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Juggler Project Overview |
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The Juggler Team |
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$Date$ |
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Table of Contents |
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Introduction |
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Compiling |
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Modules |
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VR Juggler |
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VR Juggler Portable Runtime (VPR) |
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Juggler Configuration and Control Library (JCCL) |
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Gadgeteer |
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Sonix |
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Tweek |
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VRJConfig |
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VR Juggler 2.x |
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Introduction |
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Congratulations, you have downloaded the source code to the Juggler |
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Project, open source software for virtual reality from the Virtual Reality |
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Applications Center at Iowa State University. Within this document, you |
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will find information about the new VR Juggler 2.x directory structure |
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including descriptions of all the component modules that make up the |
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Juggler Project. Instructions for building the individual modules can be |
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found within the specific module directories and on the VR Juggler website. |
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Compiling |
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For information on compiling the source code, refer to either the |
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INSTALL.txt or INSTALL.html file found in this directory. |
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Modules |
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The Juggler Project is made up of several modules that have evolved from |
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the original VR Juggler source tree. Within this section, we describe each |
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of the modules, what they are used for, and, when possible, how they relate |
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to VR Juggler 1.0. |
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VR Juggler |
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Directory |
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juggler/modules/vrjuggler |
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Description |
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VR Juggler is still VR Juggler. There are many new features in VR Juggler |
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since the 1.0 series, but in essence, it is still the same familiar tool. |
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Of the projects listed below, VR Juggler depends on VPR, JCCL, Sonix, and |
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Gadgeteer. Its individual components have simply been broken out into |
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individually developed modules. More information about the latest version |
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of VR Juggler is given in the following section. |
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VR Juggler Portable Runtime (VPR) |
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Directory |
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juggler/modules/vapor |
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Description |
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VPR is the foundation for all the Juggler modules. It provides an object- |
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oriented, cross-platform abstraction layer to common operating system |
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features such as threads, semaphores, and sockets. All the other modules |
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depend on VPR so that they may be ported easily to other platforms. In VR |
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Juggler 1.0, VPR was the collection of directories Threads, SharedMem, and |
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Sync. Since then, that code has been collected into a single library and |
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greatly extended into what is now VPR. |
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VPR itself contains a great deal of platform-specific code. It categorizes |
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this code into subsystems, and various subsystems may be chosen depending |
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upon the target platform and target threading system. For example, on IRIX, |
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there are three possible subsystems: SPROC, POSIX, and Netscape Portable |
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Runtime (NSPR). Win32, on the other hand, only uses the NSPR subsystem. The |
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subsystems are: |
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* SPROC (IRIX only) |
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* POSIX (UNIX-based platforms only) |
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* NSPR (all platforms, required on Win32 and Mac OS X) |
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Because VPR is the foundation for all the other modules, it is important to |
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choose the right subsystem. |
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Choosing the correct subsystem depends on many factors. For example, which |
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of the subsystems are supported on the desired target platform? Are there |
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compatibility issues with software outside the Juggler Project? In most |
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cases, however, the choice is straightforward. Indeed, IRIX is the only |
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platform that presents any real issues. In particular, the use of OpenGL |
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Performer from SGI raises important compatibility concerns. SPROC threads |
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are the only threads that are stable with OpenGL Performer (on IRIX). POSIX |
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threads will work, but applications may sometimes crash on startup. As of |
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this writing, OpenGL Performer does not work at all with NSPR. Other |
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software may pose similar problems, and it is important to know the needs |
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of other tools when configuring VPR. |
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On platforms other than IRIX, the choice is relatively simple. If NSPR is |
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available, its use is recommended. If NSPR is not available, POSIX threads |
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is the next logical choice--at least on UNIX-based platforms. On Win32 and |
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Mac OS X, NSPR is required. |
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As mentioned above, all the other modules depend on VPR, so it must be |
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compiled before anything else. For more information on compiling VPR, refer |
