Interactive, Animated 3D Widgets

If 3D applications become large, hierarchical networks of geometric objects lead to messy specifications. Furthermore, if timeand event-dependencies are merged with the geometric modeling, the global layout of animation and interaction can hardly be achieved. We present an objectoriented architecture for interactive, animated 3D widgets which reduces the complexity of building 3D applications. 3D widgets encapsulate look (geometry) and feel (behavior) into high-level building blocks based on two types of directed acyclic graphs, geometry graphs and behavior graphs. 3D widgets construct internal geometry graphs and behavior graphs, perform operations on these graphs through high-level interfaces which hide details and raise the level of abstraction. 3D widgets define object ports which are used to link together 3D widgets. A visual language for 3D widgets allows the developer the interactive construction of 3D applications.