Coin is a high-level 3D graphics toolkit for developing cross-platform real-time 3D visualization and visual simulation software. Coin is built on OpenGL and uses scene graph data structures to render 3D graphics in real-time. Basic import, rendering, and interaction with a 3D object can be implemented in just a few lines of code, and programmer efficiency is greatly increased compared with programming directly with OpenGL. OpenGL code and Coin code can co-exist in the same application, which makes gradual migration from OpenGL to Coin possible. Coin is fully compatible with SGI Open Inventor 2.1, the de facto standard for 3D visualization and visual simulation software in the scientific and engineering community. Additional features in Coin include VRML97 support, 3D sound, 3D textures, and parallel rendering on multiple processors.