OpenVRML library version 0.18.99
Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 Chris Morley <[email protected]>
Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010,
   2011, 2012 Braden McDaniel <[email protected]>
Portions Copyright SGI and others

Available from <http://openvrml.org>

See the "NEWS" file for a list of changes in this release.


About
=====

   OpenVRML is a portable toolkit including a C++ library for reading
and displaying VRML and X3D files, an OpenGL renderer, and a Mozilla
Web browser plug-in for viewing VRML and X3D content on the Internet.


License terms
=============

   The OpenVRML libraries comprising the VRML/X3D runtime ("libopenvrml")
and the OpenGL renderer ("libopenvrml-gl") are available under the terms
of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), version 3.  These
libraries incorporate some code that is available under "LGPL-
compatible" licenses, which effectively means that the OpenVRML
libraries are Free Software which may be used collectively according to
the terms of the LGPL.  The full text of the LGPL can be found in the
file "COPYING.LESSER".  Code used in these libraries under other terms
(and available for reuse under the same terms) is as follows:

 * OpenVRML's OpenGL renderer includes code from Silicon Graphics, Inc.:

     (c) Copyright 1993, 1994, Silicon Graphics, Inc.
     ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
     Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for
     any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the
     above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both the
     copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
     documentation, and that the name of Silicon Graphics, Inc. not be
     used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the
     software without specific, written prior permission.

     THE MATERIAL EMBODIED ON THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS"
     AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE,
     INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
     FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  IN NO EVENT SHALL SILICON
     GRAPHICS, INC.  BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DIRECT,
     SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY
     KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION,
     LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF USE, SAVINGS OR REVENUE, OR THE CLAIMS OF
     THIRD PARTIES, WHETHER OR NOT SILICON GRAPHICS, INC.  HAS BEEN
     ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
     ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
     POSSESSION, USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

     US Government Users Restricted Rights
     Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to
     restrictions set forth in FAR 52.227.19(c)(2) or subparagraph
     (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software
     clause at DFARS 252.227-7013 and/or in similar or successor
     clauses in the FAR or the DOD or NASA FAR Supplement.
     Unpublished-- rights reserved under the copyright laws of the
     United States.  Contractor/manufacturer is Silicon Graphics,
     Inc., 2011 N.  Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, CA 94039-7311.

     OpenGL(TM) is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc.

   The XEmbed control, OpenVRML Player, and the Mozilla plug-in as
well as the included example programs are available under the terms of
the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 3.  The full text of the
GPL can be found in the file "COPYING".


Package directory layout
========================

   /data
     /component                    :  XML component definitions.
   /doc
     /manual                       :  API documentation.
   /examples                       :  Example programs.
   /ide-projects
     /Windows
       /VisualC9_0                 :  Microsoft Visual C++ 9.0 project files.
   /m4                             :  m4 macros used by the GNU build system.
   /models                         :  Sample VRML models.
   /src
     /libopenvrml                  :  Runtime library sources.
     /libopenvrml-gl               :  OpenGL renderer library sources.
     /mozilla-plugin               :  Mozilla plug-in sources.
     /node
       /vrml97                     :  VRML97 node implementation sources.
       /x3d-cad-geometry           :  X3D CAD Geometry component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-core                   :  X3D Core component node implementation
                                      sources.
       /x3d-dis                    :  X3D DIS component node implementation
                                      sources.
       /x3d-environmental-effects  :  X3D Environmental Effects component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-event-utilities        :  X3D Event Utilities component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-geometry2d             :  X3D Geometry2D component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-geospatial             :  X3D Geospatial component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-grouping               :  X3D Grouping component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-h-anim                 :  X3D H-Anim component node implementation
                                      sources.
       /x3d-interpolation          :  X3D Interpolation component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-key-device-sensor      :  X3D Key Device Sensor component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-networking             :  X3D Networking component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-nurbs                  :  X3D NURBS component node implementation
                                      sources.
       /x3d-rendering              :  X3D Rendering component node
                                      implementation sources.
       /x3d-shape                  :  X3D Shape component node implementation
                                      sources.
       /x3d-texturing              :  X3D Texturing component node
                                      implementation sources.
     /openvrml-xembed              :  XEmbed control application sources.
     /openvrml-player              :  OpenVRML Player application sources.
     /script                       :  Scripting engine module sources.
       /java                       :  Script node Java API sources.
   /tests                          :  Test programs.


Prerequisites
=============

   At a minimum, OpenVRML requires these libraries to build:

     Boost (at least 1.44)      <http://boost.org>
     libltdl (non-Windows only) <http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/>
     libxml (non-Windows only)  <http://xmlsoft.org>

   These libraries are packaged for many systems; so you should
consult your operating system vendor if any of them is not already
installed on your system.  Otherwise, you can obtain them at the above
URIs.

