plib-users

Re: [Plib-users] OT RH7.0 rant

[Will N. <wi...@mi...>]

On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, Bernie Bright wrote:

> Bernie (a contented Mandrake 7.1 (Linux version 2.2.17 (gcc version
> 2.95.3))/Red Hat 6.2 (stock standard) user)

Hmmm, I don't see 2.95.3 listed as an official release. Maybe RH aren't
the only ones...

Re: [Plib-users] OT RH7.0 rant

[Bernie B. <bb...@bi...>]

Steve Baker wrote:
> 
> Digvijay Singh Lamba wrote:
> >
> > Hi!
> > I have recently compiled and installed plib on my redhat 7.0 system.
> 
> Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!!!
> 

ditto

> (Sorry - I said I'd scream if I heard another RH 7.0 problem).
> 
[snip]
> 
> The major beef is probably the C/C++ compiler.  The Bozo's at RH picked
> an UNRELEASED CVS version of gcc - so who knows what problems it might
> have? ...

Actually the then weekly snapshot.

> ...  Certainly other projects have seen all kinds of problems and
> the Linux Kernel team created such a stink over RH using that half-assed
> version that they demanded that RH install an older version of gcc for
> rebuilding the kernel!  (That means that RH *knew* there was a problem
> before they cut their CD-ROMS - and *STILL* went ahead and did it!)
> 
> So, the advice I've heard from other RH7 victims is to remove gcc/g++
> and instead to symbolic-link the kernel's private compiler "kgcc"
> (which is a nice stable version) to gcc.
> 

RH are becoming the more like MS everyday.  NEVER install a point 0
release.  Wait for the point one.

And so the spin doctoring begins...

The kernel team's problems are mostly of their own making.  They use a
lot of assembler and hand coded register optimisations that break with
the more aggressive optimiser of recent GCC snapshots. 

Some points to note.  GCC 2.95 is now over a year old.  Std C++ is
nearly two years old.  The now defunct egcs project started as a result
of dissatisfaction with GCC 2.7.2, its lack of standards compliance, the
lack of new releases and limited access to the source.  Everyone (except
the kernel team) was pleased when egcs-1.0 appeared.  Eventually egcs
gets merged into mainstream GCC with egcs-1.1.2 re-labelled as GCC
2.95.  Kernels compile and run quite happily with gcc-2.95/egcs-1.1.2. 
In the meantime some of us (non-kernel hackers) are still waiting for
GCC 3.0 (three months late and probably not happening this year).

Perhaps we do need two compilers - one for the kernel and one for the
rest of us.  Hmmm sounds like every other Unix system I've ever worked
on.

Bernie (a contented Mandrake 7.1 (Linux version 2.2.17 (gcc version
2.95.3))/Red Hat 6.2 (stock standard) user)

Re: [Plib-users] Failure in using plib ...

[Steve B. <sjb...@ai...>]

Digvijay Singh Lamba wrote:
> 
> Hi!
> I have recently compiled and installed plib on my redhat 7.0 system.

Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!!!

(Sorry - I said I'd scream if I heard another RH 7.0 problem).

RH7 is a 'lemon'.  They completely screwed up the compiler version
they shipped, the kernel header files that get installed by default
don't match the kernel that's installed...there are NUMEROUS other
screwups.

Personally, I'd be dumping RH7 and looking at some other distro (and
trying to get my money back from RH)...I use SuSE 7.0 and it seems fine.

As to what you should do...this is what I've heard (second hand) from
other mailing lists where a variety of strange problems are cropping
up:

The major beef is probably the C/C++ compiler.  The Bozo's at RH picked
an UNRELEASED CVS version of gcc - so who knows what problems it might
have?   Certainly other projects have seen all kinds of problems and
the Linux Kernel team created such a stink over RH using that half-assed
version that they demanded that RH install an older version of gcc for
rebuilding the kernel!  (That means that RH *knew* there was a problem
before they cut their CD-ROMS - and *STILL* went ahead and did it!)

