From: Angus Dorbie (dorbie++at++sgi.com)
Date: 01/24/2000 11:44:00
Performer has no real file format (pfb's are a new arrival and really
exist only to improve performance). The only concept for loading in
Performer is that you write code to build a scene graph. Now building on
that concept, third parties have written loaders which read a file
format from disk and build a Performer scene graph to visually represent
the contents of the file loaded. You can use any provided loader to read
the appropriate file format or you can write your own loader which reads
a file and produces a scene graph. So, the right approach might be to
look at the best tools for modeling the types of database you require
and consider exporting to a format which has a loader written for
Performer, or writing a loader for that tools native format. I hear that
AC3D is quite good as an inexpensive modeling tool.
If you check my web site (see .sig) you'll see that the Aqua section
contains a submarine with articulated control surfaces which does
exactly the kind of rigid body manipulation you are looking for. It
explains in detail how this is done. The description of torpedoes & hard
points might also be useful to you. I also posted a week or so ago on
how to rotate about a point not at the origin which you might need to
extend the Aqua example.
Cheers,Angus.
Brynn Rogers wrote:
>
> I have been playing with performer for linux (just perfly, really) and I have the manditory
> dumb questions.
> What applications are used to make models usable by perfly? I assum inventor is one, but what others?
>
> Is there an inventor available under linux?
>
> performer seems like it has the guts to do things like arms and legs (articulated moving models, anyway),
> but none of the sample files do this. Can it do this? Are there demos?
>
> Brynn
>
> P.S. info-performer really is a beautiful name. What kind of idiots are out there?
> --
> Brynn Rogers brynn++at++tiny.net
> http://triplets.tonkaland.com/ to see my triplets!
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--
"It takes a vision to beat a vision."
-Thomas Sowell
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