On Wed, Jun 27, 2007 at 11:26:21AM -0700, Bakul Shah wrote:
>Since you bring up design issues I have to ask! Plan9
>graphics are limited to 2D and I have long wondered if
>stopping there was by design (and lack of need) or because
>you couldn't come up with a satisfactory 3D design.  In any
>case, how you would you go about designing a 3D graphics
>system?  Discussing ideas you have considered and thrown away
>or ideas you have mused about but not taken further would be
>quite interesting (at least to me).  Thanks!

By 3D design, do you mean 3D widgets? You might note that most 
Plan 9 apps don't use widget toolkits (although libframe is sort 
of like one), but libpanel (by Tom Duff, used by mothra) uses 3D 
widgets, as does Inferno's Tk (although both are ugly by most 
standards; I'm no fan).

Although I'd be interested in hearing the rationale for not 
using 3d widgets in the Plan 9 UI, my rationale is that it's 
just not necessary. I don't even find 3D widgets particularly 
pleasant. It's interesting to note that most Web2-ish UIs don't 
use much in the way of 3D effects. All that being said, 3D UIs 
are very hard to get right. Most free 3D toolkits appear rather 
crude, with ones like Tk and Xforms being positively ugly. The 
same can be said of most commercial ones. UIs like Cocoa, Qt, and 
GTK have had a lot of effort put into them by artists, not 
programmers, in recent years. If compared to them, most people 
who would like 3D UIs would balk at anything less. Those who can 
do without them tend not to relish the overhead, or to 
particularly enjoy the effect.

-- 
Kris Maglione

The speed of an oncoming vehicle is directly proportional
to the length of the passing zone.