So, the advice I've heard from other RH7 victims is to remove gcc/g++
and instead to symbolic-link the kernel's private compiler "kgcc"
(which is a nice stable version) to gcc.

At any rate, the check in ssgInit (and others) are simply:

static bool glIsValidContext ()
{
  return ( glXGetCurrentContext() != NULL ) ;
}

void ssgInit ()
{
  if ( ! glIsValidContext () )
  {
    ulSetError ( UL_FATAL, "ssgInit called without a valid OpenGL context.");
  }

  ...
}


So, there is no doubt that there is no bug in there.  AFAIK, there
is no problem with the released example programs.


Personally, I think every RH7 owner should demand their money back.


> this happens even with the standard examples with the lib package. Iam
> sure iam doing all the opengl initialisation correctly. Iam clueless what
> to do.
> I tried checking for the context immediately before the call to ssgInit
> and the context is fine at that place.

So what happened between YOUR call to glXGetCurrentContext() and mine?

The answer is "nothing" - so we are looking at a compiler problem - which
brings us back to RH7.

> also the examples for the sl and sg libraries run fine on my system.

Neither of those check OpenGL rendering contexts.

> PS: there was also another error, in the file that the automatic
> compilation created the js.h file did not include string.h for linux and
> so memcpy function was not bieng recognised.... had to do it manually,
> hope this is corrected in future.

Yes - sorry - this is a known problem...it'll get fixed in the next release.

All the programs I was testing with had:

   #include <string.h>
   #include <plib/js.h>

...so it wasn't showing up the problem...sorry!


-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjb...@ai...>
              WorkEmail: <sj...@li...>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net

[Plib-users] Failure in using plib ...

[Digvijay S. L. <ds...@ii...>]

Hi!
I have recently compiled and installed plib on my redhat 7.0 system. I
have the opengl and glut libraries that come with the standard redhat
distribution. The compilation was smooth and error free. 
the problem is that now when ever i use plib functions in a program,
though the programs compile correctly but they give the following error on
execution:
ssgInit called without valid OpenGl context
same happend for puInit or with the fntLoader.

this happens even with the standard examples with the lib package. Iam
sure iam doing all the opengl initialisation correctly. Iam clueless what
to do. 
I tried checking for the context immediately before the call to ssgInit
and the context is fine at that place.
also the examples for the sl and sg libraries run fine on my system.
Let me also mention that opengl programming with glut does not give any
errors on my system otherwise.

Thanks for the help ...

Digvijay

PS: there was also another error, in the file that the automatic
compilation created the js.h file did not include string.h for linux and
so memcpy function was not bieng recognised.... had to do it manually,
hope this is corrected in future.
 

[Plib-users] TEST

[Don L. <laf...@cn...>]

test?

[Plib-users] FreeFD plib conversion

[Don L. <laf...@cn...>]

Well Steve,  I converted my project to use Plib's FNT class and I'm happy with
the results.

Speed doubled under acceleration (As you said) (PII/450 w/TNT2m64/32Meg 90 fps
vs. 44 fps)
Speed more than doubled without acceleration. (PII/366 w/C&T chipset 12 fps vs.
5 fps)

Plib beats GLF hands down.  And fonts are nice and clear without smoothing.

Now my project is back on track with both the Linux and Windoze versions.

Thanks!!

Don.
http://www.avsim.com/hangar/utils/freefd

RE: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?

[Jon A. <jan...@on...>]

> >>...I wonder if Windoze users have considered porting the GPL'ed version
> >of Qt onto Windoze?  If it's GPL'ed (rather than QPL'ed) then there is
> >nothing to stop people from using it commercially (within the
> >constraints
> >of GPL-as-opposed-to-LGPL - which are considerable).
>
>I have ported the free version of QT 1.42 with Cygwin if
>anyone wants it.


