Description
TextureMind framework is a framework written in C++ language to develop a wide range of cross-platform applications. The framework is composed by a set of classes to facilitate multi-threading, serialization, ipc, networking, graphics and computer vision. The framework is also composed by a complete set of applications to create images, animations, GUIs and videogames. I'm creating this framework to speed-up the production of software in general. It has been coded by me from scratch and it can be seen as a collection of all the knowledge that I have in the field of computer programming. The framework is currently closed source and it will be used just for my personal creations.
Background
TextureMind Framework derives from an old abandoned framework programmed by me that was called CJS Framework. The initial aim was to create an opensource project for multiple target languages, with a valid and interchangable architecture for data structure serialization. However, after a starting period of programming in the form of a private project, it wasn't never release to the public in the form of an open-source project, but continued as a closed source private project, changed into TextureMind Framework and developed only in C++ (although future development in other programming languages cannot be ruled out). The aim to cover multiple target languages has been abandoned for developing other aspects, like graphics with GPU rendering, shader programming, advanced GUI, audio, 3D engines and so on. After years of development, the framework is so advanced and well structured (thanks to a super-modular architecture with a custom variant of serializable component object model) that can be used to develop pro-applications and advanced video games in the future.
What are the best features of TextureMind Framework?
Architecture
- A modular object-oriented architecture based on a custom variant of serializable component object model
- A plugin system based on coherent component module dependencies
- Core functionalities with zero external dependencies
- Create a single exe application or split into multiple dll modules
Serialization
- An abstraction layer for extending serialization to a virtually unlimited number of formats
- Built-in serialization in raw, json and xml formats
- A proprietary serialization binary format designed to optimize space and speed
Script languages
- A custom parser to analyze and re-interpret different programming languages, like ansi c or javascript
- An abstraction layer to compile and execute at runtime (or jit) a virtually unlimited number of programming languages
- Built-in support for Ansi C through TinyC library
- Possibility to access framework's functionality through programming languages
Graphics
- An abstraction layer for 2D and 3D rendering
- Built-in implementation with Vulkan and Cairo libraries
- An extremely modular material system based on visual expression nodes
- Materials are dinamically converted into SPIR-V binaries with shaderc library
- Material nodes can be programmed in a GLSL variant compatible with ShaderToy
- Bitmap and outline font rendering
- Skinned mesh animated via GPU
- Particle system, Lighting, PBR, LOD
- Real-time raytracing with RTX technology
Audio
- An abstraction layer for 2D and 3D audio rendering
- Built-in implementation with OpenAL Soft
- GPU interoperability, support for audio shader
2D and 3D Engines
- Specialize engines into different directions (Graphics, Audio, Physics)
- A proprietary 3D mesh format fully compatible with all the existing formats
- Static and dynamic resources management for Textures, Materials and Templates
- 2D and 3D scene formats
- An animation system based on key-frames where every variable can be animated with linear and spherical interpolation
- A template system for supporting animated characters and to avoid redundancy
- An abstraction layer to import 3D models
- Import any 3D model with built-in assimp library implementation
GUI
- An advanced and fully skinnable widget system
- An abstraction layer for CPU and GPU rendering
- Full deterministic control over rendered frames
- Can be used to create both applications and games
- Support for complex widgets, like form window, text editor, treeview, combobox, menu, tabstrip and toolbar
Backlog
- Implement abstraction layer for audio context
- Implement AudioTrack and Sample classes to manage sound
- Load audio tracks from wav and ogg vorbis files
- Implement audio context with OpenAL Soft
- Create samples from audio tracks for OpenAL Soft
- Execute multiple samples at the same time
- Control normal and loop sound execution with a system based on events
- Support from Stereo to Dolby Surround 7.1
- Control multiple sound execution in a virtual environment with virtual 3D speakers
- Create Gui Editor application
- Manage skins, gui pages and resources
- Create new widgets inside the gui page
- Support single and multiple selections
- Move, Rotate and Scale selected widgets
- Make resources portable into objects which make use of them
- Cut & paste objects along used resources with system clipboard
- Do not duplicate resources with the same content during cut & paste operations
- Implement PropertyView widget
- Optimizations and bug fixes
- Implement FrameWindows, TreeViews, TabStrips, ToolBars and DockingLayouts
- Totally dynamic resources management
- Cleanup and optimize draw calls, fix bugs
- Implement ListViews and ListItems
- Fix mistakes and glitches in the GUI
- Improve event callbacks
- Implement texture atlas
- Optimize performance with Vulkan
- Implement Menus and ComboBoxes
- Move ShaderC implementation from Vulkan module to a separate module