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to modules/vapor/INSTALL.txt. |
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Juggler Configuration and Control Library (JCCL) |
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Directory |
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juggler/modules/jackal |
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Description |
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JCCL provides the configuration layer for VR Juggler and other modules. The |
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config chunks and reusable configuration editor JavaBeans come from JCCL. |
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These JavaBeans are used by the VR Juggler configuration editor tool, |
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VRJConfig (see below). In essence, JCCL is the VR Juggler 1.0 Config |
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directory with many new features including XML-based config files. |
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To build the JCCL C++ library, CppDOM is required for parsing XML. CppDOM |
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is a lightweight XML parser written in C++ and designed to provide an |
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interface similar to JDOM. More information can be found at http://xml- |
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cppdom.sourceforge.net/. |
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To build the configuration editor JavaBeans, JDOM and the Tweek Java API |
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are required. Tweek is another module in the Juggler Project, and it will |
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be built automatically as a dependency of JCCL. JDOM comes with the Juggler |
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Project source code and can be found in the directory juggler/external/ |
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jdom. |
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Gadgeteer |
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Directory |
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juggler/modules/gadgeteer |
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Description |
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Gadgeteer is made up of the code that was formerly in the VR Juggler 1.0 |
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Input directory. It contains all the drivers used for VR Juggler input |
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devices, and it contains the high-level Input Manager. The goal with |
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Gadgeteer is to mold it into the first dynamically loadable component |
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within the VR Juggler microkernel. At this time, it must still be compiled |
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in, but we hope to generalize the concepts of VR Juggler Managers to the |
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point that the kernel knows nothing about them until they are loaded at run |
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time. |
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Sonix |
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Directory |
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juggler/modules/sonix |
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Description |
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Sonix provides an interface useful to many simple VR and entertainment |
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applications to trigger and position sounds in 3D. This library provides |
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simple audio sound objects on top of several audio APIs. The interface to |
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Sonix is kept very simple in order to get people up and running with sound |
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as fast as possible. |
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The interface to sonix is kept very simple in order to get people up and |
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running with sound as fast as possible. Sonix is reconfigurable allowing |
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audio APIs to be safely swapped out at runtime without the dependent |
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systems noticing. Systems using this layer expect to be completely |
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portable. |
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Tweek |
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Directory |
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juggler/modules/tweek |
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Description |
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Tweek is a cross-platform, cross-language library consisting of a C++ API |
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and a Java API. Its purpose is to provide a convenient mechanism for a |
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Java-based GUI to interact with a complex C++ library or application. The |
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Tweek GUI can be run in virtual environments, external on a palm top, or on |
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the desktop next to a running application. Each of these methods gives a |
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familiar 2D widget set that can control applications flexibly. To provide |
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this capability, it uses CORBA. |
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The Java code in Tweek includes the Tweek Java API and the Tweek JavaBean |
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loader application. The Java API is provided to make the use of JavaBeans |
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and CORBA simpler for programmers. The JavaBean loader application simply |
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loads the Beans it finds and presents them to the user in some sort of |
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structured manner (for example, a collection of icons with web-style |
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navigation). |
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VRJConfig |
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VRJConfig is the configuration editor for VR Juggler. It is a complete |
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rewrite of VjControl, both in terms of the user interface and the back-end |
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code. The new interface is based on open discussion and feedback from users |
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of VR Juggler 1.0 and VjControl. |
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The back-end is much more extensible. It allows users to write plug-in |
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editors to simplify complex editing tasks. User-defined configuration |
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elements can be handled in a much more dynamic manner as well. No |
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modification of VR Juggler or JCCL "system" files must be made |
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to get user-defined elements into the editor. |
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VRJConfig is itself a JavaBean that is loaded into the Tweek Java GUI. |
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VRJConfig uses JavaBeans internally to facilitate user extensions. All in |
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all, VRJConfig is a highly dynamic, powerful editor for VR Juggler |
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configurations. |
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VR Juggler 2.x |
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TODO... (this is the version number of the next release of Juggler) |
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