I'd be interested in hearing the steps you used to do it.  My project uses 
QT 2.0, and I briefly tried compiling it with cygwin, but failed.  But 
windows isn't really my domain...

Jon

RE: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?

[Norman V. <nh...@ca...>]

>> Steve Baker wrote:

>>...I wonder if Windoze users have considered porting the GPL'ed version
>of Qt onto Windoze?  If it's GPL'ed (rather than QPL'ed) then there is
>nothing to stop people from using it commercially (within the 
>constraints
>of GPL-as-opposed-to-LGPL - which are considerable).

I have ported the free version of QT 1.42 with Cygwin if
anyone wants it.

Most QT stuff being written is all 2.0 however 
and I haven't tried to port this yet.

Norman

Re: [Plib-users] Where Makefile of ssgAux is?

[Steve W. <st...@sh...>]

On Wed, 18 Oct 2000 20:56:28 +0900, Kazuki Iizuka wrote:

>I have problem about plib-1.3.1.tar.gz  on Linux.
>
>	* Now, Makrfile is not created in only ssgAux-DIR. 
>	* Compiler says `no target' in ssgAux.

I think I had that problem too.  I just modified the scripts to add that dir...


-----------
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly,
while bad people will find a way around the laws."
     - Plato (427-347 B.C.)

Re: [Plib-users] Where Makefile of ssgAux is?

[Kazuki I. <ka...@po...>]

Hi, Per.

I do not clearly saying in pre-Mail.
 
> 
> You could try running:
>    aclocal; automake -a; autoconf
> 

I had already done this approach.
But, the problem is OK, now.
I add one line to last function of `configure.in'.
--------------------
AC_OUTPUT( \
    Makefile \
    src/Makefile \
    src/js/Makefile \
    src/util/Makefile \
    src/pui/Makefile \
    src/sg/Makefile \
    src/sl/Makefile \
    src/ssg/Makefile \
    src/ssgAux/Makefile \  <--- The line
    src/fnt/Makefile )

Tt's OK. I build plib.

Tanks Per.
      kazuki Iizuka <ka...@po...>

> > I have problem about plib-1.3.1.tar.gz  on Linux.
> > 
> > In `{some_DIR}/plib-1.3.1' ...
> >    ./configure
> > 	* Now, Makrfile is not created in only ssgAux-DIR. 
> >    make
> > 	* Compiler says `no target' in ssgAux.
> > 
> > I maybe have all that plib needs libraries.(Mesa, Glut, 
> etc..)
> > Why makefile is not created in ssgAux-DIR? 
> > What I should do something else?
> 
> You could try running:
>    aclocal; automake -a; autoconf
> 
> before running ./configure, to make sure everything is set 
> up as it should.
> 
> Regards,
> Per
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> plib-users mailing list
> pli...@li...
> http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/plib-users

Re: [Plib-users] Where Makefile of ssgAux is?

[Per L. <li...@ho...>]

> I have problem about plib-1.3.1.tar.gz  on Linux.
> 
> In `{some_DIR}/plib-1.3.1' ...
>    ./configure
> 	* Now, Makrfile is not created in only ssgAux-DIR. 
>    make
> 	* Compiler says `no target' in ssgAux.
> 
> I maybe have all that plib needs libraries.(Mesa, Glut, 
etc..)
> Why makefile is not created in ssgAux-DIR? 
> What I should do something else?

You could try running:
   aclocal; automake -a; autoconf

before running ./configure, to make sure everything is set 
up as it should.

Regards,
Per

[Plib-users] Where Makefile of ssgAux is?

[Kazuki I. <ka...@po...>]

Greeting, I'm Kazuki.

I have problem about plib-1.3.1.tar.gz  on Linux.

In `{some_DIR}/plib-1.3.1' ...
   ./configure
	* Now, Makrfile is not created in only ssgAux-DIR. 
   make
	* Compiler says `no target' in ssgAux.

I maybe have all that plib needs libraries.(Mesa, Glut, etc..)
Why makefile is not created in ssgAux-DIR? 
What I should do something else?