   Note that Boost binaries built from the boost.org distribution, as
well as some other distributions, apply a suffix to the library
name that depends on the particular build configuration.  When
building OpenVRML with such binaries it may be necessary to set the
variable BOOST_LIB_SUFFIX to match the suffix applied to the Boost
binaries; refer to the output of "configure --help".

   libltdl and libxml are not required on Microsoft Windows platforms.
On Windows, OpenVRML uses the Win32 API for module loading and the
XmlLite library for XML parsing.  XmlLite is included with recent
versions of the Microsoft Windows SDK.

   Building OpenVRML is fairly demanding of system resources;
especially, it seems, with modern versions of the GNU C++ compiler.  It
is recommended that 32-bit build hosts have at least 1 GB of system
memory; the recommended minimum for 64-bit build hosts is 2 GB.


Optional dependencies
=====================

   OpenVRML has several optional dependencies.  If your system is
missing any of these dependencies, first check to see if they are
provided by your operating system vendor.  If not, consult the URIs
below.

     libpng                 <http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html>
     libjpeg                <http://www.ijg.org>
     FreeType               <http://freetype.org>
     Fontconfig             <http://fontconfig.org>
     XULRunner              <https://developer.mozilla.org/En/XULRunner>
     Java Development Kit   <http://java.sun.com/j2se/>
     OpenGL/Mesa            <http://mesa3d.org>
     GTK+                   <http://gtk.org>
     GtkGLExt               <http://gtkglext.sourceforge.net>
     libcurl                <http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/>
     D-Bus                  <http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus>
     GNOME                  <http://gnome.org>
     SDL                    <http://libsdl.org>
     Doxygen                <http://doxygen.org>

   OpenVRML can be built with reduced functionality which can avoid
these dependencies.  See the following section, "'configure' options",
for details.


"configure" options
===================

   OpenVRML's build configuration script accepts a number of arguments
that modify what features are built and/or what packages OpenVRML
depends on.

 --enable-exception-specs[=yes,no,nothrow]
     Modulate use of C++ exception specifications.  By default,
     OpenVRML uses exception specifications wherever the set of
     exceptions thrown from a function can be constrained.  This can
     aid in debugging; but in general it is likely to degrade
     performance.  Exception specifications can be disabled altogether
     (using an argument of "no" or the option
     "--disable-exception-specs"); or, only empty (i.e., nonthrowing)
     exception specifications can be enabled (using an argument of
     "nothrow").  Some compilers may be able to use the nonthrowing
     exception specification as an optimization hint.  Note that
     changing what exception specifications are applied changes the
     library ABI.

 --enable-gecko-rpath
     Enable use of the Gecko runtime library directory -rpath flag.  On
     many systems, the directory where libmozjs.so and other Gecko
     runtime libraries reside is not a path known to the dynamic linker.
     In such cases, applying an -rpath to executables is frequently a
     desirable alternative to setting LD_RUN_PATH before running them.

 --disable-png-textures
     Disable support for rendering PNG images as textures.  OpenVRML
     uses libpng to read PNG images.

 --disable-jpeg-textures
     Disable support for rendering JPEG images as textures.  OpenVRML
     uses libjpeg to read JPEG images.

 --disable-render-text-node
     Disable support for rendering Text nodes.  The node is still
     parsed, and events to and from it are processed; but no text is
     rendered.  By default OpenVRML uses Fontconfig for font discovery
     and FreeType to get font data.

 --disable-script-node-javascript
     Disable support for JavaScript in the Script node.  By default,
     OpenVRML uses the Mozilla JavaScript library to execute JavaScript.

 --disable-script-node-java
     Disable support for Java in the Script node.  "configure" searches
     for a Java Native Interface (JNI) implementation, which may be
     provided either by a Java Development Kit or the GNU Compiler for
     Java (gcj).  If using a Java Development Kit, you will probably
     need to supply the include and library directories using CPPFLAGS
     and LDFLAGS, respectively.  See the file INSTALL for general
     information on using these variables.

 --disable-gl-renderer
     Do not build the GL renderer.  OpenVRML's GL renderer depends on
     OpenGL/Mesa.

 --disable-xembed
     Do not build the XEmbed control.  This is an out-of-process
     component that provides a VRML/X3D browser that can be used in an
     XEmbed container.  This depends on GTK+.  It also requires that
     the GL renderer be built.

 --disable-player
     Do not build openvrml-player.  This is a GNOME application that
     hosts the XEmbed control.  It depends on GNOME (libgnomeui) and
     libcurl.

 --disable-mozilla-plugin
     Do not build the Mozilla plug-in.  The Mozilla plug-in depends on
     GTK+ and, of course, a Mozilla-based browser.  It also requires
     that the XEmbed control be built.

 --disable-examples
     Do not build the example programs.  The example programs depend on
     SDL.

 --with-x
     Passing the argument "--without-x" to "configure" will allow
     OpenVRML to be built without depending on the X Windowing System.
     This option is really only useful when building OpenVRML on
     platforms where X is available alongside another windowing system
     (e.g., Cygwin or Mac OS X with X installed).

