[Stupid Q] what is PEX?

[ZxZ]

Sorry for this stupid question. I am a beginner in X.
Well, what is PEX?

-- zxz

[Dan Bennett]

It's an API (Application Programmer's Interface... i.e. a library) which
gives you powerful graphics rendering and interaction for your applications.
It supports 3D modelling, lighting, shading, labelling, picking (grabbing
bits of your models with mouse-clicks), texture mapping (in the CGE extensions
anyway), etc.

Basically, it's one of the solutions you can buy which allows you to write
fancy graphics applications (such as CAD software) without having to
do all the "now-how-do-I-render-THAT-on-the-screen" calculations. It
does them all for you. Your job is to manage the 3D models... PEX's job
is to render them on the screen in a "realistic" manner (lighting, shading,
hidden surfaces, perspective, etc).

And another feature of PEX is that it's a network protocol, which means
that you can run your application on one machine and have it display its
graphics on the screen of another machine, providing that the remote machine
is PEX-smart.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Dan.

.------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Dan Bennett : Uni* mail: d...@hpwina39.uksr.hp.com MIME mail welcome. |
| Telephone: (+44) 1344 361870 (GMT) |
| Fax : (+44) 1344 361737 |
| Hewlett-Packard UK Response Centre, |
| Amen Corner, Cain Road, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 1HN, UK |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes. |
`------------------------------------------------------------------------'