<s>
OpenGL++	B-Library
was	O
a	O
graphics	B-Library
library	I-Library
written	O
in	O
C++	B-Language
that	O
supported	O
object-oriented	B-Language
data	B-General_Concept
structures	I-General_Concept
on	O
top	O
of	O
the	O
OpenGL	B-Application
3D	O
graphics	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
higher	O
level	O
API	B-General_Concept
than	O
the	O
"	O
bare	O
metal	O
"	O
support	O
of	O
OpenGL	B-Application
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
being	O
an	O
implementation	O
for	O
Java3D	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Work	O
on	O
OpenGL++	B-Library
ended	O
when	O
SGI	O
decided	O
to	O
partner	O
with	O
Microsoft	O
instead	O
,	O
leading	O
to	O
the	O
Fahrenheit	B-Library
project	O
,	O
which	O
also	O
died	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
vast	O
majority	O
of	O
applications	O
using	O
3D	O
systems	O
describe	O
the	O
objects	O
in	O
their	O
"	O
world	O
"	O
in	O
a	O
data	B-General_Concept
structure	I-General_Concept
known	O
as	O
a	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
is	O
normally	O
organized	O
as	O
some	O
sort	O
of	O
a	O
tree	B-Application
data	I-Application
structure	I-Application
,	O
with	O
the	O
nodes	O
representing	O
objects	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
edges	O
their	O
relationship	O
to	O
other	O
objects	O
in	O
the	O
world	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Quick	O
traversal	O
of	O
the	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
is	O
essential	O
to	O
making	O
this	O
"	O
culling	O
"	O
operation	O
occur	O
quickly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scene	B-Data_Structure
graphs	I-Data_Structure
were	O
generally	O
left	O
to	O
the	O
developer	O
to	O
implement	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
all	O
too	O
common	O
to	O
see	O
poor	O
examples	O
that	O
led	O
to	O
poor	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SGI	O
had	O
worked	O
on	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
projects	O
that	O
were	O
intended	O
to	O
help	O
the	O
developer	O
produce	O
a	O
high-quality	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
,	O
but	O
none	O
of	O
these	O
had	O
become	O
widely	O
used	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
reasons	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Open	B-Application
Inventor	I-Application
was	O
one	O
such	O
example	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
simplify	O
building	O
the	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
,	O
but	O
the	O
results	O
were	O
not	O
necessarily	O
very	O
high	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OpenGL	B-Library
Performer	I-Library
was	O
a	O
similar	O
project	O
that	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
produce	O
high-speed	O
scenes	O
and	O
support	O
very	O
large	O
numbers	O
of	O
objects	O
in	O
the	O
"	O
world	O
"	O
,	O
but	O
was	O
not	O
particularly	O
easy	O
to	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Inventor	O
and	O
Performer	B-Library
teams	O
had	O
already	O
realized	O
that	O
there	O
was	O
no	O
particular	O
reason	O
the	O
two	O
systems	O
could	O
not	O
be	O
combined	O
into	O
one	O
,	O
offering	O
both	O
ease-of-development	O
and	O
high-performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
led	O
to	O
the	O
Cosmo3D	O
system	O
,	O
basically	O
,	O
a	O
standardized	O
high-performance	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
that	O
sat	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
OpenGL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cosmo3D	O
introduced	O
a	O
new	O
file	O
format	O
that	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
store	O
entire	O
scenes	O
and	O
all	O
the	O
data	O
needed	O
to	O
reconstruct	O
them	O
,	O
the	O
VRML	B-Application
format	O
that	O
is	O
still	O
in	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Among	O
these	O
were	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
VRML	B-Application
tools	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
large	O
model	O
visualization	O
system	O
for	O
CAD	B-Application
purposes	O
called	O
OpenGL	B-Application
Optimizer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Oddly	O
,	O
Cosmo	O
Code	O
,	O
a	O
VRML	B-Application
authoring	O
tool	O
,	O
was	O
produced	O
by	O
a	O
different	O
division	O
and	O
did	O
not	O
use	O
the	O
Cosmo	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
at	O
all	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Cosmo	O
's	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
was	O
by	O
no	O
means	O
a	O
unique	O
solution	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
other	O
graphics	O
companies	O
were	O
working	O
on	O
similar	O
ideas	O
at	O
about	O
this	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
20	O
–	O
21	O
August	O
1996	O
meeting	O
of	O
the	O
