the general goal of the waterworks is to provide
a high-level realtime compositing system. while
realtime rending systems are well matured
(open-gl, directx) so far there has been
little development toward an equivalent in the
realm of compositing (where 2d raster images are
manipulated to create a wide variety of video
effects.) commercial software packages which
currently allow for non-realtime compositing
(adobe's after effects, apple's shake) provide
strong motivation for a realtime system.

in it's current implementation (v0.2.0) the
waterworks is a rough prototype of a working
system - and must be redesigned before serious
development can occur. in the meantime, the
current version is fun to play with - and
gives insight into future applications (user
interfaces, games, webcams, etc.)