Thanks.
	Kazuki Iizuka <ka...@po...>

Re: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?

[Steve B. <sjb...@ai...>]

Christian Mayer wrote:
> 
> Steve Baker wrote:
> >
> > The QPL license on their web site at http://doc.trolltech.com/license.html says
> > that the 'Qt Free Edition' is free to non-commercial software - but for commercial
> > use you have to get 'Qt Professional Edition' which costs $$$$.  There is no mention
> > (that I could find) about which OS you run it under - so it's STILL not *truly* free
> > (in both senses) under Linux - and it's no more and no less free under Windoze.
> 
> I understood that the Linux version of Qt is open (even licenced under
> GPL). But that's just the Linux version and *not* the Windows one.

...I wonder if Windoze users have considered porting the GPL'ed version
of Qt onto Windoze?  If it's GPL'ed (rather than QPL'ed) then there is
nothing to stop people from using it commercially (within the constraints
of GPL-as-opposed-to-LGPL - which are considerable).

-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjb...@ai...>
              WorkEmail: <sj...@li...>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net

Re: [Plib-users] Suggestions for coming plib version

[Steve B. <sjb...@ai...>]

Alexander Rawass wrote:

> * the file doc/index.html seems to be Steve Bakers private Homepage, not
> the plib Homepage/index page

That appears to be fixed now.
 
> * is the documentation updated to show the features of the new stuff?
> I haven't found puFilePicker, for example

It's too new.  All of PLIB's documentation needs updating.  It really
hasn't been touched since V1.0.0 or so!
 
> * I read in your plib-devel list something about ssgaShape (also found
> no docu)

Also too new.

It's not hard to understand though - since it's all in the style of
the other SSG functions - and derived from ssgBranch.

> In my game, a Space Fight Sim, you'll see a real of lasershots.
> The easiest lasershot is just a rectangular and long and either red or
> green,
> right now I am using an ac3d object which I have constructed - it has
> probably too many polygons, what do I now.
> What I want from you is probably something like an ssgaShape - a ssg
> object which looks like a 'lasershot' in a given color, but renders the
> _fastest_ way a such-looking thing can render.

You will probably find that a nice wide GL_LINE primitive with GL_LIGHTING
disabled is the best way to do this.

Using polygons has the problem that for thin things like laser shots, they
tend to get smaller with perspective and they vanish "between the pixels",
break up and generally look terrible.

> It doesn't even need to be 'real 3d' anyway - it goes fast enough that
> the player can't see the diference between a 3d object and a fat 2d line
> moving in his sight.

So use a fat GL_LINE!

You might find that drawing a wide - but translucent line - followed by
a narrower, opaque line - possibly in a slightly lighter colour - will
make them look "hotter".  You'll need to experiment.

SSG doesn't support glLineWidth - so you'll have to set it in a draw
callback.  Personally, I probably wouldn't use SSG to draw laser bolts
anyway.

> Idea: for a 3d object, maybe one could make the lasershot not a long
> rectangular thing but a triangular thing - player won't notice.

But it'll alias still worse.

The nice thing about GL_LINEs is that you can control their widths
(in pixels) no matter what their range is...yet they are still in 3D
and are occluded properly in Z.

> So thanks to plib-devel for their work - I have to say (getting
> back to 'Bloatware') that with plib growing that much, it gets
> harder - if not impossible - to optionally switch to another scene-
> graph, so the future will make Steve's words come true :-))

My only concern with growing PLIB is that we manage the transition
from "Simple - but Effective" to "Comprehensive, Robust - but still
Approachable by the beginner".

Things can only be described as 'bloated' when they are larger than
their functionality appears to warrant - or when their functionality
grows to the extent that a majority of users don't use or understand
a vast percentage of the API - so they *appear* to be larger than
their *useful* functionality warrants.

That's certainly something to be guarded against.

