Re^3: OPENGL perl widgets

I think we are a pc-generation away from easy-to-use-and-widespread 3d graphics, I read that the new versions of MSWindows will have a 3d desktop (but only if your computer can handle it). Most can't.

It would be nice to have a straight forward 3d language, where you initialize with an x,y,z dimension, then have simple statements like

my $space = Space->new(
               -x =>  [-1000, 1000],
               -y =>  [-1000, 1000],
               -z => [-1000, 1000]
               );

my $sphere = $space->new('Sphere',
       -origin => [2,2,2],
       -radius => 5,
       -fill => #abcdef,
       -transparency => .30,
       -azimuth => .5
)->pack;
[download]

And it will come, but not until we all have $1000 graphics cards( by today's costs ), and bigger memory and processors. Until then, real 3d will exist only in high end speciality equipment, with their own special languages. Sure you can hack around with SDL and PDL with 3d extensions, but it is only a toy compared to what it should(could) be. Look at what it takes for the movie houses to make 3d movies. They have a room full of highpowered computers, all networked, and it takes them days to produce a few useful frames. I think they use assembly language for all the computations and manipulations.

I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh

Comment on Re^3: OPENGL perl widgets Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^4: OPENGL perl widgets by aquarium (Curate) on Apr 16, 2006 at 12:15 UTC
normally i would agree with you, as you are a straight talker, but i differ in this regard. i think we need a shift away from more and more power, towards more useability. tkzinc hit the nail on the spot...check it out. buttons and checkboxes can only go so far...a lot of applications require a more "natural" interface, not tied to 30+yo technology. the hardest line to type correctly is: stty erase ^H	[reply]
Re^5: OPENGL perl widgets by zentara (Cardinal) on Apr 16, 2006 at 16:55 UTC
I've been telling people for quite some time to make their own custom widgets, on a sub-classed Zinc object. As a matter of fact, I advocate using the Tk Zinc Canvas as the basis for a whole new GUI language, with all sorts of custom looking buttons, and rounded shapes, all prebuilt as Zinc-only widgets. There is nothing stopping you from doing that right now. There are other advantages besides OpenGL color gradients, bezier curves, and transparencies. The Canvas and Zinc are very good at handling their memory, so you can do alot of "creating-destroying" without gaining memory in your apps. BUT it isn't 3d, and people will not write for OpenGL until all computers support it. Most don't, and even those that do, there are enough inconsistencies, that people avoid it. Why do you think that you see very few OpenGL apps in wide use? Why are there almost no 3d applications in wide use on desktops? It just isn't time yet, because considering the power of the average computer out there, things are peppier and easier to write without it. Eye candy is great for the salesroom, but when people get it home, and run it day-to-day, they want it simple and fast. There are some great examples in the Tk::Zinc demo, like the #7 in The Use of OpenGL( but they don't require OpenGL to run) I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh	[reply]
Re^6: OPENGL perl widgets by aquarium (Curate) on Apr 17, 2006 at 10:09 UTC
i don't think the GUI has to be 3D to be effective. I think that extended 2D widgets can go a long way towards providing a more human friendly interface. there's a lot of brain candy in MS desktop apps, 90+ percent of which nobody uses...and it all eats up RAM/CPU. i'm convinced that tons of menus indicates a faulty GUI design. Cheers. the hardest line to type correctly is: stty erase ^H	[reply]