Re: [Algorithms] FW: [CsMain] Scene Graphs

[Neal T. <ne...@ps...>]

RE: [Algorithms] FW: [CsMain] Scene Graphs
  From: Scott McCaskill=20





  _Maybe_, but it is a tough problem to solve.  Put too much =
functionality in a scene graph and it starts to look bloated because =
most apps will only use a (small?) subset of that functionality.  OTOH, =
if you make it too simple and people end up having to write a bunch of =
code to use it then they will perceive it to be not very useful.  This, =
combined with having to work within an externally imposed structure, =
could lead a person to consider "just doing it himself".

  I believe that the "Renderware" approach of having many small =
components arranged in hierarchical layers, with the ability to plug in =
different components at any level, is probably the best general approach =
for truly reusable "scene graph" code.  The core or base level can then =
contain no actual scene graph code at all, just helper components such =
as a platform independent interface for rendering blocks of data, matrix =
support, chunk streaming functions, texture and image handling, and so =
on.  The next layer up might be a very basic scene graph / 3d engine, =
and additional functionality such as skinning or animations can be added =
as higher level plugins.

  Having said that, we are no longer actually using RenderWare as =
opposed to our own code written along similar lines, so perhaps even =
this approach may not be quite good enough for everyone:-)

  Neal Tringham (Sick Puppies)

  ne...@ps...
  ne...@em...