[PyKDE] ANN: first release of IVuPy-0.1

[Gerard Vermeulen]

I am proud to announce IVuPy-0.1 (I-View-Py).

IVuPy is a Python extension module developed to write Python programs
for 3D visualization of large data sets using Qt and PyQt.  Python is
extended by IVuPy with more than 600 classes of two of the Coin3D C++
class libraries: Coin and SoQt.

Coin is compatible with the Open Inventor API.  Open Inventor is an
object-oriented 3D toolkit built on OpenGL that provides a 3D scene
database, a built-in event model for user interaction, and the ability
to print objects and exchange data with other graphics formats.
The SoQt library interfaces Coin to Qt. See http://www.coin3d.org for
more information on Coin3D.

IVuPy requires at least one of the Numerical Python extension modules:        
NumPy, Numeric, or numarray (IVuPy works with all of them at once).
Data transfer between the Numerical Python arrays and the Coin data
structures has been implemented by copying.

The design of the Open Inventor API favors ease of use over performance.
The API is a natural match for Python, and in my opinion it is fun to
program with IVuPy.

The performance penalty of the design choice is small. The first example
at http://ivupy.sourceforge.net/examples.html demonstrates this: NumPy
calculates a surface with a million nodes in 1.7 seconds and Coin3D
redisplays the surface in 0.3 seconds on my Linux system with a 3.6 GHz
Pentium and a nVidea graphics card (NV41.1).

The Inventor Mentor ( http://www.google.com/search?q=inventor+mentor ) 
is essential for learning IVuPy.  The IVuPy documentation supplements
the Inventor Mentor.  IVuPy includes all C++ examples from the Inventor
Mentor and their Python translations.  There are also more advanced
examples to show the integration of IVuPy and PyQt.

IVuPy has been used for almost 6 months on Linux and Windows in the
development of a preprocessor for a finite element flow solver and has
been proven to be very stable.

Prerequisites for IVuPy are:
- Python-2.4.x or -2.3.x
- at least one of NumPy, numarray, or Numeric
- Qt-3.3.x, -3.2.x, or -3.1.x
- SIP-4.3.x or -4.2.1
- PyQt-3.15.x or -3.14.1
- Coin-2.4.4 or -2.4.3
- SoQt-1.3.0 or -1.2.0

IVuPy is licensed under the terms of the GPL.  Contact me, if the GPL is
an obstacle for you.

http://ivupy.sourceforge.net is the home page of IVuPy.

Have fun -- Gerard Vermeulen