Re: Visualization strategy/choosing a framework
Re: Visualization strategy/choosing a framework
- Subject: Re: Visualization strategy/choosing a framework
- From: "Barry Wark" <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 18:03:32 -0800
On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 7:19 PM, Adam Foltzer <email@hidden> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I've been lurking here for a while as I've been learning the Cocoa ropes,
> and I'm at the point where I need to put the (excellent) Hillegass theory
> into practice. My app is an interactive particle swarm optimization (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_swarm_optimization for the curious)
> that generates N-dimensional coordinates representing individuals in a very
> compelling, organic way. For visualization, of course, I'm mainly concerned
> with two- and three-dimensional instances of these swarms.
>
> My trouble is in deciding which graphics framework to pursue for the
> visualization. Since all I need are representations of points, the path of
> least resistance for 2-D visualization seems to be using a simple loop with
> calls to [NSBezierPath fillrect:]. However, I suspect this pattern would not
> extend well to rendering a scene with 3-D instances of the swarms.
>
> Beyond the use of Bezier paths, my knowledge falls short pretty quickly. I
> often hear people sing the praises of Core Animation, but the emphasis on
> layering in the documentation makes me doubt its capability to draw such a
> 3-D scene.
>
> I also see Quartz mentioned as a friendlier wrapper for OpenGL, but again I
> get the impression that it's more geared toward 2-D rendering than anything
> else. Is a straight dive into full OpenGL the way to go here? I realize that
> these frameworks have similarities, and that picking the "wrong" one won't
> at all be a waste of my time, but I'd be thrilled to hear thoughts on their
> comparative virtues before I take the plunge either way.
I would recommend you take a look at the open source VTK toolkit,
which can do fast (OpenGL-based) 2D and 3D visualization. The 3D
visualizations can be made particularly attractive. VTK is C++ but can
be integrated with a Cocoa UI pretty easily (see
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/02/11/dev_osx.html?page=1
and http://www.macresearch.org/installing_vtk_on_mac_os_x to help you
get started).
Barry
>
> Cheers, and a Happy New Year to you all,
> Adam
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