About PGL

This is the first public release of the PGL software system. PGL is a parallel polygon rendering package designed for use in SPMD-style parallel applications running on distributed memory architectures. It exploits the power of the parallel platform to perform rendering operations in place, enabling applications to generate live visual output without having to move large datasets across the network for subsequent post-processing. PGL includes a core set of 3D graphics routines which provide modelling, rendering, and display operations, and auxilliary components which support higher-level graphics and visualization functions, image transport, and user interaction.

PGL is intended primarily to demonstrate the parallel polygon rendering technology developed at ICASE over the last several years, and to serve as a testbed for further experimentation in this area. As a research code, it lacks the full functionality of commercial graphics packages such as OpenGL or PHIGS. Nonetheless, we have found it to be useful in a variety of parallel applications, and expect that additional capabilities and algorithmic improvements will be incorporated over time.

We encourage you to submit questions, comments, suggestions, feature requests, and bug reports to pgl-info@compsci.wm.edu. Due to limited resources, we cannot guarantee a response, but any feedback you can provide will be helpful in establishing priorities for future releases of the software.

If you obtain any interesting results using PGL , we would appreciate hearing about your work, and would be pleased to feature it on the PGL Application Highlights page. A form is provided to assist you in submitting links to your own site. Your contributions will help to ensure continued support for future development of the software.

Tom Crockett
February 1997