Best .NET graphics library for 3D sphere drawing?

Question

I am going to be making an application that lets users input several parameters for a bowling ball layout, and then show what that layout would look like on the ball. I have found some good resources for sphere math, so if I have a sphere whose center is (0,0,0), I will be able to get the values of the points I need on the surface of the ball. What I will need to do is have the library create:

• A sphere
• Mark points on the surface of the sphere
• Draw lines connecting the points on the sphere (arcs along a great circle - in other words, the shortest distance across the surface of the sphere)
• Super duper bonus Actually be 3D, so the user could pan, zoom, rotate.

Basically, I want to calculate the points, tell the library which ones to draw and which ones to connect with which colors, and then sit back and watch the kudos roll in.

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I'd like to use .NET 2.0 and WinForms if possible...

Answer 1

If you use GLUT, you could just have the library draw the sphere for you without you having to figure out the points.

Answer 2

If you're gonna be using WPF I recommend you use Perspective or 3DTools. They're both easy to use and do the job fine.

If I had to recommend only one I would go with Perspective, at the time I used it it was easier and had more features, but it's been a long time so you should probably see for yourself.

Answer 3

I found the OpenGL part of the Tao Framework quite capable. It provides raw OpenGL bindings, as well as GLUT and GLFW - as a beginner, I found GLFW much easier to use for my simple needs than GLUT. It comes with decent documentation on GLFW and samples.

Be aware though that these libraries create a 3d "view" that covers the entire window, so adding standard winforms UI may not be straightforward. That's not something I've tried. There were however some samples that showed simple GUIs.