Editing Open Inventor (section)

{{Short description|3D graphics kernel}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2009}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = Open Inventor [by SGI]
| title                  = Open Inventor [by SGI]
| logo                   = <!-- Image name is enough -->
| logo caption           = 
| logo_size              = 
| logo_alt               = 
| screenshot             = <!-- Image name is enough -->
| caption                = 
| screenshot_size        = 
| screenshot_alt         = 
| collapsible            = 
| author                 = 
| developer              = 
| released               = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| discontinued           = 
| latest release version = 2.1.5.10
| latest release date    = {{Start date and age|2003}}
| latest preview version = 
| latest preview date    = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| frequently updated     = <!-- DO NOT include this parameter unless you know what it does -->
| status                 = 
| programming language   = 
| operating system       = 
| platform               = 
| size                   = 
| language               = 
| language count         = <!-- DO NOT include this parameter unless you know what it does -->
| language footnote      = 
| genre                  = 3D graphics toolkit
| license                = [[GNU Lesser General Public License]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oss.sgi.com/projects/inventor/license.html|title=SGI - Developer Central Open Source - Open Inventor|publisher=|access-date=2013-10-25|archive-date=2017-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019211449/http://oss.sgi.com/projects/inventor/license.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| website                = {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20170811183842/http://oss.sgi.com/projects/inventor/}}
}}

'''Open Inventor''', originally '''IRIS Inventor''', is a [[C++]] [[object-oriented]] [[retained mode]] 3D graphics toolkit designed by [[Silicon Graphics|SGI]] to provide a higher layer of programming for [[OpenGL]]. Its main goals are better programmer convenience and efficiency. Open Inventor exists as both [[proprietary software]] and [[free and open-source software]], subject to the requirements of the [[GNU Lesser General Public License]] (LGPL), version 2.1.

The primary objective was to make 3D programming accessible by introducing an object-oriented API, allowing developers to create complex scenes without the intricacies of low-level OpenGL. The toolkit incorporated features like scene graphs, pre-defined shapes, and automatic occlusion culling to streamline scene management. While Open Inventor focused on ease of use, the OpenGL Performer project, spawned from the same context, emphasized performance optimization. The two projects later converged in an attempt to strike a balance between accessibility and performance, culminating in initiatives like Cosmo 3D and OpenGL++. These projects underwent various stages of development and refinement, contributing to the evolution of 3D graphics programming paradigms.