| Is .NET the future of 3D ? |
In this article our CTO, Stefan Didak, will be looking at what the .NET architecture
can mean to 3D application development. It is intended as a look towards a possible future.
click here to read the article
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| mantiCORE
FAQ |
The mantiCORE FAQ presents a selection of answers regarding our core foundation
architecture, its use, purpose, and design.
click here to learn more
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| Is mantiCORE an application or program? |
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mantiCORE is not an application by the traditional meaning of the word.
mantiCORE is an application development framework on which
applications can be based. Simplified, mantiCORE can be regarded as an
application O.S. that allows programs to take advantage of the special featured
that mantiCORE offers. You could also regard mantiCORE as "an SDK to end all
SDK's", as one of our engineers so eloquently described it. mantiCORE co-exists
alongside the O.S. and is not a full fledged O.S. itself.
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| What do I need to run mantiCORE applications? |
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The mantiCORE Foundation, which is the main application layer required to run
mantiCORE based applications.
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| What are the system requirements for mantiCORE applications? |
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The current mantiCORE Foundation is developed to take full advantage of
next-generation workstations and is based upon 64-bit Linux and
64-bit Microsoft Windows. You will need a 64-bit workstation based
on a CPU such as the Intel Itanium or Itanium II.
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| Is there a 32-bit version of mantiCORE? |
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We are concurrently developing a 32-bit core version of mantiCORE but, at the
time of writing this FAQ, there are no plans to release a 32-bit version. This
decision has not been set in stone and depending on customer demand we will
re-evaluate this decision. 64-bit workstations will remain the preferred
platform based on the performance characteristics and differences we have
measured between the 32-bit and 64-bit mantiCORE Foundation implementations.
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| What is the purpose of mantiCORE and how can I benefit from it? |
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Many or none, depending on who you are and what your requirements are. When more
details about mantiCORE become available we will update the FAQ accordingly
because describing the many different purposes would be beyond the scope of this
list. If you are a developer of digital content or digital content creation
tools such as 3D animation tools, bitmap image processing, compositing, video
editing, etc. then mantiCORE can provide a rapid prototyping and development
system that allows you to develop the tools you need faster, more efficiently,
and with higher accuracy. Apart from having a positive and welcome effect
on the cost effectiveness the mantiCORE Foundation also allows for nearly
automatic integration of applications that are written using the
mantiCORE Foundation, thereby offering you a solution to all those one-shot
tools that refuse to cooperate due to incompatibility issues or different file
formats.
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| What purpose would I have for mantiCORE? |
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Many or none, depending on who you are and what your requirements are. When more
details about mantiCORE become available we will update the FAQ accordingly
because describing the many different purposes would be beyond the scope of this
list. If you are a developer of digital content or digital content creation
tools such as 3D animation tools, bitmap image processing, compositing, video
editing, etc. then mantiCORE can provide a rapid prototyping and development
system that allows you to develop the tools you need faster, more efficiently,
and with higher accuracy. Apart from having a positive and welcome effect
on the cost effectiveness the mantiCORE Foundation also allows for nearly
automatic integration of applications that are written using the
mantiCORE Foundation, thereby offering you a solution to all those one-shot
tools that refuse to cooperate due to incompatibility issues or different file
formats.
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| How can I benefit from using mantiCORE applications? |
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That would depend on the applications specifically. mantiCORE based
applications, regardless of their origin and vendor allow a seamless integration
to take place, giving you the opportunity to configure your system based on your
direct needs. Within the mantiCORE Foundation there is no such concept as
"plugins" as can be found in many applications on the market right now. Instead,
applications can be plugins to other applications and vice versa because of the
fully modular and object based architecture of mantiCORE. Features that are
implemented in one application can be seamlessly used from within another
application.
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| Can I run non-mantiCORE applications on mantiCORE? |
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The mantiCORE Foundation and applications co-exist with the O.S. so you can run
any non-mantiCORE based applications on your system just like you would
ordinarily do. The non-mantiCORE based applications will not be able to take
advantage of the features offered by mantiCORE based applications but it is not
entirely impossible for vendors to enable their applications to take advantage
of the mantiCORE Foundation. Native mantiCORE applications, however, will offer
a much greater integration and versatility.
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| What kind of mantiCORE applications can we expect to see? |
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Many different kinds of applications. Because the mantiCORE Foundation is
written specifically for digital content applications it will be applications
that deal with digital content, creation, management, processing, etc. These
applications can consist of small very specific tools to get a certain job done
or to implement a spefic feature but can also be full fledged integrated
applications offering a wealth of features and functionality. Currently various
parties are working on bringing 3D animation tools, compositing tools, content
management systems, and a number of other things based on the mantiCORE
Foundation.
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| What is the main reason for the development of mantiCORE? |
There wasn't any main reason, instead there were many. The foremost reason was
that the respective industries and markets that rely on creating and maintaining
digital content have inspired us to head up development based on many years of
analyzing their past, current, and future requirements where a number of
important issues had to be dealt with.
Integration; being able to have integrated applications even if they
do not all originate from the same vendor. Speed; speed of software
operation and interaction as well as quick development turnaround time for new
applications, tools, and functionality along with superior maintainability across
different platforms and
operating systems. Innovation; leaving behind the 80's design and
development principles and allowing new creative tools to come to life that are
tailored to current and future needs of users. There are many users and vendors
spending an awful lot of time updating and maintaining the tools they develop
and provide and end up in situations of having to support multiple plugin
versions for multiple host applications that these are written for. Many
applications are incompatible with eachother in many ways and plugins for one
application won't function in another application.
Choice;
various products have scripting languages in which their feature sets can be
extended or modified but none of the languages are compatible and in some cases
the language itself is entirely proprietary whereas with mantiCORE based
applications the language remains the same across all applications and even
offers you choice in the language to use. With that situation the industry as a
whole is left with functionality that is spread amongst many different tools.
mantiCORE aims to provide a solution to future developments and products that is
driven by providing actual solutions to many of the problems instead of trying
to provide individual solutions to specific single problems. The above
represents a few of the key reasons but only touch upon the range of reasons
that made us undertake this enormous R&D effort.
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| What programming language can I use to write mantiCORE applications? |
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Applications based on the mantiCORE Foundation can be made by different means
and in different ways. Applications can be developed as native and compiled
executable mantiCORE applications in C++ or C#. However, mantiCORE is also
adding support for other languages such as Visual Basic.NET and Java.
Programming languages can be mixed and applications can have portions of their
code in any language that fits the needs of the developer. Instead of compiled
executable mantiCORE applications it is also possible to write scripts that take
full advantage of the mantiCORE Foundation using the same languages (though
performance for compiled executable code will be much higher). There is no
distinct difference between applications that are scripted and those that are
compiled.
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| We
are... |
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On a mission to bring improved and revolutionary technology and integrated
solutions to the field of digital content creation.
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| We
serve... |
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Many different digital industries including broadcast, film, and entertainment.
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| We
can... |
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Solve complex development and production tasks, efficiently and cost-effective.
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| We
can not... |
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Bear to witness the absence of progress and innovation in mass-market CGI
products.
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| We
have... |
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A vision of the future, the resources, and a team of talented industry
veterans.
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