Editing OpenGL++ (section)

==OpenGL++==
At the 20–21 August 1996 meeting of the [[OpenGL Architecture Review Board]] (ARB), SGI floated the idea of a new standardized scene graph similar to Cosmo3D but with the express intent of being based on "standard" OpenGL. There was some interest in the concept, so at the 9–10 December 1996 meeting the group presented the first draft of the OpenGL++ concept.<ref name=ARB/> A follow-up meeting during 17–19 February 1997 demonstrated that there was considerable interest from most parties, with the exception of Microsoft and Sun, although there were concerns as to whether or not the ARB was the right body to support such an effort without diluting their primary job of supporting OpenGL.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mrpowers.com/Papers/OpenGLPlus/OGLARB.htm|title="Meeting Notes, February 17-19, 1997"|access-date=2008-05-05|archive-date=2008-02-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227042753/http://www.mrpowers.com/Papers/OpenGLPlus/OGLARB.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Development continued throughout 1997 including several distributions of the [[API]]. However, the ARB notes "There's been lots of work, but relatively little communication."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.opengl.org/about/arb/meeting_notes/notes/OpenGL++_notes_6-3-97.html |title="OpenGL ++ ARB Interest Subcommittee Meeting Notes" |access-date=2008-05-05 |archive-date=2008-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516080031/http://www.opengl.org/about/arb/meeting_notes/notes/OpenGL++_notes_6-3-97.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

While the work on OpenGL++ continued, Sun and SGI had also been working on a 3D standard suitable for Java. These efforts eventually broke down, and Sun went on to release Java3D. SGI suggested their Cosmo work was a sample Java3D implementation, and as this work evolved into OpenGL++ these plans moved with it. During the definition of OpenGL++, Sun stated that they were not interested in working on the effort as they were focussed on their Java3D work.<ref name=ARB/> Comparatively, Java3D spans two layers of the 3D stack, the scene graph and the visual interface and its widgets.

By late 1997 SGI appeared to be fully committed to the OGL++ effort. They had stated that the existing Cosmo work would be abandoned and that Open Inventor, Performer and OpenGL Optimizer would be re-written to be hosted on top of OGL++. As OGL++ was intended to be a cleaned up and more flexible version of Cosmo3D, most of the Cosmo3D team started work on OGL++ and a lot of the effort was aimed at a specification and implementation that could deliver on the promise of a truly powerful yet generic scene graph.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.opengl.org/about/arb/meeting_notes/notes/OpenGL++_notes_9-8-97.html |title="OpenGL ++ ARB Interest Subcommittee Meeting Notes, September 8, 1997" |access-date=May 5, 2008 |archive-date=May 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516080222/http://www.opengl.org/about/arb/meeting_notes/notes/OpenGL++_notes_9-8-97.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vidimce.org/college/summer97/|title="Skimmer in OpenGL++ Maze in OpenGL++"|access-date=2008-05-05|archive-date=2009-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107023301/http://www.vidimce.org/college/summer97/|url-status=live}}</ref>