On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 7:19 PM, Adam Foltzer <acfolt...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > I've been lurking here for a while as I've been learning the Cocoa ropes, > and I'm at the point where I need to put the (excellent) Hillegass theory > into practice. My app is an interactive particle swarm optimization ( > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_swarm_optimization for the curious) > that generates N-dimensional coordinates representing individuals in a very > compelling, organic way. For visualization, of course, I'm mainly concerned > with two- and three-dimensional instances of these swarms. > > My trouble is in deciding which graphics framework to pursue for the > visualization. Since all I need are representations of points, the path of > least resistance for 2-D visualization seems to be using a simple loop with > calls to [NSBezierPath fillrect:]. However, I suspect this pattern would not > extend well to rendering a scene with 3-D instances of the swarms. > > Beyond the use of Bezier paths, my knowledge falls short pretty quickly. I > often hear people sing the praises of Core Animation, but the emphasis on > layering in the documentation makes me doubt its capability to draw such a > 3-D scene. > > I also see Quartz mentioned as a friendlier wrapper for OpenGL, but again I > get the impression that it's more geared toward 2-D rendering than anything > else. Is a straight dive into full OpenGL the way to go here? I realize that > these frameworks have similarities, and that picking the "wrong" one won't > at all be a waste of my time, but I'd be thrilled to hear thoughts on their > comparative virtues before I take the plunge either way.
I would recommend you take a look at the open source VTK toolkit, which can do fast (OpenGL-based) 2D and 3D visualization. The 3D visualizations can be made particularly attractive. VTK is C++ but can be integrated with a Cocoa UI pretty easily (see http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2003/02/11/dev_osx.html?page=1 and http://www.macresearch.org/installing_vtk_on_mac_os_x to help you get started). Barry > > Cheers, and a Happy New Year to you all, > Adam > _______________________________________________ > > Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) > > Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. > Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com > > Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: > http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/barrywark%40gmail.com > > This email sent to barryw...@gmail.com > _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com
