An Interactive 3D Graphics Class Library in EIFFEL

An object-oriented design is presented for building interactive 3D graphics applications. The design takes the form of a library of classes written in Eiffel, an object-oriented language with multiple inheritance, static typing, dynamic binding, garbage collection, and assertion checking. The classes form a set of reusable components from which a variety of other interactive 3D graphics applications could easily be constructed. A discussion of the overall design goals and philosophy is given. This is followed by a summary description of the purpose and implementation of each of the component class clusters. Finally, the issues are discussed of applying object-oriented techniques to interactive 3D graphics, including encapsulation of existing software and the implementation on a Silicon Graphics Iris workstation.