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XYZ's 3D Gear is a powerful graphics visualization tool designed to shorten the development cycle of complex virtual environment applications. Unlike other products, XYZ's 3D Gear provides three different levels of interfaces. This allows developers to choose the desired amount of control or involvement in the development of custom applications.
The first type of interface (first gear) provides direct access to the C++ objects that model the key elements of a virtual scene. At this level, the 3D Gear is a collection of classes that define the elements of a virtual environment, such as digital terrains, static and dynamic objects, cameras, lights, etc.
The second level of APIs (second gear) consists of managing tools that create, destroy, manipulate, and track all the components of a virtual scene.
The final level (third gear) includes MFC Document and View classes that can give a custom application instant access to a virtual scene.
One can choose and mix APIs from each of the three levels to achieve the desired functionality without compromising the architecture of a future or existing client application. The entire source code of a sample application is provided with the library to give developers a quick start. The following figure illustrates XYZ's 3D Gear model.
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This is the lowest level, least intrusive and most flexible version of XYZ's 3D Gear. In essence the First 3D Gear (F3G) is a collection of objects implemented as C++ classes. Developers can instantiate these classes and use them within custom applications and/or derive new classes from the existing ones to further customize their behavior. The following list includes the classes currently available in F3G: |
XYZ_Camera
XYZ_Light
XYZ_Grid
XYZ_MRGrid
XYZ_Tin
XYZ_MRTin
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XYZ_Object
XYZ_Indicator
XYZ_Manipulator
XYZ_Matrix
XYZ_Vector |
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Each object provides a set of standard functionality allowing placement, attachment, activation, rendering, and customization. XYZ Solutions adds new objects to enhance and complement existing functionality using feedback the company receives from its customers.
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This intermediate level interface allows faster implementation of common functionality but still provides enough flexibility to be independent of the solution's architecture. The Second 3D Gear (S3D) is in essence a comprehensive management object implemented as a C++ class. Instantiating this object (XYZ_Manager), within custom applications provides instant access to APIs for creation, destruction, manipulation, and tracking of all the components of a custom virtual environment available in F3D (the first gear). Also, the manager class is updated to take advantage of the latest improvements in F3D providing a fast and reliable way of implementing new changes in client applications.
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The final level of the 3D Gear library provides developers with a quick and easy way of getting a custom application up and running. At this level, it was necessary to select a single architecture. After careful consideration Microsoft MFC's Document/View architecture was chosen because of its popularity and ease of implementation. XYZ's Third 3D Gear (T3D) consists mainly of two objects: XYZ_Document and XYZ_View. The XYZ_Document class is derived from the MFC CDocument class and the XYZ_View is derived from the MFC CView class. Replacing the document and the view classes in an existing MFC application with XYZ_Document and XYZ_View, or deriving from them, gives the application immediate access to a virtual scene. F3D and S3D may be accessed from this level to allow customized behavior within the virtual scene.
The flexibility and ease of use provided by XYZ's 3D Gear can minimize the length of the development cycle of custom virtual environments. XYZ Solutions is committed to improve its products by using feedback received from its clients and using the latest technologies available to stay on the cutting edge.
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