/*
 * Moonlight|3D Copyright (C) 2005 The Moonlight|3D team
 * 
 * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
 * the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free
 * Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option)
 * any later version.
 * 
 * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
 * FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more
 * details.
 * 
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
 * along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
 * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
 * 
 * Created on Sep 15, 2005
 */
package ml.backend.renderer;

import ml.core.helper.PropertyContainer;
import ml.image.Framebuffer;

/**
 * The common render engine interface for all supported renderers.
 * 
 * @todo split scene setup and rendering as scene setup should happen
 * before the renderer is moved into a background task.
 *
 * @see Framebuffer, PropertyContainer, Property
 *
 * @author gregor
 */
public interface RenderEngine {
	/**
	 * Return a human-readable string identifying the rendering engine.
	 * This is also used as an identifier for this rendering engine
	 * 
	 * @return human-readable name of this rendering engine
	 */
    public String getName();

    /**
     * Return a new PropertyContainer with a set of properties that 
     * this renderer knows. The properties must be initialised to
     * default values.
     * 
     * @return a property container with renderer options
     */
    public PropertyContainer getProperties();
    
    /**
     * Initialise the rendering engine. This is called before a new
     * thread is spawned to execute a rendering task. The rendering
     * engine should be prepared to render an image here.
     *
     */
    public void initialise();
    
    /**
     * Make the rendering engine render the scene in the current operator
     * graph and return a framebuffer with the resulting image after the
     * renderer has completed.
     *
     * @param rendererProperties the rendering options to use
     * @return the final image
     */
    public Framebuffer renderCurrentOG(PropertyContainer rendererProperties);
}