INVENTOR(1)NAME
Inventor - a toolkit for writing 3d programs
DESCRIPTION
The Open Inventor 3d Toolkit is an object-oriented toolkit that
simplifies and abstracts the task of writing graphics programming into a
set of easy to use objects. These objects range from low level data-
centered objects such as Sphere, Camera, Material, Light, and Group, to
high level application-level objects such as Walkthrough Viewer and
Material Editor. The foundation concept in Inventor is the "scene
database" which defines the objects to be used in an application. When
using Inventor, a programmer creates, edits, and composes these objects
into hierarchical 3d scene graphs (i.e., database). A variety of
fundamental application tasks such as rendering, picking, event handling,
and file reading/writing are built-in operations of all objects in the
database and thus are simple to invoke.
Since Inventor is object-oriented (written in C++), it encourages
programmers to extend the system by writing new objects. Inventor users
have created a variety of new objects that are not included in the
product, such as: Bezier surfaces, CSG objects, animation objects,
special viewers, and many more.
Inventor also supports a C interface to all the objects.
Note that the rendering mechanism inside Inventor objects employs Open
GL. Thus, during rendering each object automatically makes the proper,
efficient calls to Open GL. Furthermore, Inventor rendering supports a
caching scheme which automatically generates very fast renderings of the
database without traversal overheads.
Inventor picking is extremely efficient and does not utilize rendering.
Furthermore, picking returns a varitey of 3d information and detail about
what objects were picked. A sorted list of picked objects and
corresponding information is returned to the programmer. Picking is so
fast, that programs can perform 3d locate highlighting as the mouse moves
across a 3d window.
INTERACTION, EVENTS, AND DEVICES
Inventor defines a event model for writing 3d interaction. This model is
window system independent. It is quite easy to use and makes 3d direct
manipulation programming possible. Inventor includes a variety of
interactive 3d objects and tools for writing interactive objects, such
as: Manipulators, Draggers, and Projectors. The flexible event model
encourages programmers to extend the system to support new devices and
event types.
FILE FORMAT
The Inventor 3d File Format is SGI's standard for 3d data. The format
supports both an ASCII and private binary format. The binary format is
network-neutral and thus can be exported across machine boundaries.
Page 1 Release 6.5 August 1991
INVENTOR(1)BENEFITS
Programming 3d graphics applications with Inventor results in large scale
productivity increases. This also increases with time as more tools
utilize the Inventor paradigm, user interfaces, and standard file format.
DOCUMENTATION
"The Inventor Mentor" published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company is
available in technical bookstores starting in December 1993. "The
Inventor Toolmaker" and "The Inventor Reference Manual" will be available
in bookstores in early 1994.
SOURCE CODE
The Inventor Toolkit includes source code to NUMEROUS programs and
examples.
FILES
/usr/share/data/models/* - Sample 3D data files
/usr/share/src/Inventor/* - Source to Inventor samples and examples
SEE ALSO
drop, gview, SceneViewer, ivcat, ivview, maze, noodle, qmorf, revo,
showcase, textomatic, webspace
http://www.sgi.com/Technology/Inventor.html
Page 2 Release 6.5 August 1991