When you look at (say) the Windoze Joystick API - there are at least
three different ways to read the joystick - all totally incompatible.
Why?  Because they initially didn't think beyond two 2 axis joysticks
each with two buttons.  Then when they realised their mistake, they
simply froze the old API and made a new one that could handle (IIRC)
4 axes and 8 buttons...then sticks with even more axes and buttons
came along and yet another layer of API was needed.   If they had
only stopped to think at day one, they could *easily* have allowed
for arbitary numbers of axes, sticks, buttons, etc - and that API
would still be valid today.

Hence, if we wish to keep PLIB from developing those kinds of warts,
we need to *carefully* think about keeping each new feature as general
as it possibly can be.

I'm not pretending we don't make those kinds of errors in API design,
but by paying close attention to getting the API right, I maintain
that 'bloat-reduction' will naturally follow.

-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjb...@ai...>
              WorkEmail: <sj...@li...>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net

Re: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?

[Ben D. <be...@wa...>]

> > Qt doesn't support Open software on Win32,
>
> Is that *still* true?

I'm afraid so.

> The QPL license on their web site at http://doc.trolltech.com/license.html
says
> that the 'Qt Free Edition' is free to non-commercial software - but for
commercial
> use you have to get 'Qt Professional Edition' which costs $$$$.  There is
no mention
> (that I could find) about which OS you run it under

If you dig around, you'll find that the "Qt Free Edition" is a linux
distribution.

> FLTK is pretty good.

I just took a quick look at it, and it does look reasonable for light-weight
tasks, though with a heavy Motif-flavor and of course lacking a lot of what
wxWindows has: a source-independent dialog format, common dialogs, a Mac
version, etc.

> There is also Tcl/Tk, Java...I'm sure there are LOTS of others.

Not really.  Tcl/Tk and Java aren't means for creating GUIs for standard
C/C++ programs.  There are several commercial toolkits, but Qt and wxWindows
are the only full-fledged free ones, and Qt isn't free for Win32.  That
leaves wxWindows.

-Ben

Re: [Plib-users] Trouble making simple colored triangle

[Ben D. <be...@wa...>]

> > 1. Using enable-disable of GL_COLOR_MATERIAL does not properly disable
the
> > state...  I also found a workaround, which consists of calling
> > glColorMaterial(GL_FRONT, GL_DIFFUSE) *before* calling
> > glEnable(GL_COLOR_MATERIAL ) for the first time.
>
> Make that the first line of your code after ssgInit() and you are done
then!

That's the first line *before*, not after.  ssgInit enables the state, so
the glColorMaterial call is required before that in order for subsequent
disables to work (with NVidia cards/drivers).

> > 2. I haven't found a way to use ssgSimpleState/ssgVtxTable to make
simple
> > colored geometry.  That's the current killer, if there's no solution
then
> > i'll have to abandon PLIB/SSG.
>
> Well, it can certainly be done

I've spent a lot of time trying, even tried fixing the SSG code, read ever
word of the documentation, then wrote the mailing list found that nobody
here has known either.

> I'm still pretty confused as to your precise problem

When you get some time to run that test program, and if the triangle is
white, you can see them problem clearly on your own machine: SSG apparently
doesn't let you give objects a non-white material without using per-vertex
color.  I've used a lot of 3D APIs over the years, and this is first time
i've ever seen a limitation like this.

-Ben

Re: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?

[<Va...@t-...>]

Steve Baker wrote:
> 
> The QPL license on their web site at http://doc.trolltech.com/license.html says
> that the 'Qt Free Edition' is free to non-commercial software - but for commercial
> use you have to get 'Qt Professional Edition' which costs $$$$.  There is no mention
> (that I could find) about which OS you run it under - so it's STILL not *truly* free
> (in both senses) under Linux - and it's no more and no less free under Windoze.

I understood that the Linux version of Qt is open (even licenced under
GPL). But that's just the Linux version and *not* the Windows one.

