Our project is a ``3D Scene Creation Engine''.

Its goal is to provide developpers with a simple way to build a 3D
scene with a hierarchy of primitive 3D objects.  It will be possible
to apply modifiers (linear and non-linear) and textures to any part of
the world object tree.  Dynamic parameters, computed with custom
functions, will be used to animate any part of the world, including
the lights and the camera.

A demonstration software will then be realized using the engine, with
a sequence of scenes showing the different features implemented.  The
exact content of the demo will depend on how much we will manage to
add to the engine.

The programming language will be C++ and the code will be Object
Oriented.  It should therefore be easy to extend the engine with new
primitive objects, modifiers, texture mappings and other features.

The world description will be done in XML.  This will allow the
creation of a complete 3D scene without any additional programming.
Moreover, the hierarchical structure of the description will allow
operations to be performed on groups of objects in a convenient way.


The amount of features possible in this kind of engine is almost
infinite, so we have defined a list of prioritized elements for each
area of the development:

[ note: Normal items are high-priority tasks, items in parentheses are
  low-priority tasks to be implemented if time permits. ]

* Primitives

  - Triangle            [ 2D ]
  - Quad
 (- Polygon)
 (- Billboard)

  - Box                 [ 3D ]
  - Sphere
  - Cylinder
 (- Tetrahedron)
 (- Metaball)

* Modifiers

  - Rotation            [ Linear transformations ]
  - Translation
  - Scaling
 (- Mirroring)
 (- Shearing)
 (- Custom matrix multiplication)

  - "Trapezium"         [ Non-linear transformations ]
 (- Twist)
 (- Pseudo bump-mapping)

* Functions (to generate dynamic parameters)

  - Constant
  - Linear
  - Trigonometric
 (- Polynomial-n)
  - Composition
 (- Superposition, multiplication)

* Textures

  - Colors
  - Mapping to objects (possibly different types)
 (- Alpha channel / transparency)