Coin3D
Encyclopedia
Coin3D is an Open Inventor
clone by the Norwegian
company Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies
(formerly Kongsberg SIM
). Coin3D, like Open Inventor, is a C++ object oriented retained mode 3D graphics API used to provide a higher layer of programming for OpenGL
. The API provides a number of common graphics rendering constructs to developers such as scene graph
s to accomplish this. Coin3D is fully compatible with the Open Inventor API. Coin3D is distributed as open source (with ability to purchase commercial developer license) and thus benefiting from a large user base in the open source community while maintaining commercial code quality. Coin3D is being used by many small and large companies to drive advanced visualization solution in a wide range of application domains such as geo-modelling, CAD, medical visualization, robotics and presentation.
, the software is used in a number of commercial and open-source, scientific visualization
or 3D modeling
projects such as OpenRAVE
. Apple, for example, uses Coin for 3D rendering in iWork
'08 and later.
, the GPL
and a proprietary commercial license on all supported platforms. The dual license arrangement allows the final application to be licensed under various free software/open source licenses such as the LGPL
or the Artistic License
, or a proprietary software license.
also develops software development libraries designed to integrate Coin3D with GUI development environments.
Legacy GUI bindings are Qt (SoQt), Win32 API (SoWin) and Motif
(SoXt) are also maintained.
. Bindings have been developed for Python Pivy, Java and JavaScript. Nickel provides access to most of the Coin3D functionality from .NET.
Open Inventor
Open Inventor, originally IRIS Inventor, is a C++ object oriented retained mode 3D graphics API designed by SGI to provide a higher layer of programming for OpenGL. Its main goals are better programmer convenience and efficiency.-Early history:...
clone by the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
company Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies
Kongsberg Gruppen
Kongsberg Gruppen is Norway's major defence contractor and maritime automation supplier, located in Kongsberg, a former mining town....
(formerly Kongsberg SIM
Kongsberg SIM
Kongsberg SIM, formerly Systems In Motion is a company in the Kongsberg group .Kongsberg SIM specialises in software solutions for real time 3D graphics visualization to the oil & gas industry, with special focus on solutions for reservoir engineers.Kongsberg SIM is a subsidiary of Kongsberg...
). Coin3D, like Open Inventor, is a C++ object oriented retained mode 3D graphics API used to provide a higher layer of programming for OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
. The API provides a number of common graphics rendering constructs to developers such as scene graph
Scene graph
A scene graph is a general data structure commonly used by vector-based graphics editing applications and modern computer games. Examples of such programs include Acrobat 3D, Adobe Illustrator, AutoCAD, CorelDRAW, OpenSceneGraph, OpenSG, VRML97, and X3D....
s to accomplish this. Coin3D is fully compatible with the Open Inventor API. Coin3D is distributed as open source (with ability to purchase commercial developer license) and thus benefiting from a large user base in the open source community while maintaining commercial code quality. Coin3D is being used by many small and large companies to drive advanced visualization solution in a wide range of application domains such as geo-modelling, CAD, medical visualization, robotics and presentation.
Uses
According to Kongsberg Oil & Gas TechnologiesKongsberg Gruppen
Kongsberg Gruppen is Norway's major defence contractor and maritime automation supplier, located in Kongsberg, a former mining town....
, the software is used in a number of commercial and open-source, scientific visualization
Scientific visualization
Scientific visualization is an interdisciplinary branch of science according to Friendly "primarily concerned with the visualization of three-dimensional phenomena , where the emphasis is on realistic renderings of volumes, surfaces, illumination sources, and so forth, perhaps...
or 3D modeling
3D modeling
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of object via specialized software. The product is called a 3D model...
projects such as OpenRAVE
OpenRAVE
Open Robotics Automation Virtual Environment provides an environment for testing, developing, and deploying motion planning algorithms in real-world robotics applications. The main focus is on simulation and analysis of kinematic and geometric information related to motion planning. OpenRAVE’s...
. Apple, for example, uses Coin for 3D rendering in iWork
IWork
iWork is an office suite of desktop applications created by Apple for the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. The first version of iWork, iWork '05, was released in 2005. The suite originally bundled Keynote, a presentation program which had previously been sold as a standalone application, and...
'08 and later.
License
Coin3D is available under a dual licenseDual license
Multi-licensing is the practice of distributing software under two or more different sets of terms and conditions. This may mean multiple different licenses or sets of licenses. Prefixes may be used to indicate the number of licenses used, e.g...
, the GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
and a proprietary commercial license on all supported platforms. The dual license arrangement allows the final application to be licensed under various free software/open source licenses such as the LGPL
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
or the Artistic License
Artistic License
The Artistic License refers most commonly to the original Artistic License , a software license used for certain free and open source software packages, most notably the standard Perl implementation and most CPAN modules, which are dual-licensed under the Artistic License and the GNU General Public...
, or a proprietary software license.
Integration with GUI Development Kits
Kongsberg Oil & Gas TechnologiesKongsberg Gruppen
Kongsberg Gruppen is Norway's major defence contractor and maritime automation supplier, located in Kongsberg, a former mining town....
also develops software development libraries designed to integrate Coin3D with GUI development environments.
- For developers targeting multi-platform - 'Quarter' provides a seamless integration with NokiaNokiaNokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
's QtQt (toolkit)Qt is a cross-platform application framework that is widely used for developing application software with a graphical user interface , and also used for developing non-GUI programs such as command-line tools and consoles for servers...
. - For developers targeting Windows - 'SoWin' integrates with the Win32 API, and 'Nickel' provides integration with WinForms/.Net (prototype implementation, not officially supported yet).
- For developers targeting Mac OS X - Sc21 provides integration with Apple's Cocoa framework
Legacy GUI bindings are Qt (SoQt), Win32 API (SoWin) and Motif
Motif (widget toolkit)
In computing, Motif refers to both a graphical user interface specification and the widget toolkit for building applications that follow that specification under the X Window System on Unix and other POSIX-compliant systems. It emerged in the 1980s as Unix workstations were on the rise, as a...
(SoXt) are also maintained.
Language bindings
Coin3D is written in C++, but can be access from other programming languages using available bindingsLanguage binding
In computing, a binding from a programming language to a library or OS service is an API providing that service in the language.Many software libraries are written in systems programming languages such as C or C++...
. Bindings have been developed for Python Pivy, Java and JavaScript. Nickel provides access to most of the Coin3D functionality from .NET.
External links
- http://www.coin3d.org
- http://community.livejournal.com/coin3d_ru Coin3D programming community (RU)