I have been thinking about starting a new
project to continue were Struck left off for quite some time now and I
have finally decided it was time. I say Struck because I want to emphasize
I'm more interested in a tool for exploring geometry rather than memetic
exploration. I see this project as a budding of the tree that Gerald
planted with struck, and it does not compete with Fluidiom. The two projects
have very different goals. In fact, I believe there will be some
nice synergetic effects between the two projects. BTW: If you stumbled
onto this page some how, and don't know what Fluidiom, EIG and Struck are,
go .
The Goals of This project are to:
Make Elastic Interval Geometry more accessible
Make it very easy to install and run--
This means I would like to create a native windows application, with installer
and all the usual trappings that windows users have become accustomed too,
and thus consider easy to use.
Change the way EIG is displayed-- In
order to build something complex in struck, you need to learn how to free
view stereo. I want to make stereo viewing an option rather than requirement.
To do this intervals would be shown as cylinders or ellipsoids rather than
lines. I also want to explore other options of showing depth cues,
such as shadows on the floor and fog. To do this, the program will
use the 3D graphic accelerated hardware that most computers come with today.
Tap into the sodaplay Constructor phenomenon-- has been mentioned on several mailing lists and groups
I'm subscribed to, and seems to get very positive reactions from just about
everyone that sees it. This may be the hook that makes EIG popular.
To achieve this, SpringDance will have a gravity feature.
Run on GNU/Linux as well as windows--
This is a secondary goal, but i do not want to lock anyone into a proprietary
product.
Target Audience:
Its target audience is education, and will
be aimed as a teaching tool for the middle grades. (grades 6+) I there
is a lot of geometry and EIG information out there that the group
has created, that just needs a little origination to become truly powerful
force. However I don't want to narrow the focus to the point that
it will not be a useful tool for the members of the Fluidiom community.
Technology For those that care about such things,
here are the tools I plan to use:
Delphi- This is a language im very
familiar with and is ideal for making windows applications. A Linux
version will be available shortly. (due mid February last i heard)
OpenGL- The cross platform way
to access 3D accelerated hardware and is supported on Linux and windows.
GLSecene- This is an open source library
that makes using opengl much easier from delphi.
XML- Besides being a standard way to
format data, it makes SpringDance buzzword compliant :o)
