How to use Aardvark

Outline

The aardvark platform consists of ~12 core and community packages. Thus, the term "using aardvark" reaches from using aardvark utilities up to using full power of the platform for commercial and industry projects benefiting from experience, research results and libraries originated from the community and ecosystem.

Using aardvark utilities, algorithms and data-structures

nuget currently lists ~70 aardvark packages. You can simple use them using nuget directly or paket. All packages are published in netstandard 2.0 which means they can be used from C#/F# or any other language running in the dotnetcore/netframework. The environment and all base packages are open source (Apache 2.0 licenced) and platform independent. For using aardvark packages in a pure open source environment (without visual studio), see here.

TODO screenshot

Using aardvark's incremental system

Although also the incremental system can be used using C# see here, we recommend using F# at least for modules focusing on incremental evaluation and rendering. In order to install F# we refer to our cheat sheet for windows, linux and the official F# web site. The incremental system is part of aardvark.base and licenced under Apache 2.0.

TODO screenshot

Using aardvark for graphics or general purpose GPU programming

Clearly, for graphics we need proper graphics drivers. On linux, we additionally require runtime libraries, for development typically installed using the disto's package manager, see here.

Relevant packages are Aardvark.Rendering.*, a simple demo application can be found here. Either you reference all packages as you prefer (using nuget or paket) or alternatively you can also use our template project to create a fresh project with all references already added to the project.

All related packages are licensed under Apache 2.0.

TODO screenshot

Using aardvark for combining modern purely functional graphics and UI with high performance rendering

Aardvark.Media, Apache 2.0 licensed provides a purely functional ELM-style frontend for aardvark applications. The purely functional approach greatly improves flexibility and rapid development capabilities for applications with user interaction. The unique point of aardvark.media is the combination of high-level purely functional API and high-performance rendering capabilities of aardvark.rendering.

todo screenshot

Using Aardvark for innovation in graphics related applications in commercial settings

There are a couple of libraries in the platform, e.g. out-of-core data-structures, photogrammetry or tools for processing volume data all licenced under AFERO dual licence. [todo stefan]

contact: ask@aardvark.graphics

Using Aardvark libraries in research and academia

Since large parts of the libraries are Apache 2.0 the interesting parts are repositories under dual licensing sheme. Here we provide special licensing options/agreements.

contact: ask@aardvark.graphics

Using Aardvark for novel application fields, research projects or commercial projects whenever customization is needed.

contact: ask@aardvark.graphics