Open Inventor: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|3D graphics kernel}}

{{multiple issues|

{{RefimproveMore citations needed|date=September 2009}}

{{Lead too short|date=August 2009}}

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{{Infobox software

| name = Open Inventor [by SGI]

| title = Open Inventor [by SGI]

| logo = <!--Logo Imageof nameOpen is enough -->Inventor.gif

| logo caption = Logo of Open Inventor

| logo_size =

| logo_alt =

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| language footnote =

| genre = 3D graphics toolkit

| license = [[GNU Lesser General Public License]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oss.sgi.com/projects/inventor/license.html|title=SGI - Developer Central Open Source - Open Inventor|publisher=|access-date=2013-10-25|archive-date=2017-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019211449/http://oss.sgi.com/projects/inventor/license.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

| website = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20170811183842/http://oss.sgi.com/projects/inventor/}}

}}

'''Open Inventor''', originally '''IRIS Inventor''', is a [[C++]] [[objectObject-oriented programming|object-oriented]] [[retained mode]] 3D graphics toolkit designed by [[Silicon Graphics|SGI]] to provide a higher layer of programming for [[OpenGL]]. Its main goals are better programmer convenience and efficiency. Open Inventor exists as both [[proprietary software]] and [[free and open-source software]], subject to the requirements of the [[GNU Lesser General Public License]] (LGPL), version 2.1.

The primary objective was to make 3D programming accessible by introducing an object-oriented API, allowing developers to create complex scenes without the intricacies of low-level OpenGL. The toolkit incorporated features like scene graphs, pre-defined shapes, and automatic occlusion culling to streamline scene management. While Open Inventor focused on ease of use, the OpenGL Performer project, spawned from the same context, emphasized performance optimization. The two projects later converged in an attempt to strike a balance between accessibility and performance, culminating in initiatives like Cosmo 3D and OpenGL++. These projects underwent various stages of development and refinement, contributing to the evolution of 3D graphics programming paradigms.

==Early history==

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==Use==

[[OpenGL]] (OGL) is a low level [[Applicationapplication programming interface]] that takes lists of simple polygons and renders them as quickly as possible. To do something more practical like “draw a house”, the programmer must break down the object into a series of simple OGL instructions and send them into the engine for rendering. One problem is that OGL performance is highly sensitive to the way these instructions are sent into the system, requiring the user to know which instructions to send and in which order, and forcing them to carefully cull the data to avoid sending in objects that aren't even visible in the resulting image. For simple programs a tremendous amount of programming has to be done just to get started.

Open Inventor (OI) was written to address this issue, and provide a common base layer to start working with. Objects could be subclassed from a number of pre-rolled shapes like cubes and polygons, and then easily modified into new shapes. The “world” to be drawn was placed in a [[scene graph]] run by OI, with the system applying occlusion culling on objects in the graph automatically. OI also included a number of controller objects and systems for applying them to the scene, making common interaction tasks easier. Finally, OI also supplied a common file format for storing “worlds”“worlds,” and the code to automatically save or load a world from these files. Basic 3D applications could then be written in a few hundred lines under OI, by tying together portions of the toolkit with “glue” code.

On the downside OI tended to be slower than hand-written code, as 3D tasks are notoriously difficult to make perform well without shuffling the data in the scene graph by hand. Another practical problem was that OI could only be used with its own file format, forcing developers to write converters to and from the internal system.

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At some point in the mid-1990s it was realized that there was no good reason that the two systems could not be combined, resulting in a single high-level API with both performance and programmability. SGI started work on yet another project aimed at merging the two, eventually culminating in [[Cosmo 3D]]. However Cosmo had a number of practical problems that could have been avoided with better design.

Eventually all of these ideas would come together to create the [[OpenGL plus plus|OpenGL++]] effort, along with [[Intel]], [[IBM]] and [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]]. Essentially a cleaned up and more “open” version of Cosmo 3D, work on Cosmo ended and SGI turned to OpenGL++ full-time. The OpenGL++ effort would drag on and eventually be killed, and SGI then tried again with [[Microsoft]] with the similar [[Fahrenheit graphics API|Fahrenheit]] project, which also died. DuringIn this time1994 SGI ignoredlicensed OIOpen Inventor to two third-party developers, and[[Template eventuallyGraphics spunSoftware it(TGS)]] offand completelyPortable toGraphics; in 1996 TGS (todaybought Portable Graphics, [[FEImaking Company|FEI]])them the sole licensee.

==Recent history==

{{repetition|section|date=August 2014}}

After many years of Inventor being solely available under proprietary licensing from TGS (today, [[FEI Company|FEI]]), it was released under the [[LGPL]] [[open source]] license in August 2000, which is available from SGI.