OpenGL	B-Application
Architecture	O
Review	O
Board	O
(	O
ARB	O
)	O
,	O
SGI	O
floated	O
the	O
idea	O
of	O
a	O
new	O
standardized	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
similar	O
to	O
Cosmo3D	O
but	O
with	O
the	O
express	O
intent	O
of	O
being	O
based	O
on	O
"	O
standard	O
"	O
OpenGL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
was	O
some	O
interest	O
in	O
the	O
concept	O
,	O
so	O
at	O
the	O
9	O
–	O
10	O
December	O
1996	O
meeting	O
the	O
group	O
presented	O
the	O
first	O
draft	O
of	O
the	O
OpenGL++	B-Library
concept	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
follow-up	O
meeting	O
during	O
17	O
–	O
19	O
February	O
1997	O
demonstrated	O
that	O
there	O
was	O
considerable	O
interest	O
from	O
most	O
parties	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
exception	O
of	O
Microsoft	O
and	O
Sun	O
,	O
although	O
there	O
were	O
concerns	O
as	O
to	O
whether	O
or	O
not	O
the	O
ARB	O
was	O
the	O
right	O
body	O
to	O
support	O
such	O
an	O
effort	O
without	O
diluting	O
their	O
primary	O
job	O
of	O
supporting	O
OpenGL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Development	O
continued	O
throughout	O
1997	O
including	O
several	O
distributions	O
of	O
the	O
API	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
work	O
on	O
OpenGL++	B-Library
continued	O
,	O
Sun	O
and	O
SGI	O
had	O
also	O
been	O
working	O
on	O
a	O
3D	O
standard	O
suitable	O
for	O
Java	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
efforts	O
eventually	O
broke	O
down	O
,	O
and	O
Sun	O
went	O
on	O
to	O
release	O
Java3D	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
SGI	O
suggested	O
their	O
Cosmo	O
work	O
was	O
a	O
sample	O
Java3D	B-Language
implementation	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
this	O
work	O
evolved	O
into	O
OpenGL++	B-Library
these	O
plans	O
moved	O
with	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
definition	O
of	O
OpenGL++	B-Library
,	O
Sun	O
stated	O
that	O
they	O
were	O
not	O
interested	O
in	O
working	O
on	O
the	O
effort	O
as	O
they	O
were	O
focussed	O
on	O
their	O
Java3D	B-Language
work	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Comparatively	O
,	O
Java3D	B-Language
spans	O
two	O
layers	O
of	O
the	O
3D	O
stack	O
,	O
the	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
and	O
the	O
visual	O
interface	O
and	O
its	O
widgets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
had	O
stated	O
that	O
the	O
existing	O
Cosmo	O
work	O
would	O
be	O
abandoned	O
and	O
that	O
Open	B-Application
Inventor	I-Application
,	O
Performer	B-Library
and	O
OpenGL	B-Application
Optimizer	O
would	O
be	O
re-written	O
to	O
be	O
hosted	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
OGL++	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
OGL++	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
cleaned	O
up	O
and	O
more	O
flexible	O
version	O
of	O
Cosmo3D	O
,	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
Cosmo3D	O
team	O
started	O
work	O
on	O
OGL++	O
and	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
the	O
effort	O
was	O
aimed	O
at	O
a	O
specification	O
and	O
implementation	O
that	O
could	O
deliver	O
on	O
the	O
promise	O
of	O
a	O
truly	O
powerful	O
yet	O
generic	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
March	O
1998	O
ARB	O
meeting	O
,	O
to	O
everyone	O
's	O
surprise	O
,	O
SGI	O
presented	O
Fahrenheit	B-Library
,	O
an	O
entirely	O
new	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fahrenheit	B-Library
is	O
a	O
large	O
step	O
in	O
that	O
direction.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
OpenGL++	B-Library
was	O
abandoned	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eventually	O
,	O
the	O
only	O
other	O
company	O
with	O
a	O
3D	O
focus	O
was	O
Microsoft	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
Fahrenheit	B-Library
project	O
started	O
and	O
ended	O
shortly	O
after	O
the	O
OpenGL++	B-Library
efforts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Today	O
,	O
no	O
such	O
standardized	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
exists	O
,	O
and	O
SGI	O
has	O
all	O
but	O
exited	O
the	O
API	B-General_Concept
world	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SGI	O
has	O
released	O
the	O
earlier	O
Open	B-Application
Inventor	I-Application
code	O
into	O
open	O
source	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
source	O
to	O
OGL++	O
was	O
never	O
completed	O
to	O
any	O
satisfactory	O
degree	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
No	O
finalized	O
specification	O
exists	O
and	O
,	O
as	O
with	O
OpenGL	B-Application
,	O
the	O
spec	O
and	O
idea	O
behind	O
such	O
an	O
open	O
platform	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
what	O
lent	O
it	O
its	O
lasting	O
value	O
,	O
not	O
a	O
single	O
implementation	O
of	O
a	O
scene	B-Data_Structure
graph	I-Data_Structure
idea	O
.	O
</s>
