| Cinder | |
| Author: | Andrew Bell |
| Developer: | Andrew Bell, Hai Nguyen, The Barbarian Group |
| Latest Release Version: | 0.9.2 |
| Programming Language: | C++ |
| Operating System: | Microsoft Windows, OS X, iOS, Linux |
| Genre: | Application framework |
| License: | Simplified BSD License |
Cinder is an open-source[1] programming library designed to give the C++ language advanced visualization abilities. It was released as a public tool in spring 2010 and can be viewed in many ways as a C++-based alternative to tools like the Java-based Processing library, Microsoft Silverlight or Adobe Flash. It is also comparable to the C++ based openFrameworks; the main difference is that Cinder uses more system-specific libraries for better performance while openFrameworks affords better control over its underlying libraries.
Unlike Flash and Silverlight, Cinder is generally used in a non-browser environment. This, combined with the speed provided by C++, makes the library more appropriate for heavily abstracted projects, including art installations, commercial campaigns and other advanced animation work.