- Improve internal architecture for lexer and parser of any language
- Implement a lexer for textual languages
- Implement generic parser formal and non formal languages with all the AST nodes
- Implement an AnsiC parser with the full set of C89 standard ISO features
- Implement TextBox widget
- Introduce a new uniform type for changing the texture used by a material in real-time, without performance impact
- Implement a code path for setting Cursor and Selection material layers in Text shape drawing attribute
- Implement a code path for changing the widget background, cursor and selection aspect in real-time
- Introduce multiple-selection with cut & paste
- Implement clip-board functionality to copy unicode characters into the system clipboard
- Cleanup containers and object classes
- Reorganize data structures, make private all the public data members
- Refactor the entire framework to support object interfaces with COM style
- Divide the framework into dynamic libraries and plugins
- Implement dynamic resources
- Support FreeType library
- Calculate fonts to render onscreen text
- Convert on the fly text glyphs into Vulkan textures
- Render text with different types of indentations (left, right, certer, justified)
- Enable text rendering on the GUI with Vulkan renderer
- Use bitmap text rendering to optimize also Cairo renderer
- Add support for bones weights and bones indices to vertex attributes
- Import weights, indices, bones, skeleton, animated nodes with AssImp library
- Implement shader storage buffers
- Optimize vertex and index buffers
- Implement skinned mesh computing in vertex shader
- Animate nodes with linear interpolation for position / scale and slerp for quaternions
- Refactor material system and lighting stage, implement PBR principles
- Optimize ambient, diffusion and specular rendering with multiple textures
- Implement missing parts in the importer to support advanced materials
- Import texture coords, tangent and bitangent vertex attributes with AssImp library
- Improve material system with multiple layers of textures
- Implement bump mapping with tangets, bitangents and normal maps
- Import 3D nodes, vertices, indices and normals with AssImp library.
- Improve material system and mesh rendering
- Define format for 3D mesh with multiple vertex attributes and layout
- Implement convertion from 3D mesh to Vulkan vertex and index buffers
- Design and implement the 3D engine. Handle 3D assets, resources and materials
- Add support for 3D rendering in vulkan graphics context
- Write a simple test case with a material and a rotating torus
- Translate material nodes into GLSL shader for Vulkan
- Support textures with Vulkan, implement materials with textures
- Improve abstract graphics context interface for modern graphics libraries like Vulkan
- Create Vulkan device and implement a specialization of the graphics context
- Adapt uniforms mechanims to Vulkan uniform buffers, write a simple shader
- Add shaderc dependency and convert GLSL program shader into SPIRV shaders
- Implement materials with graphics pipeline, layouts and descriptor sets
- Optimize rendering layers with primary and secondary command buffers
- Implement vertex buffers, draw rainbow rectangles without textures
- Fix transform 2D, finally make 2D GUI work with Vulkan Graphics context
- Design an abstract physics engine and implement 2D physics engine for collision detection
- Implement a GUI engine on top of the 2D graphics engine and physics engine
- Introduce the first set of widgets, like buttons, options, check boxes and window forms.
- Implement an abstract architecture for 2D and 3D engine
- Manage resources like textures, materials and assets and attach them to the engine
- Implement 2D graphics engine to draw a scene composed by 2D shapes
- Make the engine work and write a simple test case
- Improve texture's architecture, adding linear, radial and program shader textures
- Implement materials composed by expression nodes, similar to Unreal Engine 4
- Improve the architecture for path rendering of 2D shapes with textures and materials
- Make the Cairo test case work with the new architecture
- Implement system component, open a window, handle events, draw a picture
- Improve graphics context, add 2D shapes rendering on graphics abstraction layer
- Implement cairo graphics context and draw 2D shapes
- Add a simple test case that uses Cairo library for drawing a rotating 2D shape
- Implement cross-platform dynamic libraries loader
- Dynamically link all the external libraries, when required
- Add skeleton architecture for additional modules:
- Picture (Handle color formats, palette, images)
- Geometrics (2D and 3D shapes, splines, nurbs)
- Graphics (Abstract layer for rendering 2D and 3D graphics)
- System (Set of classes to handle windows and OS functionality)
- DevIL (Import and export popular image formats with DevIL library)
- Cairo (Implementation of 2D rendering with Cairo library)
- Implement image loader with DevIL
- Add Skeleton architecture for Graphics context
- Add math classes (Complex, Vector, Matrix) and functionality
- Improve json and xml parser interface
- Implement constant strings on human readable (like xml or json) serialization
- Improve the log
- Fix some memory leak
- Custom set of classes to handle objects and containers (vector, list, map, multimap)
- Serialization with 4 formats (xml, json, raw and formatted binary) optimized for speed
- Threads, mutexes, semaphores, atomics
- Integration with TinyC library to build and execute Just-In time code
- Custom memory allocation methods to trace leaks and optimize fragmentation
- Full set of methods to handle streams into files and block of memory