Tinman 3D SDK

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  \     | .'     `-'/      Realtime terrain processing, rendering and analysis
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     `'-._____.-'`             http://www.tinman3d.com - info@tinman3d.com

Welcome to the Tinman 3D Software Development Kit. You are reading the user manual.

The current version of the Tinman 3D SDK can be downloaded from the Release Notes page:

Tinman 3D SDK - v1.0 - Release Candidate 3 - 2017/10/06

The download packages are password protected; the password can be found by reading the Terms and Conditions.

Download and evaluation of the Tinman 3D SDK is free.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to

info@tinman3d.com

To obtain technical support, please refer to Support or write to

support@tinman3d.com

For questions about licensing, please refer to Licensing and Pricing or write to

sales@tinman3d.com

You can find our online bug-tracking system (YouTrack) here:

tinman3d.myjetbrains.com/youtrack

Tinman 3D Demo / NED 1/9" + GoogleMaps

Overview

Tinman 3D is a collection of software libraries and stand-alone tools. Its purpose is to analyze, process and visualize 3D terrain data.

The stand-alone tools can be used by end-users to explore and use the features of Tinman 3D:

• Demo Application
• Geodata Processor
• Workshop Application

The software libraries can be used by developers to incorporate features of Tinman 3D into existing applications. They are available in separate editions, which can be used independently:

• C# (language version 4)
  
• C++ (ISO/IEC 14882:2011)

Platform Abstraction Layer

Tinman 3D makes use of a compact platform abstraction layer (PAL), and contains ready-to-use implementations for popular computing environments:

Availability Matrix	C# SDK	C++ SDK	Processor	Demo	Workshop
Windows Desktop 1)	yes 2)	yes	yes	yes	yes
Windows Mobile	v1.0 RC6	v1.0 RC6	-	v1.0 RC6	-
Linux Desktop	v1.0 RC53)	v1.0 RC5	v1.0 RC5	v1.0 RC5	-
Android	v1.0 RC6 3)	v1.0 RC6	-	v1.0 RC6	-
iOS Desktop	v1.0 RC5 3)	v1.0 RC5	v1.0 RC5	v1.0 RC5	-
iOS Mobile	v1.0 RC6 3)	v1.0 RC6	-	v1.0 RC6	-

¹⁾ Requires Windows XP or newer, 32-bit / 64-bit
²⁾ Requires DOT.NET Framework 4.5.1 or newer
³⁾ Requires Mono Framework

You are not limited to the provided PAL implementations; it is possible to implement your own ones or to modify the existing ones (see Source Code Licence).

Graphics Abstraction Layer

Tinman 3D routes all rendering through a slim graphics abstraction layer (GAL, see IGraphicsContext). The SDK contains ready-to-use implementations for popular rendering APIs:

Render API Matrix	DirectX 9	DirectX 11	DirectX 12	OpenGL	OpenGLES	Vulkan
Windows Desktop	yes	yes	planned	v1.0 RC5	-	planned
Windows Mobile	v1.0 RC6	v1.0 RC6	planned	-	-	planned
Linux Desktop	-	-	-	v1.0 RC5	-	planned
Android	-	-	-	-	v1.0 RC6	planned
iOS Desktop	-	-	-	v1.0 RC5	-	planned
iOS Mobile	-	-	-	-	v1.0 RC6	planned

You are not limited to the provided GAL implementations; it is possible to implement your own ones or to modify the existing ones (see Source Code Licence).

Application Framework

Tinman 3D includes an application framework (see IApplication), which is used by several plug-and-play application widgets (see IWidget). These components are built upon the low-level API of Tinman 3D and implement commonly used functionality.

The following ready-to-use adapters to popular GUI systems are included in the SDK:

GUI Matrix	Tinman 1)	WinForms	WPF	MFC	Qt
C#	yes	yes	yes	-	-
C++	yes	-	-	yes	v1.0 RC5

¹⁾ Built-in application window for stand-alone use (see ApplicationWindow).

You are not limited to the provided implementations; it is possible to implement your own ones or to modify the existing ones (see Source Code Licence).

Plugins

Tinman 3D has a strong interface-centric design (for example 2D images and 3D models). Custom implementations of these interfaces can be created in order to extend the functionality of the SDK, without having to modify existing binaries. The following ready-to-use plugins are included in the SDK:

Plugin Matrix	C#	C++	Purpose
Assimp 3.3 / 4.0	yes	yes	3D Model Import
Bullet 2.86	v1.0 RC4	v1.0 RC4	Physics Simulation
FreeImage 3.17	v1.0 RC6	v1.0 RC6	Image Import
GDAL 1.11 / 2.0 / 2.1 / 2.2	yes	yes	Geodata Import
PhysX 3.4	v1.0 RC4	v1.0 RC4	Physics Simulation

Key Features

Tinman 3D offers a unique set of Features. Here are some of them:  

• Unlimited Detail
  The maximum size of a geodata raster or texture that Tinman 3D can use is 2^30 by 2^30 samples. In other words, Tinman 3D will easily manage a terrain texture or DEM of 1.073.741.824 by 1.073.741.824 samples for you. With these dimensions, the Earth can be captured at a ground sample distance of 9mm, globally. Other engines and technologies recommend to use DEM rasters only up to a size of 8.192 by 8.192 samples. Some technologies out there have megatextures of 65.536 by 65.536 texels, plus minus a few powers of two. Please judge for yourself how this compares to Tinman 3D.
   
