Programming for Genesis
Once you've installed Genesis you will find the 'Genesis programming
specification' in the \Genesis\Doc directory in both Microsoft Word format
and as a plain text file.
This document describes in detail all aspects of programming for genesis.
You will also have a Genesis\Include and Genesis\Lib directories containing
everything you need to be able to start programming totally free of charge.
The only thing we don't supply you with is a C compiler (sorry).
The programming spec is very easy to understand (it has many pictures
and diagrams) and assumes no prior knowledge of 3D graphics systems.
Genesis can be programmed in three possible scenarios;
- Writing tools for the editor
- Additional tools can be created very
quickly using the Tool and Geometry APIs. The Geometry engine is so
versatile that a tool be almost anything, e.g. a file format loader
or saver, a VRML internet connector , a fractal landscape creator or
simple primitive creators for cylinders, cones and boxes etc.
- Writing applications for Genesis
- The editor is a Genesis
application but by no means the only one. Using the Geometry API
you can write your own applications which could include games,
simulations, or scientific visualisation.
- Writing new Geometry engines
- The Geometry engine can be replaced
by writing a simple DLL which exports the set of functions required
by the Geometry API. The Helper API exists to make this easier. You
might want this to support a hardware accelerated 3D graphics card
for instance.
Genesis has a set of comprehensive programming interfaces comprising
of five main parts;
- Geometry API
- Calls to build and render objects e.g. AddObject(),
DefPatch() and Render().
- Maths API
- Geometry related C functions and C++ classes, e.g.
vecA=vecB*mat, multiplies a vector with a matrix and ConvToPolar()
converts a Cartesian vector to polar co-ordinates.
- Tool API
- Extensions to the main Geometry API to enable tools
to be added to the editor, e.g. GetNextSelectedObject() returns
the Geometry handle of the next object selected by the editor’s
select mode and RemoveOverlay() turns off the editors overlay.
- Helper API
- Functions to aid development of new geometry engines,
e.g. Split(), splits an n sided polygon up into smaller polygons
and CompNormal() computes the normal of a set of points on a polygon.
- Debug API
- Set of functions to help debugging. This is a general
debug library which handles tracing and memory management and can
report any memory your application/tool/engine has left unfreed.
Licensing agreement
The Genesis editor and programming toolkit are Freeware. This
means they are freely distributable on any media as long as
they are not used for commercial gain. If any commercial product
uses any part of the Genesis toolkit or APIs then a small royalty
payment should be paid to Silicon Dream Ltd. The payment is
negotiable on an individual basis. Contact me on spike@silicond.demon.co.uk
for details.
Special note to programmers
For tool coders a special offer has been made. Anyone that writes
a tool which is robust and generally useful to others can send it
to me and it will be packaged in the next release of Genesis. Any
royalty payments or unlocking fees received will then be shared amongst all
those who contributed towards making Genesis a better product.
Please feel free to ask me for advice or help with aspects of
programming Genesis, or to report bugs.