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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Request for comments on idea for a new KDE-based application
From:       faichele () primusnetz ! de
Date:       2009-02-25 11:14:53
Message-ID: 1235560493.49a5282d889c2 () imp ! primusnetz ! de
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Hello, kde-devel list!

Referred here from the kde-devel IRC channel on freenode.org, I'd like to
present an idea for a new KDE-based software project and would appreciate
feedback on whether there is interest in it at all, and if yes, what kind of
material/a working prototype I need/should/could provide to help others with
deciding whether they'd consider joining a development effort.

So, what should this application be about?

Essentially, the application I'm proposing here is intended to provide a
well-written framework for working with rigid body simulation packages, i. e.
physics engines like Bullet and ODE, and possibly also commercial products like
NVidia's PhysX or Intel's Havok. Further emphasis shall be put on extensive
manipulation possibilites both via direct user interaction and interfacing to
external control entities (for example a robotics framework which interacts
with a physics simulation by providing position/velocity/force input and
obtaining sensor output as generated by a physics engine's collision detection
and character controller facilities), as well as support for easy import of
geometry and physics simulation data via a "recognized" industry standard,
namely the COLLADA XML document format. Furthermore, the application shall
provide real-time 3D visualization of a running physics simulation (favoured
solution at the moment: OpenSceneGraph), as well as verbose logging and
"on-the-fly" editing capabilities for simulated rigid bodies.

What I have so far (after investing a few days over the weekends in January):
- I already have an early prototype based on the KTorrent core application, plus
a few rudimentary plugins.
- I verified that OpenSceneGraph, COLLADA DOM (open source COLLADA library), and
the Bullet Physics Engine fit into the overall architecture together with KDE
4.2.

In my opinion such an application would be a nice asset for KDE, even though it
doesn't really target "mainstream" users, but has a more specialized potential
user community, namely users interested in robotics and/or rigid body
simulation. There are a couple of projects out there which offer similar
functionality (for example, Robotics Studio from M$ or Gazebo from the
PlayerStage project in robotics), but none of the two offer a concise plugin
API or a desktop environment infrastructure that KDE could provide.

I'm looking forward to hear comments, opinions and suggestions, in case my
proposal offers potential for adding a new application to KDE.

Finally, a few words on myself: I've started my Ph. D. thesis in June 2008 on a
topic that encompasses the usage of rigid body simulations in development
processes in industrial robotics; I've used a rather "ugly" self-written
application prototype as a proof-of-concept platform and picked KDE as a robust
alternative for a more sophisticated successor of my current "crime against
software development". Since the majority of 3rd party software used is open
source anyway, starting such a project as communal open source effort is the
right way in my opinion.

With best regards,
Fabian Aichele

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