What Happened To Moonlight 3D?

doon asks: "Just got a new box and wanted to check out how Moonlight 3D worked on it. Went to www.moonlight3d.org to see what the latest version was and there was a simple note saying 'As you can see, Moonlight3D.org has been stripped down to a website that's not really worth visiting any more. It deeply saddens us to have to do this, but it was the right thing to do.' Does anybody know what happened?"

Damn fine question.

[Dast]

I've been wondering the same thing myself.

For those that don't know, moonlight3d is probably the best modeller available under Linux (NURBS based). It is the closest I've come to finding a good replacement for sPatch under 'doze. Before Mike Clifton dropped off the face of the planet, I asked him if he would consider a Linux port--he said he had worked on one, but it performed terribly. This was, however, a while back, and such things have gotten better under Linux since then.

For a mirror of moonlight3d, look here:
http://igateway.linux.tucows.com/x11html/adnload /berglinx11dlmoonlightppc.html

It takes a bit to get used to. The interface kind of reminds me of vi, as in you enter a mode with a letter on the keyboard, do some work, then exit the mode with the escape key. Works well when you get used to it.

(Does anyone know if a BeOS port ever actually existed?)

Re:Bad development practice

[codewiz]

Sure smells like commercialization to me.I emailed Stephane Rehel once offering help to develop Moonlight but never got any reply.
The source for 0.5.3 (or something) was made available, and since it's GPL:ed I guess those who are interested could branch of that version and continue to developing a new version on that. Problem is that the codebase was *huge* 100-150k lines and poorly documented.

I personally don't think there is much point in wasting time on that code though, probably better to start from scratch with a new node/plugin based design. A lot of the old code was for the GUI library and so on, and with gtk+ available that seems unnecessary to me.

Bad development practice

[Ledge Kindred]

I believe it's just an example of why open-source code is a Good Thing for the end users.

The project originally started as a GPL'd project, then disappeared for a while and returned as no-source-available and now seems to have disappeared entirely, but wouldn't surprise me if it returns as completely commercial.

In any case, the developers never have seemed to put communication with their users on a very high priority, which is something kind of critical for a successful project...

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[Cryptnotic]

Yeah, this kind of thing really saddens me. Perhaps they are looking for a way to commercialize the project. That's not the part that makes me sad. What makes me sad is that it seems like nothing is happening.

I thought that the program was very solid, but lacking in features. There were lots of things listed in the menus and interface that just didn't work. The interface was innovative, but like most 3D programs, not flexible.

I just sent an email to the [e-mail] informing them about this "Ask Slashdot" article. Maybe they will have something to say...

In the meantime check out some of the other 3D modelling, rendering, and animation available for Linux: blender [blender.nl], AC3D, etc. For more, look on freshmeat [freshmeant.net].