| Q&A |
 OSG
Composer ,
Ashraf Sultan, Simulation Lab Software
July 2009 |
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“
OSG Composer targets two main user groups, the advanced
3D users, who use OSG Composer as a tool to fill a gap
in their 3D pipeline. The other group is CAD users,
who are looking for an inexpensive way to view and share
CAD files. This group will find OSG composer a high
quality tool to do the job, without the high price tag
they are used to in the CAD arena. ”
<
OSG Composer (Windows) |
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| Q1 |
OpenSceneGraph
(OSG) is a 3D engine wellknown in the field of gaming, serious
gaming and simulation. Is OSG revelant when it comes to display
high detailed CAD data? |
| A1 |
When
Simulation Lab Software started on what was then called SimLab
Composer, we discussed the idea, should we use OpenGL directly
or go through a high level library. At the beginning, we decided
to use OpenSceneGraph as a thin layer to utilize the functionality
already implemented in OSG. The more we used OSG, the more useful
we found it for creating a CAD viewer, and a 3D scene Composer.
It provided us with great functionality including, picking,
a framework for creating 3D manipulators, out of the box culling,
great GUI library integration, and much more. All this makes
OSG great for creating CAD software, and I guess we will see
more and more OSG based CAD applications in the future. |
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| Q2 |
What
can OSG Composer do? Is it possible to create 3D configurators,
walkthrough with OSG Composer? |
| A2 |
At
the first user test of OSG composer, few 3D expert users used
the software with no introduction. The first thing they tried
to do is to use it to create different configurations, of the
models they imported. The presence of the assembly tree, the
copy and create instance functionalities, and the 3d visual
manipulators makes the process of creating configurations in
OSG composer really easy and intuitive.
Because of the current planed usage of OSG Composer,
it does not support creating walkthroughs. We promise an enjoyable
walkthrough creation and visualization experience in our next
products.
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| Q3 |
OSG
can handle a large range of 3D formats. Could you please describe
the support of collada and PDF3D (Is it possible to import OSG
Composer Collada into Photoshop CS4? Is it possible to publish
PDF3D without Acrobat?) |
| A3 |
OSG
Composer targets two main user groups, the advanced 3D users,
who use OSG Composer as a tool to fill a gap in their 3D pipeline.
This gap may be adding support to unsupported file formats,
composing a 3D scene, do advanced material breakup for rendering,
fixing a problematic model, or even preparing data from different
sources to be used in their 3D applications. The other group
is CAD users, who are looking for an inexpensive way to view
and share CAD files. This group will find OSG composer a high
quality tool to do the job, without the high price tag they
are used to in the CAD arena. We
wanted to give those groups the right formats to share their
models. To share a scene with others the easiest way is to
create a PDF3D file. OSG Composer performs all the tasks needed
to create a PDF 3D file without the need to have Acrobat installed.
The generated file is ready to be viewed using the free acrobat
reader. This would not have been possible without the remarkable
standard publication of the PDF file format by Adobe.
For
using OSG Composer models in other applications, the user
has the option to generate a Collada file, which maintains
the full assembly structure and makes the geometry ready to
be used with other applications supporting Collada.
In
case the user wants to render the 3D scene, OSG Composer supports
exporting the scene as OBJ file, which can be used by Photoshop
CS4 for example in a 3D layer of an image. |
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| Q4 |
OSG
Composer can apply materials to CAD parts: is this an easy process,
how realistic can material be (shaders, reflections, shadow)
? |
| A4 |
The
material assignment in OSG Composer, is as simple as dragging
a material from the material tree and dropping it on the geometry
you want to paint. But that is not all, for advanced users OSG
Composer provides advanced material break up mechanism. For
example in the case of different parts using the same material,
you can easily make each part or surface of them use its own
material. On the other hand when you have different parts using
different materials, you can make them use the same material
for fast future
material assignment.
In this release OSG Composer supports simple materials
with ambient, diffuse, specular colors and textures. We wanted
to make sure OSG Composer will run on virtually every computer,
to make everybody enjoy the magnificent world of 3D. Future
releases will have support for shaders, reflections and shadow.
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| Q5 |
OSG
Composer preserve the assembly tree, is it possible to animate
assembly too? |
| A5 |
Assembly
tree can be useful in many scenarios, it makes moving parts
easy. For example you move the base of an object, and all other
parts defined with respect to the base will move with it. It
makes picking easy, so you can move from one part to its parent.
It allows you to break materials, and in addition to that you
have animation. Our Beta already shows how nice it is to have
the assembly tree in your disposal, to create stunning animations. |
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| Q6 |
Could
you please give us some informations about the next developments
of OSG Composer? |
| A6 |
Based
on users feature requests, and workflow comments, the next release
of OSG Composer will include advanced material support, better
addition and subtraction selection, and more supported import
and export file formats. We are also working hard on our other
exciting product 4D Composer, which will add great animation,
camera control, walkthrough, lights and much, much more. |
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