• Raster Datasets
  Tinman 3D has its own proprietary storage format for geodata rasters and gigatextures. Datasets support lossless compression, sparse data and dynamic updates. This takes away all groundwork when importing geodata; Tinman raster datasets will just grow and adapt as you import your data. The next time your engine is asking you about the dimensions of your terrain and how to partition it, give it a second thought. With Tinman 3D, this question is no longer necessary.
   
• Virtual Datasets
  Datasets do not have to be provided as file-based rasters, data can also be computed at runtime. This is great if you have a procedural model that computes geodata or if you are using vector data to shape the terrain (for example roads).
   
• Runtime Data Processing
  With Tinman 3D, there are almost endless possibilites on how to combine, merge and adapt geodata at runtime. Once you have your datasets ready, you can plug them together at runtime in any way you want.
   
• Memory/CPU Consumption
  You specify how much memory and CPU resources Tinman 3D shall use, and it will adhere to your specifications. The other way around, Tinman 3D will scale with your system and can utilize all memory and CPUs on a high-end multi-processor machine.

Components

The Tinman 3D SDK is composed of several components.

Library	C#	C++	Platform
Tinman.Licence	Binary 1)	Binary	any
	Implements asymmetric decryption for licence keys, performs licence checks and unlocks initialization data which is required by other SDK components. This component is provided as a separate binary and cannot be embedded into applications.
CodeX.System	Binary	Source 2)	any
	A concise bootstrap library that provides common runtime semantics for the C# and C++ editions of Tinman 3D.
Tinman.Core	Binary	Obfuscated 3)	any
	The Core library contains provides general-purpose functionality and PAL wrappers for system-specific APIs.
Tinman.Terrain	Binary	Obfuscated	any
	The Terrain library is is the heart of Tinman 3D. It provides all terrain-specific features.
Tinman.AddOns	Source	Source	any
	The Add-Ons library provides additional functionality for developing applications with Tinman 3D. It contains a real-time application engine and some ready-to-use widgets that are built on top of it. Use of the Add-Ons library is optional.
Tinman.AddOns.Assimp	Source	Source	any
	This is a plugin for using the Open Asset Import Library (http://assimp.sourceforge.net) from within Tinman 3D.
Tinman.AddOns.DirectX	Source	Source	Windows
	Plugin for using the DirectX rendering API with Tinman 3D.
Tinman.AddOns.GDAL	Source	Source	any
	This is a plugin for using the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (http://www.gdal.org) from within Tinman 3D.
Tinman.AddOns.MFC	-	Source	Windows
	An MFC control that hosts an IApplication object.
Tinman.AddOns.OpenGL	Source 5)	Source 5)	any
	Plugin for using the OpenGL rendering API with Tinman 3D.
Tinman.AddOns.Qt	-	Source 5)	any
	A Qt widget that hosts an IApplication object.
Tinman.AddOns.WinForms	Source	-	any
	A DOT.NET WinForms control that hosts an IApplication object.
Tinman.AddOns.WPF	Source	-	Windows
	A DOT.NET WPF control that hosts an IApplication object.
Tinman.Demo	Source	Source	any
	The Demo Application showcases many features of the Tinman 3D SDK.
Tinman.Demo.StandAlone	Source	Source	any
	Runs the Demo Application in a stand-alone window. The (re-)compiled application requires a licence key to run (User, Site or Academic).
Tinman.Demo.MFC	-	Source	Windows
	Runs the Demo Application in an MFC window. The (re-)compiled application requires a licence key to run (User, Site or Academic).
Tinman.Demo.Qt	-	Source 5)	any
	Runs the Demo Application in a Qt window. The (re-)compiled application requires a licence key to run (User, Site or Academic).
Tinman.Demo.WinForms	Source	-	Windows
	Runs the Demo Application in a DOT.NET WinForms window. The (re-)compiled application requires a licence key to run (User, Site or Academic).
Tinman.Demo.WPF	Source	-	Windows
	Runs the Demo Application in a DOT.NET WPF window. The (re-)compiled application requires a licence key to run (User, Site or Academic).
Application	C#	C++	Platform
tinman3d_demo	Executable 4)	Executable	any
	The Demo Application showcases many features of the Tinman 3D SDK. This application does not require a licence key to run.
tinman3d_workshop	Executable	-	Windows
	The Workshop Application is a GUI application that exposes many features of Tinman 3D interactively. This application requires a licence key to run (User, Site or Academic).
tinman3d_bakery	Executable	-	Windows
	The Licence baKErY tool for generating licence key requests. This application does not require a licence key to run.
tinmanpc	Executable	Executable	any
	The Geodata Processor is a command-line utility for importing geodata into Tinman 3D. This application requires a licence key to run (User, Site or Academic). To unlock a content archive (e.g. Source Code), the unlock key is sufficient to run tinmanpc, no other keys are required in this case.

¹⁾ Provided as a dynamic link library (e.g. DLL on Windows).
²⁾ Provided as human-readable source code.
³⁾ Provided as obfuscated source code (see Source Code Licence).
⁴⁾ Provided as an executable (e.g. EXE on Windows).
⁵⁾ Not yet available, see Availability Matrix for details.