Cmgui development meeting notes 2010

12 January 2010

Alan: 2376 Looking into adding overlay graphics. 1776 Implementing new hierarchical region-capable group/selection fields. David: selection callbacks are currently implemented in Zinc - need to check & ensure functionality continues.

Dougal: Briefly looked at logo ideas / fonts.

David: 1844 Intends to do linear fitting, e.g. least squares.

Hugh: eBonz python work.

Richard: 2099 Adding C++ shim API, initially for command data and fields. 1527 Wrapping C++ shim api using SWIG, testing with python.

General: Discussed renaming command data, region API, always having just one root region and putting other regions a layer below.

19 January 2010

Alan: 1776 Groups starting to work - can add nodes. 2096 Adding C++ material API. Helping summer students.

Hugh: Mac mini arrived; will set up for build/test in-between eBonz work. Discussed getting Windows license for VM & transferring to eventual server.

David: Linked in opt++ (Sandia) and adapted 'gfx minimise' to use it; only works with double precision cmgui build. 2387 Posted info on XML DOM API; plan is to follow in region API.

Richard: 1527 Tidied up SWIG interface using new C++ API in api++. 1045 Discussed using Zinc as name for both Cmgui and the current web plugin, under the CMISS brand.

Randall, Dougal: Attended.

9 February 2010

Alan: 1776 Selection of nodes and elements with mouse working; will commit to merge scenes+regions branch. 838 Looked into rubber band not working - low priority. 1740 Order independent transparency broken in release build. 1354 Summer students finished beginnings of field API; switching to merge scenes+regions branch to add rendition/graphics API; fix npruntime zinc tracker dependencies.

Hugh: 1546 Plan to merge CAD branch into trunk as optional feature; add special build version and test. 1738 Plan to commit win32 cmake work.

David: 1844 Tested 2-D fitting but example was insufficiently constrained so overstepped desired solution to equal minima; created branch for optimisation code.

Richard: Concentrating on FieldML. 2417 Replace command_data with context object as main object in cmgui API.

Dougal: Attended.

General: Cmgui Tutorial to be held at ABI 23rd Feb. All Cmgui team to attend, bring laptops for tutorial. I will give intro talk and demo, Alan will demo zinc. Use Kyoto notes.

16 February 2010

Alan: 1046 1776 Selection group enabled for node on merge scene+region branch, but highlighting just done with data/spectrum at this time. 1354 Summer students have added graphics/rendition API with merge scene+region branch - presenting next week. 2387 2417 Will help complete region API and context switchover.

Hugh: eBonz fitting work still ongoing. Still plan to do general cmgui work listed last week - merging CAD and win32/cmake into trunk.

Richard: Concentrating on FieldML as have set mid-March deadline to finalise design. Assist Alan with region/context API. Cmgui tutorial next Tuesday - will send another e-mail reminder for attendees.

Katja: Attended. Interested in up-coming functionality. Discussed main plans for new graphics architecture, Full API, optimisation/fitting, FieldML implementation.

2 March 2010

Alan: 2417 Replacing command data with context object in API: separating UI creation. 2457 Wrote external program to extract mesh & field data from CGNS format for euHeart partner. 2458 Added tetrahedral poisson distribution density element point discretisation to downsample large meshes e.g. CGNS fluid models. 2451 Fixed write image bug caused by absent file format enumerations in write texture command: new way is to prefix filename with format eg. PNG:bob.xxx".

Dougal: Attended.

Hugh: Making movie with cmgui for eBonz. Working on making camera paths.

David: Showed screenshot of nephron interface using zinc. Setting up to build zinc.

Richard: FieldML work. Gave an update on developments.

9 March 2010

Alan: 2417 Context object: nearly finished, fixing memory issues. 2427 Image field changing number of components - fixing breaks caused by this change.

David: 1844 Simple 2-D least-squares fitting example working; queried use of field 'clear_cache' function. 1805 Reopening double precision tracker item until we switch it on after next release.

Hugh: eBonz work nearing completion. Will merge CAD/cmake work into trunk after next external release.

Richard: 2387 Implementing new region API; intend to simplify region merge code. FieldML design still ongoing.

Shane (External: Spark Dental) 2455 Added screen-based label spacing for axes. 2464 Generalise gradient computed field to work at node locations using finite differences

General: Next release with context, region API, field persistence flag getter/setter in 1-2 weeks. Afterwards switch to double precision, merge Hugh's CAD branch and Alan's merge-scene&region branch which includes the new group/selection. Tidy up & complete graphics API for next release as soon as possible - on which next zinc can be based.

23 March 2010

General: Worked through open tracker items for 1133 Cmgui 2.7 release.

Alan: 2417 All external tests/modules converted to using context. a/digitise awaits region API. 1699 Antialiasing fix available in latest Mesa but failing to support pre-standard EXT. 1788 1989 2050 2427 These outstanding tracker items for release 2.7 can be closed. Writing euHeart Aorta visualisation report.

