understanding is that the PHIGS standard offers to
standardize 3-D graphics in much the same way that X has privides a
standardized 2-D graphics interface --- and that some PHIGS
implementations are built on top of X.  I have the following
questions:

  1. Where can I get hard info on the PHIGS standard?

  2. I have seen DEC PHIGS. It is real.  Can anyone confirm the rumor 
     that both SUN and SGI will soon offer their own versions?
     Price?    

  3. How does PEX fit in the picture?  I understand it to be a new
     X-protocol which includes 3-D primitives. References?

  4. Any favorite alternatives?

  A previous poster's summary of non-PHIGS 3-D packages was helpful,
and suggested free packages such as VOGLE, but I would really prefer
to work with (1) more powerful and (2) supported software.

  I will summarize and post all replies.

  The Best,

      Louis
--
Louis L. Whitcomb              llw@corwin.eng.yale.edu    ph: (203) 432-4237  
Yale Robotics Laboratory                                  fx: (203) 432-7481 
Department of Electrical Engineering, 1968 Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520


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