Re: vrml browsers

Doug Rabson ([email protected])
Fri, 2 Jun 1995 11:53:53 +0100 (BST)


On Thu, 1 Jun 1995 [email protected] wrote:

> [snip]
>
> To rephrase your question then, I believe you are asking what is the advantage
> of using OpenGL over rendermorphics, if any? The answer is that OpenGL
> has much wider acceptance than rendermorphics does. That is, it is
> available on more platforms and supported by more hardware companies
> than any other realtime 3D rendering language. So, if you were to write
> your browser based on OpenGL, you would find porting it to other platforms
> a lot easier. If, however, your main concern is speed not portability,
> you might really want to use the rendermorphics library to squeeze the
> maximum performance out of your hardware. Keep in mind that many companies
> are promising cheap fast 3D hardware that will use OpenGL real soon now :-)
> Your accelerator which may seem speedy now, could quickly become obsolete.
> Will your browser become obsolete too or require a complete rewrite? If
> you use OpenGL, you'd probably be able to use new hardware without so much
> as a recompile.

RenderMorphics' Reality Lab already supports all the major platforms. If
you have a platform which is not currently supported, talk to us. We aim
to product a truly cross platform rendering system.

All the companies which are producing hardware which supports OpenGL will
also support Reality Lab. We are working closely with various graphics
hardware manufacturers to ensure that their board designs will meet both
our and OpenGL's needs.

>
> If you decide to use rendermorphics, you can at least be careful to build
> your browser in a very modular style so that you can easily swap out the
> rendering code and replace it with OpenGL rendering code at a later date.

Sound advice.

--
Doug Rabson, RenderMorphics Ltd.	Mail:  [email protected]
					Phone: +44 171 251 4411
					FAX:   +44 171 251 0939