I didn't investigate it any further.

CU,
Christian

[Plib-users] Suggestions for coming plib version

[Alexander R. <a_r...@in...>]

Hi,

I've some suggestions to your coming plib version, I also read
plib-devel
and there's a lot going on in it - fine!

I cannot check out the latest version via cvs at the moment ('technical
difficulties' on my side, my latest snapshot is 9th Sep) , so what I've
got to say could be outdated now.

* the file doc/index.html seems to be Steve Bakers private Homepage, not
the plib Homepage/index page

* is the documentation updated to show the features of the new stuff?
I haven't found puFilePicker, for example

* If got another monitor, the colors seem to be better now, but I would
still like Steve to change the colors a bit (if not for me, maybe for
others)

* there were no puInput examples in examples/src/pui
I have problems with puInput (can't click on them), please provide me
with an example, let's say two puInput fields which can be clicked

* I also maybe need some new 'easy' widgets.
First, thanks to Dave for implementing puFilepicker, although I have
to admit I didn't use it yet - please provide docu (see above)
I need another widget like puFilepicker, that's what I call
puScrollList - a widget that displays a scrolling list, with a scrollbar
at a side.
My puScrollList is just a 'evil hack' to use in my program, you could do
that
better - as Dave has shown with puFilepicker.
But he went a 'bit too far' - I need a widget like puFilepicker, but I
need
also a widget that just takes an array of pointer to string as an input
and displays them and tells which one get's clicked etc.
I hope you understand what I mean.

* I read in your plib-devel list something about ssgaShape (also found
no docu)
In my game, a Space Fight Sim, you'll see a real of lasershots.
The easiest lasershot is just a rectangular and long and either red or
green,
right now I am using an ac3d object which I have constructed - it has
probably too many polygons, what do I now.
What I want from you is probably something like an ssgaShape - a ssg
object which looks like a 'lasershot' in a given color, but renders the
_fastest_ way a such-looking thing can render.
It doesn't even need to be 'real 3d' anyway - it goes fast enough that
the player can't see the diference between a 3d object and a fat 2d line
moving in his sight.
Idea: for a 3d object, maybe one could make the lasershot not a long
rectangular thing but a triangular thing - player won't notice.


So thanks to plib-devel for their work - I have to say (getting
back to 'Bloatware') that with plib growing that much, it gets
harder - if not impossible - to optionally switch to another scene-
graph, so the future will make Steve's words come true :-))


Alex

-- 
                   Alexander Rawass
          Email: ale...@us...
     Project Homepage: http://tuxfleet.sourceforge.net
...but some day you'll be a STAR in somebody else's SKY...

Re: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?

[Steve B. <sjb...@ai...>]

Ben Discoe wrote:
 
> I've been using wxWindows for a few months, including a large GUI for a 2d
> application, and it's been fantastic.  It's a *lot* like MFC

<shudder>

> only much cleaner, simpler, and of course portable and open.

Hmmm.  I disliked it intensely for the few months I was forced to work with
the damned thing - but that was before I knew it was a lot like MFC...   :-)

> Also, i don't know of any alternative when developing Open software on both
> Win32 and Linux.  Qt doesn't support Open software on Win32,

Is that *still* true?

The QPL license on their web site at http://doc.trolltech.com/license.html says
that the 'Qt Free Edition' is free to non-commercial software - but for commercial
use you have to get 'Qt Professional Edition' which costs $$$$.  There is no mention
(that I could find) about which OS you run it under - so it's STILL not *truly* free
(in both senses) under Linux - and it's no more and no less free under Windoze.

I thought they'd finally become truly "Open"....<sigh>

> GTK isn't quite working yet on Win32

Well, GIMP (which is the 'G' in 'GTK') seems to run pretty well under Windoze,
so I'd expect GTK to be pretty robust now...I could easily be wrong about that
though.  How recently did you check it out?

> and to the best of my knowledge no other portable GUI
> tolkits have a significant user base, interface-design utilities, etc.

