Qt3D and the Net.

This my first blog entry, so it's detailed.

There are two main steps in getting the Virtual Urantia book online. The first is getting the 3d engine side of the system into a format that will be recognized by graphics cards on differing computer architectures on the Net.  This is where I use OpenGL ES2.  In 2001, I switched from Microsoft MFC to Qt from Trolltech. I began writing this system with Microsoft MFC in 1996.  Qt being cross platformed and Microsoft being locked to Windows only. The problem right now is that I am using OpenGL and not it's successors OpenGL ES2 and OpenGL 4. OpenGL ES2 works across all desktops and embedded platforms. Examples of embedded embedded platforms are your cell phone, your higher end TV, your new notebook, even your newer remotes. I'm writing this entry from my cell phone as I am still in bed.

The second is getting it working in a browser. I've learned that very few people are willing to download and install a program into their computer. It has to be easy and painless. Give them a web address and that's the depth of the involvement. That's not an easy thing to accomplish. I write in C++. I can't imagine using anything else at this stage. When I first started tackling this problem, I looked at ways of delivering 3d content on the Web. X3d was one of my attempts. After a month of work, I decided it would'nt work. I waited several months while creating the effects system in OpenGL ES2 and the answer came with Google's Native Client. Here I see a a way to get my system on the web without a complete rewrite of 10 million typed characters of code. That's more characters than the Urantia Book itself. Using Native Client, I'm capable of writing the whole thing in C++. Whew!

So much for now.