kjw@kpc.com (Kevin Weiler) (06/29/91)
Several questions regarding the Dore' graphics package have come up recently on the net, so I'll try to respond to them and update everyone on upcoming Dore' related events. For those who aren't already aware, Dore' is a portable 3D graphics package which supports both interactive and photorealistic graphics from the same scene description. It is an object oriented graphics software framework, and supports user defined primitives, and user defined renderers and device drivers. Dore' has been ported to many machines including SGI, Sun CXP, Stardent, and by customers to HP, IBM 6000, Cray, and others, and also comes with standard device drivers for X11 and file output. It is available as source code (the source code form is called Portable Dore') from Kubota Pacific Computer, 408-727-8100. Intelligent Light sells Dore' binaries, 201-794-7550. As a historical note, Dore' is now owned by Kubota Pacific Computer. It's a long story, but Dore' has been supported by the same group of people through several companies, and that tradition continues. Stardent still has Dore' available on its workstations. Recent News: 1) Portable Dore' Version 5.0 will be available in August. The base machine for this release is the SGI Personal Iris 4D35TG and will also support the SGI VGX system. This release has many new features and includes entirely revised manuals. I'll post a complete description in comp.newproducts as the release becomes imminent. 2) There will be a Dore' User Group Meeting at SIGGRAPH '91 in Las Vegas on Wednesday, July 31 at 3:30pm in the Las Vegas Convention Center Room N119. Attendees will hear news of some important new developments and will also receive a nice suprise. To answer the questions: >From: rehm@cs.washington.edu (Eric Rehm) >Has Stardent published a book on DORE? Dore' is well known for its excellent documentation. In the new release, the manuals have been thoroughly revised and are being published in paperback form. The manuals include a Programmers Guide, a Reference Manual, and a Developers Guide, and are available separately from Kubota Pacific. Copies will be available for examination at SIGGRAPH in the Stardent booth. >Is it available on workstation platforms other than Stardent? Yes. The base port for Portable Dore' has always been on non-Stardent machines (was Sun, is SGI for the coming release). See list above. >I'd also like to hear comments on how DORE is being used >(if anyone is using it....) Dore' users' interests include the entire range of 3D graphics application areas, but especially concentrate in advanced engineering, architecture, and scientific visualization. >From: rick@xing (Richard Ottolini) >dore@stardent.com used to answer questions. I haven't tried >in some time. This mailing list is now dore@kpc.com. >Dore is a PHIGS-like language. I wrote many applications in a few >years ago. Dore' is PHIGS-like in the sense that it allows hierarchical groups, as does almost any high level graphics package that allows retained structures. Beyond that there are far more differences than similarities in features, ease of use, rendering style, and architecture. >Stardent sells the source code for a low price ($250 for >universities), Stardent sells Dore' for its own machines only. Kubota Pacific sells the generic source code version. >but it ran much slower on non-Stardent computers. Dore' is not only portable, but it runs efficiently on a wide variety of machines, not just Stardents. The source that is available is identical to the source that is used on *all* machines. If it looks slower on another machine, then it is likely that either the port was not optimized properly or the machine was just plain slower. >There is a user's group that collects non-Stardent ports. See above for the next meeting of the Dore' user Group. >My Stardent salesman this year has been encouraging me to use >AVS instead of Dore. Dore' and AVS are complementary products, not competitors. In fact, the Stardent Titan port of AVS is based on top of Dore'. AVS is a higher level tool that tends to specialize in data visualization functions, while Dore' focuses strictly on 3D graphics and flexible application building support. In general, I'd say if you wanted to look at scientific data as a one-off effort or if you wanted to prototype something for which the modules are already available, use AVS. If you want complete control over your 3D graphics application development, and need unobtrusive flexibility and optimization for your applications, then use Dore'. Different tools for different jobs; use the tool that fits. -Kevin Weiler Director of Graphics Systems Kubota Pacific Computer