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The Modelzilla Framework is Open Source! The applications remain closed
source.
The reasons for this:
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The whole value of the framework is its ubiquity. The applications become more
valuable with the availability of other applications that use the same framework, because
they can then work together. But most programmers, especially those in science, will not
use a library unless it is Open Source. So keeping it closed source would largely nullify
the value of my efforts.
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The framework has no value to a non-programmer. The only commercial program that I
am aware of like Modelzilla is AVS, and was a financial failure. The AVS company is
alive today because of the sale of more specialized apps.
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The Open Source framework code will always be available and free of cost no matter
what happens the project.
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Open Sourcing the framework also protects me from the likes of Scripps and UCSD
lawyers. According to the license agreement, I am free to sell applications based on the
framework, should I ever want to.
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Modelzilla was funded by NSF grant money.
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I have goals other than getting rich.
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Hopefully some application developers will contribute to the code, making Modelzilla the
best Java based framework for modeling and visualization out there.
The source code is kept at Source Forge, at
http://www.sf.net/projects/modelzilla.
We are using the LGPL license. This means you are free to write comercial
applications over the free framework.
Source forge uses the CVS system to track changes and merge revisions. You can get the code
here without becoming a project member by using their anonymous "pserver" login. If
you want to work on the code and commit changes, you will need to sign up as a project
member.
The source code is in several modules. You will need to get them all to
have complete framework.
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MeshGeom: This is a low level geometrical math library.
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ShapeLib: A library of pre-fab shapes that use the MeshGeom library
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ViewerCore: The ViewerCore renders geometry to graphics, does basic picking and
has rendering attribute control.
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Modelzilla: This is the input/output framework.
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WidgetLibrary: These are our funky widgets to make Modelzilla look
unique.
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StandardModule: This is not technically part of the framework.
It is an application module that handles basic needs like file opening
and module loading. We have included in the open source code
because we don't exect an application developer to have to write
another one.
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