graphics and OpenGL rendering

[Michael Goffioul]

Hi,

The last few days, I've been exploring how JHandles could make use of the
native property system of octave instead of implementing its own. Up to now,
I tried to find a way to keep both synchronized, but this just adds
implementation
problems with no gain. These last days, I tried something else: make the
rendering code use directly the native octave properties without C++/java
conversion. This is possible by writing the rendering code in C++ and use
JNI to integrate it into Java. This looks promising, but has a big drawback for
me, because it means dropping the current properties in Java (including
listeners, dynamic properties...). However, I think it may pay in the long run.

So I converted a small part of my rendering code into C++ and it seems
to work OK. Now the interesting part is that the rendering code is almost
full OpenGL, so it might be used by any other OpenGL-based backend,
including the one Shai is working on. I don't know what's the current status
of the graphics backend, but JHandles code support full 3D rendering with
high Matlab compatibility (camera-based, lighting, transparency...). If
there is interest in sharing code, I'm willing to convert my code to C++
and make it usable by core octave (I think I'll convert my code anyway,
for speed reasons). What do you think?

Merry christmas.

Michael.