Hugh: 2104 2373 Working to close third party library renaming and check-in to our repository for cmgui 2.7 (wxWidgets, itk, OpenCascade, netgen). 1883 Discussed having ongoing housekeeping tracker items such as this as unfinished items on each release they are worked on.

David: 1844 Complex femur fitting example problematic - returning to simpler geometries. Discovered undocumented opt++ APIs (also not used in examples) for getting objective function callbacks with void* user data so can remove reliance on global variables.

Richard: 2387 Committed new region API. Intend to add more helper API for making child regions within parent regions. Intend to document Cmiss_context_create_region as being aimed at making new root regions & proposing a new Cmiss_region_create(region) be used for making regions within same tree, even though not incompatible. 2105 Intend to at least scope size of job for this release in case a quick fix is possible. 2491 Object persistence API is required before next release - will look into.

Shane (External) 2386 Fixed mipmap generation which was buggy with some OpenGL implementations. 1658 Improve flexibility of handling material program uniforms. Can have from 1 to 4 & store with material rather than material program so same program can be used with different uniforms from different materials.

20 April 2010

Hugh: 1739 Merged trunk into CAD branch, migrated to new generic field create function. Running well. Plan to build windows version. Built static version of OpenCascade. (Want to update ITK. gdcm patch not working on newer versions of ImageMagick. Should add new tracker item for CAD selection.

Alan: 1354 Building zinc npruntime on firefox 3.6. 1805 Switched to double precision build, fixing bugs and test answers. 1047 Fixing export for merge scenes/regions.

Heye: Gaining familiarity with zinc.

Richard: Planning FieldML I/O for cmgui.

Dougal, David: Attended.

27 April 2010

Alan: 2532 Building zinc npruntime on Mac. Also looking into Mac testing.

Hugh: 1739 More working catching up CAD branch. Building cmgui on windows. CAD queries.

Heye: Learning about zinc, javascript. Using xpcom-zinc. Switching to npruntime.

Dougal, David: Attended.

Richard: 1496 Developing ensemble/parameters field types for FieldML I/O. 1805 Helping switchover to double precision.

11 May 2010

David: 1844 Progress on fitting/optimisation expected around end of this month.

Hugh: 1738 Cmake - building cmgui with MSVC finicky with compiler flags, OpenCascade. 1739 CAD branch merged into trunk, merge issues fixed. Still need to make a standard build with CAD, add a test.

Alan: 1876 Building xpcom zinc for firefox 3.6 on windows using jemalloc; works on own vista laptop, crashes under Windows XP. 1805 Helped complete switchover to double precision. 1047 Merged trunk (with double precision) into branch. Changing to use new manager message API.

Heye: Learning javascript, able to run npruntime examples. Problems with blank scene viewer on his 64-bit system.

Dougal: Attended.

Richard: 1805 Helped complete switchover to double precision. 984 All objects have manager pointer for consistent messaging in future. Changed manager messaging to send no messages while cache active. Preparing for additional per-object change detail needed for groups, ensemble, parameter fields. 1496 Developing ensemble/parameters field types for FieldML I/O.

Randall: Upcoming paper on integration of cmgui library into GIMIAS. Discussed building an integrated environment for cmgui, opencmiss, opencell (perhaps the new 'standalone cmgui'). Development environment and language discussion currently centred around C++/Qt versus Java/Scala/Eclipse IDE. Discussion covered issues of running on smaller footprint devices e.g. iPad-like, importance of libraries and dialogs being maximally resuable - consider if GIMIAS goes back to Qt, developer familiarity/motivation, concern about niche languages such as Scala - perhaps just Java if go that route.

18 May 2010

Hugh: 1738 Cmake Windows MSVC build running. 2059 Perl interpreter changes for MSVC build. 2550 Query CAD entity property by name. 2549 Will put FieldML API/lib into cmgui.

Alan: 1876 Zinc running in Firefox 3.6 on Windows, awaiting user feedback. 1047 Selection working, getting highlighting working & more efficiently. Much of NDC/overlay functionality working. 2548 Change zinc-npruntime to use context object.

Richard: 1496 Ensemble, ensemble iterator, ensemble group, ensemble index functionally complete if untested. Parameters field partly completed. 2549 Will add FieldML I/O for ensemble, parameters first then integrate or translate into FE_region.

Shane (External). Updated zinc digitiser to use field module, fixed bug(s) related to 984 (manager message changes); still crashes. Branching cmgui soon after 2.7 + 2 bug fixes. 2443 Zinc npruntime stream access to external resources - adding type-safe pointer list for return objects since there are multiple types.

General. Agreed to put merge-scene branch back in trunk as soon as possible - hopefully within a week - even if some examples and functionality are broken.

25 May 2010

Alan: 2376 Overlay option on graphic working. Discussion: agreed option only sets overlay: NDC coordinate system comes from a coordinate field. 1776 1047 Selection & highlighting working for nodes, whole regions. Still to do elements.

