Finally, BRL-CAD users can accurately model objects on scales ranging from the subatomic through the galactic and get "all the details, all the time."Īlthough BRL-CAD has been used for a wide variety of engineering and graphics applications, the package's primary purpose continues to be the support of (1) ballistic and (2) electromagnetic analyses. Another strength of the package is the speed of its ray tracer, which is one of the fastest in existence. In addition, BRL-CAD simultaneously supports dual interaction methods, one using a command line and one using a graphical user interface (GUI).Ī particular strength of the package lies in its ability to build and analyze realistic models of complex objects using a relatively small set of "primitive shapes." To do this, the shapes are manipulated by employing the basic Boolean operations of union, subtraction, and intersection. ![]() It contains a large collection of tools, utilities, and libraries including an interactive geometry editor, ray tracing and generic framebuffer libraries, a network-distributed image-processing and signal-processing capability, and a customizable embedded scripting language. Now comprising almost a million lines of C code, BRL-CAD has become a powerful constructive solid geometry (CSG) modeling package that has been licensed at over 2,000 sites throughout the world. When no existing computer-aided design (CAD) package was found to be adequate for this purpose, BRL software developers began assembling a suite of utilities capable of interactively displaying, editing, and interrogating geometric models. Army Research Laboratory ) expressed a need for interactive tools that could assist with the computer simulation and engineering analysis of combat vehicle systems and environments. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) (now the U.S. The result has been a reduction in the amount of time and money required to take a system from the drawing board to full-scale production as well as increased efficiency in testing and evaluation. The BRL-CAD source code repository is the oldest known public version-controlled codebase in the world that's still under active development, dating back to 00:10:31 UTC.Since the late 1950's, computers have been used to assist with the design and study of combat vehicle systems. BRL-CAD became an open-source project in December 2004. Development on BRL-CAD as a package subsequently began in 1983 the first public release was made in 1984. When no CAD package was found to be adequate for this purpose, BRL software developers – led by Mike Muuss – began assembling a suite of utilities capable of interactively displaying, editing, and interrogating geometric models. ![]() Army Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) expressed a need for tools that could assist with the computer simulation and engineering analysis of combat vehicle systems and environments. The application side of BRL-CAD also offers a number of tools and utilities that are primarily concerned with geometric conversion, interrogation, image format conversion, and command-line-oriented image manipulation.īRL-CAD data flow structure History Lead developer Mike Muuss works on the XM-1 tank in BRL‑CAD on a PDP‑11/70 computer system, circa 1980. Each library is designed for a specific purpose: creating, editing, and ray tracing geometry, and image handling. The BRL-CAD libraries are designed primarily for the geometric modeler who also wants to tinker with software and design custom tools. It does also support boundary representation. This means BRL-CAD can "study physical phenomena such as ballistic penetration and thermal, radiative, neutron, and other types of transport". In contrast to many other 3D modelling applications, BRL-CAD primarily uses CSG rather than boundary representation. In keeping with the Unix philosophy of developing independent tools to perform single, specific tasks and then linking the tools together in a package, BRL-CAD is basically a collection of libraries, tools, and utilities that work together to create, raytrace, and interrogate geometry and manipulate files and data. The entire package is distributed in source code and binary form.Īlthough BRL-CAD can be used for a variety of engineering and graphics applications, the package's primary purpose continues to be the support of ballistic and electromagnetic analyses. ![]() It includes an interactive geometry editor, ray tracing support for graphics rendering and geometric analysis, computer network distributed framebuffer support, scripting, image-processing and signal-processing tools. Cross-platform (BSD, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Windows, among others)īRL-CAD is a constructive solid geometry (CSG) solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) system.
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