[PD] [GEM]: multiple gemwin

[chris clepper]

On Sep 8, 2004, at 12:05 PM, Ivan Franco wrote:

> Sorry for the following comment but I'm a bit bothered about how 
> people react when we talk about Max or Nato or Jitter or whatever 
> software similar to PD/GEM/etc...
> I'm really supportive about opensource and I think it's the way to go, 
> but I must mention something that seems good/practical, in my point of 
> view, in those softwares.
> Not comparing or asking for features. Just commenting, since we all 
> want GEM to grow to be more....

That's a fair comment.  The comparisons are fine, and I have made them 
before myself.
However, I find it valuable to try to give some idea of what is going 
on in the development end, and give some idea of what we are attempting 
to do.

One of the basis for my previous comments is that I have found that 
most of the video systems around are for the most part exactly the same 
(along with their audio counterparts), and I do not see the need to 
make GEM into another one of those.  It has some features that do set 
it apart, like being one of the few (only?) pure 3D systems, which need 
to be explored further.

Your request for multiple windows is a good one, and it will happen, 
but it is part of a larger project that goes beyond having some preview 
windows.  At this point, the GEM developers are starting to not discuss 
development on the level of individual features and enhancements, but 
rather at the level of systems design and implementation.  This seems 
to be very different from how most software is worked on, and I'm 
hoping it leads to a lot of new tools and solves some problems.  There 
really is a vast area of ideas relating to video and graphics that 
haven't even been touched on by anyone working on this type of 
software.  Right now, I want to explore these avenues rather than just 
coding up some more video plugins and adding more variants of existing 
features, which is unfortunately seems to be the most common path for 
software developers to take.

cgc