Crystal Space is an unmaintained framework for developing 3D

applications Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...

written in C++ by Jorrit Tyberghein and others. The first public release was on August 26, 1997. It is typically used as a

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

but the framework is more general and can be used for any kind of 3D visualization. It is very portable and runs on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

, and

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

. It is also

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

, licensed under the GNU LGPL-2.0-or-later, and was SourceForge.net's Project of the Month for February 2003. In 2019, one of the project's main developers described it as "effectively dead and has been for a good number of years".

Engine design

Crystal Space is programmed in

object oriented Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impleme ...

C++. It is very modularly built with a number of more or less independent plugins. The client programs use the plugins, such as the OpenGL 3D renderer, by registering them via Crystal Space's Shared Class Facility (SCF).

Features

Crystal Space has modules for 2D and 3D graphics, sound, collision detection and physics through

ODE An ode (from ) is a type of lyric poetry, with its origins in Ancient Greece. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structu ...

and

Bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

. *Graphics: **

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

rendering **Supports

hardware acceleration Hardware acceleration is the use of computer hardware designed to perform specific functions more efficiently when compared to software running on a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU). Any transformation of data that can be calcula ...

from all major card vendors **Allows use of

shader In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene—a process known as '' shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of s ...

s **Library of common shaders like

normal mapping In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or Dot3 bump mapping, is a texture mapping technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents – an implementation of bump mapping. It is used to add details without using more polygonal modeling, ...

, parallax mapping and hardware skinning **Supports

software rendering Software consists of computer programs that instruct the execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital computers in the mid-20th cen ...

with limited features *Mesh objects: **Plugin-based mesh system **Triangle-based meshes with frame and bone animation support *Collision detection and dynamics: **

and

dynamics **Simplified collision detection when full dynamic simulation is not needed

Reception and usage

The engine was, for instance, used for the Open Outcast and '' PlaneShift'' projects. It was the Project of the Month on

SourceForge SourceForge is a web service founded by Geoffrey B. Jeffery, Tim Perdue, and Drew Streib in November 1999. SourceForge provides a centralized software discovery platform, including an online platform for managing and hosting open-source soft ...

in February 2003.

References

External links

* at

Crystal Space engine details and reviews
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{Video game engines 1997 software Cross-platform software Free game engines Free software programmed in C++ Game engines for Linux Python (programming language)-scriptable game engines