AtAfter approximatelymany theyears sameof time,being ansolely APIavailable cloneunder libraryproprietary calledlicensing from TGS (now [[Coin3DFEI Company|FEI]]), Inventor was released byunder the company[[LGPL]] [[open source license]] in August 2000 and is available from SGI. Around the same time, the [[Coin3D]] API clone library was released by SIM (Systems in Motion). SIM was later acquired by the Kongsberg group and re-branded asrenamed [[Kongsberg SIM]]. The Coin library had been written in a [[clean room design|clean -room]] fashion from scratch, sharing no code with the original SGI Inventor library, but implementing the same API for compatibility reasons. Kongsberg ended development of Coin3D in 2011,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bitbucketgithub.orgcom/Coin3Dcoin3d/coin/wiki/Home|title=Coin3D / Coin / wiki / Home — BitbucketGithub|website=[[GitHub]] |date=30 March 2020|publisher=}}</ref> and released the code under the BSD 3-clause license.

The open -source version from SGI is not currently maintained, and SGI has not shownindicated anya commitment to do further development ofdevelop the library. However, theThe open -source release is theused basisin forMeVisLab several(MeVis activelyMedical developedSolutions projects:AG theand open-sourceFraunhofer MEVIS), however, and development of that continues.<ref>[http://www.openxipmevislab.orgde eXtensibleMeVisLab]</ref> ImagingThermo PlatformScientific (SiemensOpen CorporateInventor Research)]is still being developed, and has added a number of improvements to the freemiumoriginal (MeVisInventor MedicalAPI Solutionsfor AG[[medical andimaging]], Fraunhofer[[medical MEVIS)image computing].<ref>], 3D [http://www.mevislab.de[reflection MeVisLabseismology]]</ref>, and [[petroleum reservoir]] modeling.

The Open Inventor API is still widelycommonly used for a wide range of scientific and engineering visualization systems around the world, having proven itself well designed for effectivethe development of complex 3D application software.

FEI's Open Inventor is still thriving, under active development and has added numerous improvements to the original Inventor API specifically for [[medical imaging]], [[medical image computing]], 3D [[reflection seismology]], and [[petroleum reservoir]] modeling.

TGS was acquired by [[Mercury Computer Systems]] in 2004. It became an independent company, [[Visualization Sciences Group]] (VSG), in June 2009. In 2012, VSG was acquired by FEI Company. FEI Company was acquired in 2016 by the [[Thermo Fisher Scientific]] Materials & Structural Analysis Division, which continues to develop (and support) Open Inventor.

The Open Inventor API is still widely used for a wide range of scientific and engineering visualization systems around the world, having proven itself well designed for effective development of complex 3D application software.

{{Infobox software

| name = Open Inventor [by FEI]

| latest_release_version = 9.7.0

| latest_release_date = Feb 08, 2017 |

| platform = [[Cross-platform]]

| genre =

| programming language = [[C++]] [[.NET Framework|.NET]] [[Java (programming language)|Java]]

| license = [[Proprietary software|Proprietary]] [[commercial software]]

| website = {{URL|http://www.openinventor.com}}

}}

Open Inventor was licensed to two third party developers, [[Template Graphics Software (TGS)]] and Portable Graphics in 1994. TGS later bought Portable Graphics, making them the sole licensee. In 2004, TGS was acquired by [[Mercury Computer Systems]], and in June 2009, the entity became an independent company again called [http://www.vsg3d.com Visualization Sciences Group (VSG)]. In 2012, VSG was acquired by [[FEI Company]]. In 2016, [[FEI Company]] was acquired by [[Thermo Fisher Scientific]] (Materials & Structural Analysis Division), which continues to develop and support [http://www.openinventor.com Open Inventor].<ref>Permedia Research Group's MPath visualization and post-processing software for petroleum exploration, using VSG Open Inventor Volume LDM technology [http://www.permedia.ca/pdf/mpath_spotlight_21_viewerpro.pdf]</ref><ref>Tire maker Michelin’s FEA post-processing tools developed using MeshViz XLM and Open Inventor by VSG, by Randall Hand (visualization scientist) [http://www.vizworld.com/2010/03/michelin-meshviz-xlm-vsg-openinventor/]</ref><ref>ISATIS 3D Viewer (for exploring deposits, reservoir geometry, volume of the pollution, visualising lines, surfaces, block models, etc.) using VSG Open Inventor [http://www.geovariances.com/en/software-releases-whats-new-in-isatis-6-0-ar203?lang=fr?tab=277]</ref><ref>Image-Pro Plus software (with 3-D Constructor Plug-in Module), built using the underlying VSG Open Inventor libraries [http://www.scientificcomputing.com/three-dimensional-image-analysis.aspx?terms=visualization]</ref><ref>Design of a Control Strategy for Teleoperation of a Platform with Significant Dynamics, by Mattias Bratt, Christian Smith, and Henrik I. Christensen - Centre for Autonomous Systems KTH Stockholm, Sweden [http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~hic/hic-papers/iros06-bratt.pdf]</ref>

== References ==

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==External links==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041120092542/http://oss.sgi.com/projects/inventor/ Official SGI Open Inventor Site]

* [http://www.openinventor.com OpenThermo InventorScientific (byOpen FEI)Inventor], Commercial implementation of the API

* [http://forum.openinventor.com Open Inventor Users' Forum]

* [httphttps://wwwgithub.com/coin3d.org/coin/wiki Coin3D], Independent implementation of the API

* [https://github.com/YvesBoyadjian/Koin3D Koin3D], LWJGL port of Coin3D

[[Category:3D scenegraph APIs]]