14 DAY TRIAL // Developers familiar with the latest OS X Lion build have discovered a new development framework called Scene Kit, which enables implementation of 3D rendering within applications.
Reported by a developer who’s had contact with the folks at AppleInsider, the new Lion release allegedly boasts this new framework that will support the importation, manipulation and rendering of three-dimensional assets.
Apple will thus be able to pass the complexity of 3D graphics over to application developers, the report notes.
Similar to the Core Animation data visualization API introduced by Apple in OS X 10.5 Leopard, Scene Kit is reportedly "consistent" with the APIs of Apple's other graphical frameworks.
These include Image Kit and Core Animation. Scene Kit also does not require the developer to have advanced 3D graphical programming skills, this person reportedly said.
Devs soon-to-employ the kit should be able to add intuitive 3D object manipulation and rendering to their software.
Other details about the Scene Kit framework are also dished out, such as the ability to import 3D assets using COLLADA, an XML-based interchange file format managed the same standards body backing OpenGL, OpenCL, and WebGL - Khronos Group, AppleInsider reports.
The person familiar with Apple’s latest Lion seed says the new Scene Kit is specifically designed to import COLLADA 3D objects and build scenes composed by cameras, lights, and meshes.
For its part, the framework provides the necessary tools for manipulating the bounding volumes, geometry and materials used in the scene, according to the report.
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is currently at its second preview among tight developer circles, with the final shipping build scheduled to emerge this summer at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
OS X Lion blends key elements from the iPad version of iOS with the innovations brought by the multiple sequential versions of Mac OS X over the years.