Since Panda3D is open source and does not get upgraded until someone from the community (or else where) updates it, does anyone know who added the Auto Shaders?
I read some where that P3D did not have Auto Shaders in the beginning.
Just wanted to know how many lines of CG (or whatever language) were used for the setShaderAuto call. Additionally, what version were the Auto Shaders released in?
It was added in Panda3D 1.5.0 by Josh Yelon, who adapted in from the code that a team of students at the CMU ETC wrote. Josh Yelon sadly no longer works for Panda3D.
The number of lines of Cg code is heavily dependent on the render state that a shader is generated for, as the shaders are built up procedurally. If you want a look under the hood, take a look at the source file panda/src/pgraphnodes/shaderGenerator.cxx.
So I’m guessing this community is made up of a lot of CMU students, correct? If that’s so, then the CMU students will know exactly what’s going on inside of P3D. Cool.
Damn why did Josh Y leave? No telling how far P3D could have gone if he would have continued touching it with his mind and fingers on the keyboard.
PS, can P3D version 1.7 be used for Iphone apps?
Not really. There’s sometimes a group of students that works on a semester project related to Panda3D, but unfortunately this is done mostly outside of the community. Furthermore, many of those students don’t stay active in the community after the semester is over.
Josh Yelon no longer works at CMU, he used to be the person responsible for maintaining Panda3D.
As for whether it can be used for iPhone: the short answer is no, but the long answer is that with a lot of effort, you could perhaps manage to get it compiled. The code is there, but it’s still very experimental and not straightforward to get running.
I admire these students! They are really good at what they are doing!
Yes me too. All the developers have done an impressive job.
I was also convinced that most of the development was done at the CMU.
Actually I am just starting with P3D, and I am curious to know if there is some plans for a future 1.7.3 or 1.8 release. Do you know that?
Most of the development is done outside CMU. And I am planning to make a 1.8 release in the near future.
Would be nice if a CMU student could add in support for simulating cloth and hair with characters; as well as IK. 
CMU didn’t even bring in someone to replace Mr. Josh? Darn! There went a soild PHD!
Actually Bullet and PhysX support cloth simulation, but I’m not sure if those parts are fully implemented on the Panda side of things (yet). There certainly is a cloth sample and other softbody samples for Bullet already in the Bullet thread.