From: Jon Blossom Subject: SOFTWARE: Gossamer 1.0, Macintosh polygon rendering package available Date: Thu, 24 Jun 93 17:22:41 PDT I'm happy to announce the availability of Gossamer 1.0, a polygon-based rendering system for the Macintosh. It is currently available as a self-extracting StuffIt archive available for ftp in /pub/VR/source on ftp.apple.com. It's in BinHex format. Gossamer 1.0 may be used freely to write programs destined for personal use or for the public domain. Any commercial applications, including shareware, must be licensed from me. REQUIREMENTS: Gossamer 1.0 requires a 68020 or better Macintosh with a 68881 or compatible math coprocessor (all math in the first release is floating point). It supports 1- to 32-bit color, though the simple demonstration included is limited to 1 to 8 bit palettized devices. The code was compiled with Symantec's THINK C 5.0, and the libraries are in that format. I am not sure whether this will work with version 6, but one hopes so... FEATURES: Gossamer 1.0 is a pared-down basic polygonal renderer. It uses a flat shading model with support in the sample for 16 colors of 16 shades each on an 8-bit device. Currently, there is no support for multiple object representations, hierarchical segments, stereo rendering, or spatial partitioning. Also, Gossamer 1.0 is strictly a rendering engine: there is no direct support for 3D input devices, though adding such support to the demo program is trivial. In fact, I'll probably add PowerGlove support for the Menelli and/or PGSI boxes if someone will tell me how (my PG connection is one of the "old style" that uses an extremely non-standard 68HC11 EVBU connection). Gossamer 1.0 is intended to begin enabling Rend386-like applications on the Macintosh. It is NOT directly compatible with Rend386 source, but translation should be fairly simple. THE PACKAGE: Included is the Gossamer 1.0 library in THINK C 5.0 format, sample source code for the demonstration program, documentation in Microsoft Word 5.1 format, and a Samples folder containing objects ported from Rend386 PLG files. Load them into the demo using the "File:Open" menu option. Unfortunately, I did not have time to support PLG files directly, but that's a BIG priority for me in the short term. I am not releasing the source code for Gossamer 1.0, but I probably will in the future - as soon as I have fixed the bugs that will no doubt appear in this release. Call me shy, but I'm afraid of "dropping my pants" to the world... RELEASE NOTES: Gossamer 1.0 is a "first-generation" library. Insert standard disclaimers here: It may be (it IS) buggy. It may not be everything to everyone. It may be slower than you'd like. However, these are problems that we have to deal with knowing that in the future they will be fixed. What this _is_ is a "proof of concept" and a request for suggestions and improvements. I just wanted to get _something_ into the hands of Mac VR-heads - tell me if I was too impatient. The "next generation" of this library is already under way. I will be rewriting significant portions in 68020 assembly, converting from floating point to fixed point, adding some features (segments for sure), and fixing bugs... If you have any questions, comments, or bugs to report, please e-mail me. Thanks! Jon Blossom jonbl@microsoft.com Microsoft disclaimer: This is NOT a Microsoft product, nor is it endorsed or supported by Microsoft in any way.