cazier@mbunix.mitre.org (Cazier) (01/31/91)
Following the federal Applications Portability Profile recommendations, which of the following standards fit what types of software products: GKS CGM PHIGS IGES Where would an item like TIFF fit? Any known source of info about the good, bad, and ugly nature of any of the above mentioned "standards"?
jch@Stardent.COM (Jan Hardenbergh) (02/13/91)
> From: cazier@mbunix.mitre.org (Cazier) > > Following the federal Applications Portability Profile recommendations, > which of the following standards fit what types of software products: > > GKS > CGM > PHIGS > IGES > > Where would an item like TIFF fit? CGM has some bitmap facilities. > Any known source of info about the good, bad, and ugly nature of any of the > above mentioned "standards"? GKS - Graphical Kernal System - geometric graphics system CGM - Computer Graphics Metafile - archive of graphics commands - very useful for plotting. PHIGS - the best graphics standard! 3D geometric graphics with lighting and shading and neat primitives to draw fancy pictures. IGES - Initial Graphics Exchange S(ystem?) - used to exchange CAD databases between CAD vendors. Published by the US Govt. If you are looking for a broad overview of graphics standards you might try this: > Guidelines for determining when to use GKS and when to use PHIGS > Bettels, J.; Bono, P.R.; McGinnis, E.; Rix, J. > Author Affil: Digital Equipment Corp., Geneva, Switzerland > Source: Comput. Graph. Forum (Netherlands) vol.7, no.4, pp.: 347-54 > Publication Year: Dec. 1988 > (29 Refs) > Abstract: GKS, GKS-3D, and PHIGS are all approved ISO standards for the > application programmer interface. How do system analysts or programmers > decide which standard to use for their application? The authors discuss the > range of application requirements likely to be encountered, explore the > suitability of GKS and PHIGS for satisfying these requirements, and offer > guidelines to aid in the decision process. I know I've seen other overviews of graphics standards. Just none recently. There are a couple of books on CGM and GKS, but I do not have the references written down. As, for PHIGS, there are not any books out yet. You can get the standard itself from ANSI in New York. (212) 354-3300. For PHIGS you want ANSI X3.144-1988 or ISO 9592. They will also have the GKS and CGM specs. There are at least 2 books on PHIGS coming out. Last year at SIGGRAPH90 both Addison-Wesley and Prentice Hall said they would have books out by the end of the year... Prentice Hall now says "very soon". Addison Wesley is a little more specific: first week of March in UK and first week of April in the US. The title will be " A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION TO PHIGS and PHIGS PLUS" I've heard rumors of rumors of two others, but nothing specific. It would be great to hear about any others coming out... -- -Jan "YON" Hardenbergh jch@stardent.com (508)-371-9810x261 Stardent Computer, 6 N.E. Tech Center, 521 Virginia Rd,Concord, MA 01742