FLTK is pretty good.  We've been using it for PrettyPoly (PPE) and it's GUI is
going together quite nicely.  It certainly has a significant user base, there
is 'FLUID' for interface design - and it's portable (we've been using it under
Windoze, Linux and various UNIXen).

There is also Tcl/Tk, Java...I'm sure there are LOTS of others.

> That's why getting wxWindows and SSG working together is so important... and
> technically, it really should work.

I'm not sure how important it is - but it *should* certainly work.

-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjb...@ai...>
              WorkEmail: <sj...@li...>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net

Re: [Plib-users] Trouble making simple colored triangle

[Steve B. <sjb...@ai...>]

Ben Discoe wrote:

> There is more than one problem.  Here are two of them:
> 
> 1. Using enable-disable of GL_COLOR_MATERIAL does not properly disable the
> state.  I confirmed this using just OpenGL calls, on multiple NVidia cards
> and drivers.  I also found a workaround, which consists of calling
> glColorMaterial(GL_FRONT, GL_DIFFUSE) *before* calling
> glEnable(GL_COLOR_MATERIAL ) for the first time.  No logical reason why this
> should make it work, but it does.

Make that the first line of your code after ssgInit() and you are done then!
 
> 2. I haven't found a way to use ssgSimpleState/ssgVtxTable to make simple
> colored geometry.  That's the current killer, if there's no solution then
> i'll have to abandon PLIB/SSG.

Well, it can certainly be done - I'm still pretty confused as to your
precise problem - but SSG doesn't really do anything different than
the underlying OpenGL calls.

-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjb...@ai...>
              WorkEmail: <sj...@li...>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net

Re: [Plib-users] Re: "make"ing in Cygwin

[Steve B. <sjb...@ai...>]

Tyler Mitchell wrote:
> 
> Same problem occurs when making 1.3 as well.
> Is there some other software that I'm missing perhaps?

I doubt it - PLIB depends only on GLUT and OpenGL (both GL and GLU).
I deliberately keep the number of dependancies on external packages
to the barest minimum.

-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjb...@ai...>
              WorkEmail: <sj...@li...>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net

Re: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?

[Ben D. <be...@wa...>]

I've been using wxWindows for a few months, including a large GUI for a 2d
application, and it's been fantastic.  It's a *lot* like MFC, only much
cleaner, simpler, and of course portable and open.

Also, i don't know of any alternative when developing Open software on both
Win32 and Linux.  Qt doesn't support Open software on Win32, GTK isn't quite
working yet on Win32, and to the best of my knowledge no other portable GUI
tolkits have a significant user base, interface-design utilities, etc.

That's why getting wxWindows and SSG working together is so important... and
technically, it really should work.

-Ben

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Baker" <sjb...@ai...>
To: <pli...@li...>
Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2000 8:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?


> > Ben Discoe wrote:
> >
> > Has anyone on this list tried using wxWindows and PLIB/SSG together?  It
seems like
> > a good combination (open source GUI, open source 3D).
>
> You'd use wxWindows *voluntarily* ?!?
>
> I'm not aware of anyone trying this - but if you can wrestle wxWindows
into doing *anything*
> in the way of an OpenGL window, then SSG should work OK.
>
> Good luck though - after my last "experiences" with wxWindows, I truly,
deeply, advise you
> to look at something else.  FLTK maybe?  GTK?
>
> > It should work well since wxWindows can set up an OpenGL context, and
SSG just draws
> > into the current context.  However, my attempts so far to combine the
small wxWindows
> > OpenGL sample program with some SSG functions has not been successful -
the SSG objects
> > aren't appearing.
>
> I can't imagine why not - but wxWindows is *so* strange, it may well have
set up some really
> wacky OpenGL modes before it draws.
>
> --
> Steve Baker

Re: [Plib-users] Trouble making simple colored triangle

[Ben D. <be...@wa...>]

From: "Steve Baker" <sjb...@ai...>
>
> > I'm really tearing my hair out here over making simple coloured
geometry.
> > Steve, i beg of you to please help me with my previous email, the one
with
> > the stuff about ssgSimpleState/ssgVertexColourArray.
>
> You said that you could get this to happen with simple GL-level commands -
shouldn't
> you just take out all of the PLIB code and mail your example to one of the
OpenGL
> mailing lists (and possibly to the nVidia developers) ??

