Also Known As: Ballistic Research Laboratory CAD Package
Type | See article |
Colors | NA |
Compression | NA |
Maximum Image Size | NA |
Multiple Images Per File | NA |
Numerical Format | See article |
Originator | U.S. Army Advanced Communication Systems |
Platform | UNIX |
Supporting Applications | BRL-CAD |
See Also | None |
Usage
Solid modeling, network-distributed image processing.
Comments
A massive, polymorphic system consisting of several standards.
Vendor specifications are available for this format.
BRL-CAD (Ballistic Research Laboratory CAD) is a solid-modeling system that originated at the Advanced Computing Systems Group of the U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory. It was originally designed to provide an interactive editor for use in conjunction with a vehicle-description database. In the U.S. Army, "vehicle" often means "tank," and the documention contains many interesting and high-quality renderings of tank-like objects.
Contents:
For Further Information
BRL-CAD is massive, consisting of more than 100 programs, and includes about 280,000 lines of C source code. It is extraordinarily well-documented and has been distributed to at least 800 sites worldwide.
Conceptually, BRL-CAD implements several subsystems:
Data in the current release of BRL-CAD can be in several forms:
The BRL-CAD documentation is extensive and well-written, and we found it a pleasure to work with. Unfortunately, it is too extensive to be included on the CD, so we have elected to include only a summary description there. The full documentation is readily available in The Ballistic Research Laboratory CAD Package, Release 4.0, December 1991, albeit in paper form. Our copy came in a box weighing about ten pounds! It consists of five volumes:
Volume I | The BRL-CAD Philosophy |
Volume II | The BRL-CAD User's Manual |
Volume III | The BRL-CAD Applications Manual |
Volume IV | The MGED User's Manual |
Volume V | The BRL-CAD Analyst's Manual |
This is an extraordinary document set, and not only in contrast to the rest of the documention we've run across in the research for this book. It's just a great job. If the application is one-tenth as well-crafted as the documentation, it must be a marvel.
For general information about BRL-CAD, contact:
Attn: Mike Muuss
BRL-CAD Architect
U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5068
mike@brl.mil
BRL-CAD is distributed in two forms:
For further information about this distribution, contact:
BRL-CAD Distribution
Attn: SCLBR-LV-V
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5066
FAX: 410-278-5058
Email: keith@brl.mil
For further information about this distribution, contact:
BRL-CAD Distribution
Attn: Mrs. Carla Moyer
SURVIAC Aberdeen Satellite Office
1003 Old Philadelphia Road, Suite 103
Aberdeen, MD 21001
Voice: 410-273-7794
FAX: 410-272-6763
Emial: cad_dist@brl.mil
For more information on BRL-CAD, see the following:
BRL-CAD homepage
BRL-CAD technical reports
Copyright © 1996, 1994 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.