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Welcome to WorldToolKit (WTK), an advanced cross-platform development environment for highperformance,real-time 3D graphics applications. With WTK’s function library and end-user
productivity tools, you can create, manage, and commercialize your applications. With the highlevel
application programmer’s interface (API), you can quickly prototype, develop, and configure
your applications as required.
From writing custom sensor drivers to rapidly developing virtual reality applications, WTK offers
an intuitive set of functions that provide a wide range of functionality. This section introduces you
to the WTK application development environment, highlights the major concepts and features in this
release, and reviews the basic hardware and software components of a WTK development system.
New in this Release
This release of WTK includes many new features and substantial improvements to much of WTK’s
existing functionality that turn previously difficult tasks into simple ones.
The new features include:
• texture blending (multiple textures blended on the same polygon)
• dynamic volumetric shadow casting
• enhanced Runtime Type System
• plugin architecture
• comprehensive geometric shape support
Dramatic Enhancements Enable
High-Quality Rendering Effects, Keyframe Animation Integration,
Improved Device Support, and Plug-in Development Flexibility
WorldToolKit is Sense8's portable, cross-platform software
development system used for building high-performance, real-time,
integrated 3D applications for scientific and commercial use.
"WorldToolKit Release 10 reflects the key feature requests of
our customers, and addresses the fundamental technological needs
of the industry," said Roger Cottam, Chief Technologist of
Sense8. "We are committed to ensuring WorldToolKit continues
to be the most powerful and flexible cross-platform 3D interactive
software development solution on the market."
WorldToolKit Release 10 enables developers to significantly
improve the visual quality of their simulations, while taking
advantage of significant development productivity enhancements
such as the keyframe animation system and plug-in development
architecture. The combination of these additions to WorldToolKit,
results in visually stunning applications in a fraction of the
time.
WorldToolKit builds upon its strong foundation by providing the
following enhancements:
- Texture Blending
- Dynamic Volumetric Shadow Casting
- Enhanced Runtime Type System
- Plug-in Architecture
- Comprehensive Geometric Shape Support
- New Sound Support
- New Sensor Drivers
- Texture Maps from Video/Movie files
- Time-based Animation System
- XML Scene Graph File Format
- 3DS Max Plug-in
- Support for Sense8's new Terrain Module
- Release 10 will support Win/98/2000/XP, sgi, Sun, and Linux.
Texture Blending
Now developers can blend two textures on a single polygon surface
to create high-quality visual effects. Texture blending is useful
for creating light or shadow maps, and can be used to create a
variety of advanced effects. Performance is generally not impacted
as many hardware manufacturers support texture blending.
Dynamic Volumetric Shadow
Casting
WTK includes the ability to dynamically cast shadows from light
sourceS on to any surface in the scene. Shadow volumes are
rendered using the stencil buffer in OpenGL providing a simple and
powerful solution for rendering shadows.
Enhanced Runtime Type
System
WTK provides a comprehensive type (class) hierarchy of objects.
Types are organized in a hierarchy for property inheritance. WTK
types include all the various nodes (geometry, lights, transforms,
etc.) as well as windows, viewpoints, sensors, materials, and the
universe. The Runtime Type System is used to read and write scene
files in WTK's new XML-based file format.
Plug-in Architecture
The Plug-in architecture provides developers the ability to create
modular additions to WTK. Static(LIB) and dynamic (DLL/SO)
plug-ins are registered in WTK and provide additional
functionality to the WTK core. Plug-ins shipping with R10 include
video texture support using DirectShow, audio support using fmod,
and the new WTK scene file format i/o functionality.
Comprehensive Geometric
Shape Support
Previously WTK generated primitive geometry, but did not maintain
any information used to create them. With this release, WTK
geometric shapes are defined using properties like size, radius,
or bothsides, that can be changed in the simulation and reflected
in the geometry node automatically.
New Sound Support
fmod Audio support is now provided in a more unified and stable
API provided by a plug-in using the fmod SoundSystem by FireLight
Technologies. Hardware support for 3D spatialization has been
added as well as support for more audio file formats. Sound nodes
are now available for positioning audio sources allowing
transparent integration of 3D audio sources within the WTK scene
graph transformation hierarchy.
New Sensor Drivers
InterSense, 3Dconnexion and DirectInput InterSense, Ascension,
and 3Dconnexion support - InterSense devices are now directly
supported by the use of InterSense's DLL driver interface.
Ascension devices are more fully and intuitively supported in R10
through use of Ascensions common device driver interface on
Windows. Device support includes the MotionStar, laserBird,
pciBird, Flock of Birds, SpaceMouse, SpaceBall, Intertrax II, IS
300, 600, 900, and Inertial Cube.
DirectInput device support, with Force Feedback -
DirectInput driven devices are now supported with WTK R10 on the
Windows platform. Available devices can be enumerated and accessed
as WTK sensors. Force feedback is also supported with the use of
effect files for DirectInput, and an API for playing the effects
back during a simulation.
Texture Maps from
Video/Movie files
Now developers can apply movie files as dynamic textures. Video
and movie files are supported in R10 through a plug-in that
dynamically changes a texture map's bitmap image. Playback is
controlled through an API or by setting properties on the video
texture object.
Time-based Animation
System
Keyframer Time-based animation has been added to WTK in this
release through the use of time sensors and value interpolators
similar to VRML97 objects. Time Sensor objects manage simulation
time and produce events, which trigger changes to coordinate
various interpolators. The interpolated values can trigger other
property changes to produce animations or trigger callback
functions in the application.
XML Scene Graph File
Format
WTK's new XML-based scene file format allows applications to read
and write data from/to the RTS, including user specified data.
Entire scenes including the scene graph, geometry, animation,
sound, and other data can be saved and restored using this new WTK
file format.
3ds max Plug-in
WTK ships with a plug-in for 3ds max, which exports data to the
new WTK scene file format. This exporter supports the new
mechanisms for creating geometry, animation and scene graph
structures in the WTK scene file format.
Support for Sense8's new
Terrain
Module R10 will support Sense8's new Terrain Module. This module
allows users to import a variety of terrain data into WorldToolKit
or WorldUp. Supported terrain formats include: Arc / Info Binary
Grid, Arc / Info ASCII Grid, USGS SDTS formatted DEMs, DTED
Elevation Raster (Level 0 and 1), and ASCII DTM (Socet SET export
format). The Sense8 Terrain Module must be purchased separately.
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