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Other 3D APIs
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Real-time
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OpenGL (platform-neutral, design by committee), jogl (Java wrapper for
OpenGL)
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DirectX Graphics (Windows-based), Managed DirectX (old .NET wrapper for
DirectX), XNA (new .NET wrapper for DirectX)
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OpenGL ES, a stripped-down version of OpenGL for embedded devices (PDAs,
game consoles, ...)
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Java3D, high-level Java API on top of OpenGL or DirectX, no longer state
of the art; when manufacturers of mobile phones speak of "Java 3D", they
typically mean JSR-184, see next point
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M3G aka JSR-184, a 3D API for devices with little computing power such
as mobile phones
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...
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Offline
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RenderMan Interface
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Mental Ray Interface
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...
Immediate Mode, Retained Mode
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Immediate Mode: Issue drawing commands explicitly; the graphics API does
not know how to build the 3D world on its own; examples: OpenGL, DirectX.
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Retained Mode: Construct and store the 3D world using the API; rendering
is handled automatically; examples: Java3D, OpenInventor, OpenSceneGraph,
most game engines; usually a scenegraph is created to store the 3D world
as a hierarchy of objects and sub-objects.
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Up to now, we used only local illumination models, which lack shadows and
reflections.
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Global illumination:
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Note that in commercial software these terms are used differently: Global
illumination is understood to include indirect illumination; radiosity
is used as a synonym for that notion of global illumination.
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Computer graphics (real-time as well as offline) hardly delivers photorealistic
images. Some aspects where this is obvious:
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Soft shadows
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Indirect illumination
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Subsurface scattering
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Blurred reflections
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Caustics