Omegalib

By Kevin Dackow

Description

This software is a "framework for virtual reality and cluster-driven display systems." It is intended for 3D scientific visualization, especially in the fields of astrophysics, engineering, and biochemistry.

A note on usage (by Mike Colonna): Omegalib has not been well-maintained, and its documentation is several years out-of-date. The library will likely be unusable within a few years (if not already). Proceed to usage with caution.

Official Resources

Official Documentation: https://github.com/uic-evl/omegalib/wiki

User Support: None

Installation Guide: Listed below

Tutorial for Hello World (Windows)

Download Python 2.7 and configure
- Be sure to allow Python to setup global PATH variables!
Setup CMake on your computer through the CMake instructions, also being sure that you have allowed it to setup global PATH variables.
Download the binary release of Omegalib from the Omegalib website.
Follow installation instructions and choose any subpackages you would like to explore.
Once installed, move to the omegalib directory and open the package manager. Select Update All Packages, to safely update if need be.
Open either of the demos location at the top of the home omegalib directory!

Minimum/Recommended System Requirements

Windows 7/8/10

Metrics

Accessibility: The estimated time for someone to create Hello World in VR

Beginner: No coding or graphics experience | 1 hours
Intermediate: Some coding or graphics experience | 1 hours
Advanced: Both coding and graphics experience | 1 hours
Expert: A lot of experience with computer graphics | 1 hours

Power: The engine's power - i.e. how much one can do with this

Medium: It appears to be powerful, but is unfortunately outdated and not supported, so it will continue to lose its power as time passes.

Usage: Evaluation of software's use for the following purposes

Art - Would be a great visualization tool for 3D graphics in VR and cross-platform settings
Game design - N/A
Science - built specifically for scientific visualization

Summary:

I attempted to get Omegalib running on both Ubuntu and on Windows and only succeeded in limited fashion on Windows. Unfortunately, the software deprecation has affected it severely on Ubuntu and moderately on Windows. On Ubuntu, the deprecation and several-dependencies have unfortunately changed to the point where building it was nearly impossible, and getting anything rendering was infeasible. For Windows, I was able to quickly get a basic demo up and running, but any of the modules with more-pertinent scientific visualizations were unable to render. Additionally, the basic application only worked for the demos, and did not work as a standalone piece of software.

Overall, Omegalib was a powerful tool that's lack of upkeep has made it frustrating to use and will render it unusable within several years.