There is more than one problem.  Here are two of them:

1. Using enable-disable of GL_COLOR_MATERIAL does not properly disable the
state.  I confirmed this using just OpenGL calls, on multiple NVidia cards
and drivers.  I also found a workaround, which consists of calling
glColorMaterial(GL_FRONT, GL_DIFFUSE) *before* calling
glEnable(GL_COLOR_MATERIAL ) for the first time.  No logical reason why this
should make it work, but it does.

2. I haven't found a way to use ssgSimpleState/ssgVtxTable to make simple
colored geometry.  That's the current killer, if there's no solution then
i'll have to abandon PLIB/SSG.

Thanks,
Ben

Re: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?

[Ben D. <be...@wa...>]

Hi Norman, it feels good to be here, i hope i can find a way to stay =
with PLIB.

I checked my test program to confirm that the contexts are being treated =
properly, yet the SSG graphics will not appear, and in fact seem to mess =
up the display of OpenGL calls even when the ssgCullAndDraw is called =
second.

Does PPE use wxWindows, FLTK, or something else?  I tried to acquire the =
PPE source to look at the module you indicated, but when i downloaded =
and opened the file "prettypoly-cvsroot.tar.gz", all the files had ",v" =
in their names and had jumbled contents, as if the were were some kind =
of CVS-internal format.

-Ben

----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Norman Vine=20
  To: pli...@li...=20
  Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2000 3:31 PM
  Subject: RE: [Plib-users] wxWindows and SSG together?


  Ben Discoe  writes:=20
    =20
    Has anyone on this list tried using wxWindows and PLIB/SSG together? =
 It seems like a good combination (open source GUI, open source 3D).=20
    =20
    It should work well since wxWindows can set up an OpenGL context, =
and SSG just draws into the current context.  However, my attempts so =
far to combine the small wxWindows OpenGL sample program with some SSG =
functions has not been successful - the SSG objects aren't appearing.
    =20
    Has someone used them successfully, and if so perhaps someone has a =
small sample program with them working together?=20
    =20
    Hi Ben,
    =20
    Welcome aboard. :-)
    =20
    Using the FLTK windowing kit was fairly easy to do
    There are some minor yet show stopping gottchas however.
    i.e you have to make sure that you have a valid GLContext
    prior to any SSG calls.
    =20
    basically all you should need to do is derive a new class
    from wxGLCanvas and attach a ssgContext
    =20
    You can look at the PPE source
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/prettypoly
    To see a way to do this
    The pertinent code is in src/viewer/ppeViewer.cxx
    esp. ppeViewer::init()
    =20
    Watch out for possible confusion of=20
    wxGLCanvas::SetCurrent()  and
    ssgContext::makeCurrent()
    =20
    MakeCurrent() !!! MUST !!! come after SetCurrent()
    =20
    Cheers
    =20
    Norman

RE: [Plib-users] "make"ing in Cygwin

[Norman V. <nh...@ca...>]

Tyler Mitchell writes:
>
>Just installed the whole shabang of Cygwin and now have run MAKE on the
>PLIB installation.
>Everything seems okay until part way through compiling 
>slMOFfile.  Below is
>a snippit of where the errors started and how the make process 
>ended.  Can
>anyone direct to me to rectify the problem?

Hi Tyler

It appears as if you have a DOS vs Unix line end problem.
This could be due to a number of things.

I would suggest reinstalling the PLib source onto a drive which
you know that Cygwin considers to be mounted as 'text'.

Norman