IRIS Performer provides a powerful and extensible programming
  interface (with ANSI C and C++ bindings) for creating real-time
  visual simulation and other interactive graphics applications.
  IRIS Performer 2.0 supports both the IRIS Graphics Library (IRIS
  GL) and the industry standard OpenGL graphics library; these
  libraries combine with the IRIX operating system and REACT
  extensions to form the foundation of a powerful suite of tools and
  features for creating real-time visual simulation applications on
  Silicon Graphics systems.

  IRIS Performer is an integral part of the Onyx/Onyx2 RealityEngine
  & InfiniteReality and Indigo2/Octane Impact graphics systems and
  provides interfaces to advanced features of RealityEngine-class
  graphics.  IRIS Performer is compatible with uniprocessor and
  multiprocessor SGI graphics platforms and attains maximum
  performance on all.  IRIS Performer provides an extensible basis
  for creating real-time 3D graphics applications in the fields of
  visual simulation, entertainment, virtual reality, broadcast video,
  and computer aided design.  IRIS Performer is the flexible,
  intuitive, toolkit-based solution for developers who want to
  optimize performance on Silicon Graphics systems.

  IRIS Performer consists of two main libraries, libpf and libpr, and
  four associated libraries, libpfdu, libpfdb, libpfui, and
  libpfutil.

  The basis of IRIS Performer is the performance rendering library
  libpr, a low level library providing high speed rendering functions
  based on pfGeoSets, efficient graphics state control using
  pfGeoStates, and other application- neutral functions.

  Layered above libpr is libpf, a real-time visual simulation
  environment providing a high-performance multi-processing database
  rendering system that takes best advantage of IRIS symmetric
  multiprocessing CPU hardware.

  The database utility library libpfdu provides powerful functions
  for defining both geometric and appearance attributes of three
  dimensional objects, encourages sharing of state and materials and
  generates efficient triangle strips from independent polygonal
  input.

  The database library libpfdb uses the facilities of libpfdu, libpf,
  and libpr to import database files in many popular industry
  standard database formats.  These loaders also serve as a guide to
  developers creating new database importers.

  libpfui contains user interface building blocks for creating
  manipulators common to many interactive applications. This library
  has both a C and C++ API and is GL independent.

  Completing the suite of libraries is libpfutil, the IRIS Performer
  utility library. It provides a collection of important convenience
  routines implementing such diverse tasks as smoke effects,
  MultiChannel Option support, graphical user interface tools, X and
  IRIS GL event collection and management, and traversal functions.

  For aid in application development, IRIS Performer includes sample
  application source code ranging from simple programs to illustrate
  particular features to the comprehensive, GUI-driven file viewer
  perfly.

  In addition to these SGI-developed tools, IRIS Performer also
  includes a very large repository of sample code, databases, games,
  and movies contributed by the Friends of Performer: companies and
  individuals with services of general interest to the IRIS Performer
  community.  We encourage you to sample their wares.