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Project LodeStone.

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What is LodeStone?

For just about every 2D image file format, there is an OpenSourced loader library. libpng, libjpeg, libimage, libgif to name but a few.

However, it is notable that there is no similar set of 3D model file loaders. Project LodeStone will attempt to solve that problem. It turns out that this is actually much harder than just writing down some file parsers because there is a wide range of renderers, game engines and scene graph API's to load the models into.

Rough order of business should be:

  1. Refine our list of goals...update the manifesto.
  2. Get a list of the API entries that our existing loaders use.
  3. Define a simplified subset of those things...write Mk I LodeStone API.
  4. Present this to every modelling tool, game engine and scene graph API author we can find.
  5. Collect feedback, refine API.
  6. Implement API on top of (at least) PLIB - convert a couple of loaders to use it.
  7. Extend to more scene graph API's and more loaders.
  8. Go public.

LodeStone is now at step (3) and step (4) will begin at the Scene Graph BOF at SigGraph 2002 on Tuesday at 6:15pm.

Dirk Reiners (from the OpenSG group) has started on a first prototype called "LodeStone v0.1".

If you are interested in supporting LodeStone (either as a developer, a loader writer or a scene graph author), please read the project manifesto.

Places:

Project LodeStone is at: http://lodestone.sf.net

Mailing Lists are: 


  lodestone-devel@lists.sf.net
  lodestone-announce@lists.sf.net
  lodestone-users@lists.sf.net
You can subscribe from the SourceForge project page here.
The administrator of LodeStone is Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>