 --with-libjs
     Use the stand-alone SpiderMonkey distribution.  By default,
     "configure" looks for SpiderMonkey as it is distributed with a
     Mozilla Gecko-based Web browser (i.e., libmozjs).  Passing the
     argument "--with-libjs" causes "configure" to look instead for the
     stand-alone distribution of SpiderMonkey (i.e., libjs).


Significant preprocessor symbols
================================

   Certain code in OpenVRML is compiled conditionally depending on what
symbols have been defined for the preprocessor.  The "configure" script
will add the appropriate compiler and preprocessor flags for you; in
general you should use the options to "configure" documented in the
previous section rather than define these symbols in CPPFLAGS.  These
symbols are documented here primarily for the benefit of persons trying
to compile OpenVRML without the GNU build tools.

 OPENVRML_ENABLE_PNG_TEXTURES
     Include support for rendering PNG images as textures.  Requires
     libpng.

 OPENVRML_ENABLE_JPEG_TEXTURES
     Include support for rendering JPEG images as textures.  Requires
     libjpeg.

 OPENVRML_ENABLE_RENDER_TEXT_NODE
     Include support for rendering text using the Text node.  Requires
     fontconfig and FreeType.

 OPENVRML_JNI_CONST
     Define to "const" if "const" should be used in JNI function
     signatures; define to empty otherwise.


Installation
============

   Refer to the file "INSTALL" for detailed installation instructions.


Usage
=====

   To write programs that use the OpenVRML libraries, refer to the API
documentation in the "doc/manual" subdirectory of the distribution and
the example programs in the "examples" subdirectory.

   libopenvrml loads data files and plug-ins from known locations once
it is installed.  If they are defined, libopenvrml will prefer the
locations specified by these environment variables:

 OPENVRML_DATADIR
     Directory where libopenvrml looks for architecture-independent
     data.

 OPENVRML_NODE_PATH
     A search path where libopenvrml looks for node implementations.

 OPENVRML_SCRIPT_PATH
     A search path where libopenvrml looks for scripting engine
     implementations.

   The most common use case for setting these environment variables is
running sdl-viewer or openvrml-xembed from the build directories.  For
example, if running a Bash shell and building in a subdirectory
"build" where the current directory is the root of the OpenVRML
distribution:

   $ OPENVRML_DATADIR=$(pwd)/data \
   OPENVRML_NODE_PATH=$(pwd)/build/src/node \
   OPENVRML_SCRIPT_PATH=$(pwd)/build/src/script \
   ./build/examples/sdl-viewer models/rotation_toy.wrl

   openvrml-xembed is installed as a D-Bus service, meaning that it
can be activated on-demand by applications that need it (like
openvrml-player and the Mozilla plug-in).  In order for this to work,
OpenVRML must be installed to the same prefix as the system's D-Bus
installation.

   Similarly, if OpenVRML is configured to be installed to the same
prefix as a Mozilla-based browser is installed on the system, "make
install" will install the Mozilla plug-in to the browser's plug-in
directory.  This should be sufficient to enable support for the
"model/vrml" and "model/x3d-vrml" media types in the browser.
Entering "about:plugins" in the URL entry bar of a Mozilla-based
browser will show a listing of successfully installed plug-ins.

   To run openvrml-player or the Mozilla plug-in from the build
directories, you must first start an openvrml-xembed process.  Once
openvrml-xembed has been installed, D-Bus will start it automatically
as needed.  Additionally, to run the plug-in from the build
directories, a symbolic link to the plug-in module "openvrml.so" must
be made in the Mozilla plug-in directory.

   When running openvrml-player from the build directories, you must
specify the location of the GTK+ UI XML files using the environment
variable OPENVRML_PLAYER_UIDIR; e.g.:

   $ OPENVRML_PLAYER_UIDIR=$(pwd)/src/openvrml-player \
   ./build/src/openvrml-player/openvrml-player


Conformance
===========

   OpenVRML aspires to full conformance to the VRML97 specification. It
isn't there yet, but much of the spec is supported, and OpenVRML will
continue to get better.


Bug reports
===========

   Please report any bugs you encounter using OpenVRML's bug tracking
system:

     <https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/openvrml/newticket>

   Note that you will need to log into SourceForge before reporting a
bug.


Mailing lists
=============

   Two mailing lists are maintained:

 * <[email protected]> is a low-traffic list for
   announcments, typically regarding new releases.  Subscription
   instructions are at
     <https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openvrml-announce>

 * <[email protected]> is a forum for developers using
   and working on the libraries.  User feedback is welcome in this
   channel.  Subscription instructions are at
     <https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openvrml-develop>

      In order to curb unsolicited commercial e-mail, openvrml-develop
   permits posting only by subscribers.

Get involved
============

   We're always grateful for help in improving OpenVRML.  Consult the
list of active tickets:

     <https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/openvrml/report/1>

   Unassigned tasks are up for grabs; but please post to the
openvrml-develop mailing list to alert others of your intention to
take a task.  This helps avoid duplicated effort.  If you do not see
the task you'd like to pursue listed, but you think the library could
benefit from your contribution, post a proposal to the
openvrml-develop mailing list.