Hugh: 2550 Investigating adding CAD entity handle/iterator object for CAD enquiry API. Could wrap OpenCascade iterators. 2561 Fixed leak.

Dougal: attended.

David: 1844 Mid-June time-frame for optimisation merged into trunk with API and example. Will be using undocumented opt++ API which safely passes client data.

Richard: 1496 More fixes and enhancement to ensemble, parameters for FieldML I/O code. 2549 FieldML 0.2 import partly implemented for ensembles, parameters. Still to commit.

Discussion: 2556 Cmgui version numbers. Idea is that when we release 2.8.0 we move to 2.9.0 for internal development, so 2.8.x can be used for bug fixes as needed. To minimise backporting, we should be able to release next trunk version whenever it is stable and has demanded features or fixes complete, but we'll have to call it a beta or some other qualifier if we are to keep 2.8.0 free for the true release; we'd also need to have release candidates in this case. We need to stage-manage features promised for the next release so that users/partners are more aware of what is actually being worked on and what is tentative (and to minimise 'bumping' to next release): agreed to move some tentative tracker items from 2.8.0 to a 'tentative' category under 2.9.0. Another idea is to only promise functionality under a 2.8.x release and to make incremental releases when we are able. Also agreed we should put nightly builds which pass tests on the ftp server.

9 June 2010

Alan: 1776 Selection working for nodes, elements. 1047 Working on scene filter.

Hugh: 1831 Build cmgui apps with API; updated a/texture_viewer_api_demo. 2040 Rearranging CAD object -> region layout.

Richard: 1496 Fixed bugs in parameters. 2549 FieldML 0.2 import example a/advection_diffusion.

14 June 2010

Alan: 1047 Merged merge-scene-and-region branch into trunk. Fixing breaks. 2598 Removed motif build + test. 1776 Improved selection highlighting; now destroys cmiss_selection when nothing selected.

Hugh: 2040 CAD region rearrangement pending commit. 2550 CAD entity query API progressing.

David: 1844 Getting opt++ including FORTRAN BLAS into third_party.

Richard: 1047 (eventually 2624 Scene graphics filtering. Also some FieldML design work.

28 June 2010

Alan: 1047 2608 2610 Fixing bugs and updating examples post merge scene and regions. Render ordering (position) and graphics filtering only main missing features.

Hugh: 2550 Selection of CAD elements. 2608 Bug fixing.

Richard: General FieldML discussions, handling cmgui queries.

Shane (External): 2443 Zinc npruntime download manager working for region files. Install page loads torso model but needs rendition code to show graphics on it.

5 July 2010

Alan: 2608 Fixing merge scene bugs. 1134 Fixing scene editor tree view usability; renaming as region tree viewer.

Hugh: 2550 CAD selection implemented using a map. Added generic API to access sub-groups by domain. eBonz work.

David: 1844 Will update tracker with status of fitting code.

Richard: 2624 Scene graphics filters.

Discussion: Remove XML as a build option so compulsory.

19 July 2010

Alan: 2629 Fixing selection/group gfx commands. 1047 2610 Rendition no longer using display list as content is different per scene. 2624 Reports memory leak with graphic name filter.

Hugh: 2040 2550 Further reorganising CAD to region layout to support CAD selection. 2660 wxString crash on Windows MSVC build, probably using a temporary; fixing by copying string. 2650 Fixing uninitialised variables in MSVC build.

Dougal, Randall: Working on tutorial for Buenos Aires. Discussed getting tarball snapshot of examples at time of external releases as current examples changing for development branch.

Richard: 2624 More APIs and commands to add for scene graphics filtering.

26 July 2010

Hugh: 1738 Cmake working on linux again. 2667 Removing #ifdef DEBUG printf debugging code, or at least renaming macro. Discussed windows testing machine.

David: 1844 opt++ has compile option to use internal C replacement for BLAS to remove requirement for FORTRAN. Merge 2 weeks away.

Alan: 2365 Graphics object list merged into glyph list. 1046 Adding more graphics API: Cmiss_graphics_module_get_rendition, CGM_create_scene etc.

Dougal: Buenos Aires presentation preparation.

Richard: FieldML document. 2376 Overlay views. 2662 Viewer lights in rendition graphics list.

9 August 2010

Alan: 1046 Added more graphics API. 2668 Gfx destroy elements bug. 2666 Fixing node tool element creation. 2670 Make node viewer region capable. Fixing more examples. 2443 Zinc: using download manager and graphics API to display torso on About page.

Randall: Buildbot discussion.

Hugh: eBonz work. Discussed build machine.

Richard: FieldML. Reviewing scene APIs. Discussed zinc safe interim commands.

16 August 2010

Alan, Dougal, Richard: Ideas for improving the scene editor, particularly following 2512 remove group regions:

1. Merge region tree and list of rendition graphics into one place.
2. Reduce graphic label to just number, name, type and subdomain.
3. Put tree view on left rather than above graphic editor dialog.