Eric Hanson wrote:
Hi,
I'm interested in doing some work with 3d graphics
visualizations of XML/RDF data in Python. I know Python is
strong on the XML front but what about 3d graphics? Is there a
graphics library out there with graphics library with a fairly
gradual learning curve? Do people actually use Python for games
programming and the likes?
Python's got a few 3D libraries:
http://www.vrplumber.com/py3d.py
You'll probably be most interested in a scenegraph/retained-mode renderer, listed here:
http://www.vrplumber.com/py3d.py?category=retained
depending on your background, VPython (or VTK/MayaVi if you're more from a science background) might be a good starting point. Soya or Panda seem more involved, but probably take you a little further toward game-like engines. Pivy or OpenGLContext (both being Inventor-style scenegraphs) are more toolkits for developers to build applications, they generally let you load and work with objects readily, but they aren't trying to provide "jumping, shooting and exploding" features out-of-the-box. Then there are the full (normally C++) game engines with Python wrappers, likely a steeper learning curve, but once you get up and running they should give you fairly easy going for writing a game.
Most (commercial) games that use Python follow that last model, a C++ engine that uses Python for scripting and extensions. AFAIK there hasn't been a (commercial) 3D game (graphics engine) written with Python as the primary implementation language (for the graphics engine). Of the retained-mode renderers on that page, only a handful are primarily Python code; it takes a lot of work to get a decently performing scenegraph engine written in Python.
HTH, Mike
________________________________________________ Mike C. Fletcher Designer, VR Plumber, Coder http://www.vrplumber.com http://blog.vrplumber.com PyCon is coming...
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