ANN: Python Computer Graphics Kit v1.1.0

[Matthias Baas]

Release 1.1.0 of the Python Computer Graphics Kit is available at
http://cgkit.sourceforge.net

What is it?
-----------

The kit is a collection of Python modules that contain the basic types
and functions required for creating 3D computer graphics images. The
kit includes several new types such as vectors, matrices and
quaternions. It contains a binding for Pixar's RenderMan interface
which is a renderer independent API to communicate 3D data to
renderers which will finally produce a 2D image. There are already
several RenderMan compliant renderers freely available (they are not
part of the kit). The kit also includes some of the functionality from
the RenderMan Shading Language which enables you to create procedural
models or textures from within Python.

Even though the kit focuses on RenderMan, the new types or the Shading
Language functionality can also be used for other rendering mechanism
such as OpenGL or other renderers such as POV-Ray.

The kit should run on any platform where Python (and a C/C++ compiler)
is available. Windows users can download a binary version for Python
2.2 and Python 2.3.


What's new?
-----------

There are two new modules:

- cgkitinfo: Retrieve version information
- slparams: Extract RenderMan shader parameters from shader source

Other changes:

- The quaternion class has some new methods such as slerp() and
squad() (thanks to Max Rheiner)
- The RenderMan binding supports string handles and the (corrected)
version number can be suppressed (thanks to Moritz Möller)

For a full list of changes see the changelog.


For more information, visit:

http://cgkit.sourceforge.net


- Matthias -