From levyb@loria.fr Tue Aug  2 17:19:27 1994
From: levyb@loria.fr (Bruno Levy)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics.algorithms
Subject: new gfx lib announce
Date: 22 Jul 1994 08:11:50 GMT
Organization: CRIN & INRIA-Lorraine - Nancy - FRANCE
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: bar.loria.fr
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         	               TAGL 1.0 
                               ========



TAGL is a portable library wich offers similar functionalities
as SGI-GL. It will become compatible with GL in the future.

available at sunsite.unc.edu
/pub/packages/development/libraries/tagl_1.0.tgz

Requirement:
============

	o A Unix system with X11R5 and MIT XSHM extension.
	  (tested under Linux and SunOS)
	o Can be easily ported to whatever system wich has
	  linear memory and a 8bpp (I think it takes 1/4h
          to port it, that what it took for svgalib under 
          Linux). 

Features:
=========

	o Double buffering
	o Polygon clipping
	o Polygon drawing, filling and shading (Gouraud)
	o Dithering
	o Z-Buffer
	o Built-in font (it will use X11 fonts in the future)
	o Basic io (Keyboard and mouse)
	o Schumaker convex grape rendering 
	o Simple lighting model
	o Depth cueing
	o Zooming
	o Simple 3D transform
	o Fast integer fixed point math
	o Built in sine and cosine tables

Sample programs:
================

	o testgl: basic test of the library, rotate 3d objects
	  as convex grapes, test ZBuffer.

	o mars: something that will become similar to the mars
	  demo (to mars's author: excuse me to have given the
	  same name as your demo to such a thing, but it's only
	  a small test of the library, it will become something
	  that looks like your demo later on ...)

	o rotate: rotate objects in off format and Aegis 3DG1 format.
	  test rendering methods, ZBuffer, mouse input and built-in font.

	  sample off files come from avalon.chinalake.navy.mil (129.131.1.255) 
	  and 3DG1 files have been modelled by a friend of mine,
	  Jean Balcaen. (Thanx a lot, Jean !!)
	  3DG1 have not always their normal vectors set properly, so
	  lighting may look strange on these files.    


( about which key does what, h toggles help screen, some functions are
  not in the help screen, so look at the source code - I don't have enough
  time to write sample programs man pages - It will come later on with
  tagl 2.0 distrib )		  

Distribution:
=============

	sunsite.unc.edu
        /pub/packages/development/libraries/tagl_1.0.tgz

Author:
=======

	Bruno Levy
	e-mail    : levyb@loria.fr (it will change after the hollyday)
	snail-mail: 6 bis rue du General Frere - 54500 Vandoeuvre - France


Performance:
============

	More than 1000 faces/s with Gouraud and ZBuffer in 640x480
	on a 486 dx 33 running Linux. (almost the same on a sun10)
	( to have 640x480, make clean; make hires ) 

X-SHM:
======

	X-SHM support has been mainly inspired by mpeg_play

Bugs:
=====
	Standard X support (without SHM) does not work for the moment.
	(It can't run on a TX, it must be on a workstation).

Future developpement:
=====================

	o All this stuff will become C++ classes (very soon, work 
	  in process).
	o A complete fixed point math library will be embedded.
	o GL compatibility is for soon.
	o The texture mapping function is ready, but not
	  embedded yet in the library. (It was, but I had
	  a head crash on my HDD, I was lucky not to loose the
	  entire library !!!). 
	o window resizing

Starting up with TAGL:
======================

	 gunzip tagl-1.0.tar.gz
	 tar xf tagl-1.0.tar
	 cd tagl
	 make (for 320x200), or make hires (for 640x480)

	 rotate.exe -geo  geo/one_of_the_geom_files 
	 rotate.exe -3DG1 3dg1/one_of_the_3dg1_files

	 '!' key toggles opaque move
	 'w' key change render mode
	 
	 middle mouse button + move : rotate objects
	 left  mouse button         : zoom in
	 right mouse button         : zoom out
	 both three buttons         : rotate Z axis
	 7-4-1, 8-5-2, 9-6-3        : auto-rotate



Keywords: