Graphics Programming

arithma · 2009-12-12T17:21:06+00:00

I was just wondering if you guys were interested in graphics programming.. How familiar are you with DirectX or OpenGL. I am not particularly an expert, but...

jeko

Hi there,

I've got good experience in 2D/3D graphics programming (been working 4 years in CG laboratory and now as Independent Graphics Programmer).
Links to my previous works (if this is of interest):
- http://www.fovea.cc/hoelt/
- Videos of the Python+OpenGL 3D engine [url]http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=natsim 3d[/url] (proof that python can be fast too!)

Well, if you know Actionscript and just like an hand on some 3D stuff, check out Sandy 3D: it's a 3D engine for AS2&AS3

For "game industry style" 3D development: I recommend you try C++ & Ogre3D, it's an high-level 3D engine (open-source, but used for commercial games too).
You'll find plenty of tutorial and it gives a clean example of a 3D engine architecture (which is a must if you like to build yours one day!)

I'll be happy to help! Good luck.

- Jeko

arithma

I'm very glad I created this thread.
I've used papervision so far for my simple 3D projects on AS, do you have any insight or comparison or was it just a passer by for you.
Game development is really interesting, I've got good experience with physics (integration, calculus, collisions, etc) for games, just need to rebrush and reiterate on the graphics.. How about we team up for something?

jeko

No real insight for 3D in AS, I discovered Sandy 3D one day, implemented the examples, saw that it works and that's all ! Just wanted to point it out.
I'm not at all an AS developer (I played a bit with MTASC to see what can be done).

Yes we can team up for something, but I'm so very busy that I probably won't be of big help for a month or two (except giving comments and suggestions).
You've got any ideas in mind already?

BTW, where and what are you working on?

ahmadb

If someone is interested in making a casual game (2D or 3D) they should definitely check out XNA. The language is C# and the library is very easy to use. Here is their website: http://creators.xna.com/en-US/ they have everything you need to know about it. A good way to start would be to watch the video tutorials they have.

jeko

Thanks for sharing. XNA is a good API, it's just again a Microsoft only technology. Everyone but Microsoft uses OpenGL (Sony PS3 & PSP, Nintendo Wii & DS, Apple iPhone, Google Android, etc.). The last modern platform without OpenGL is XBox (which was created to stop wide migration to OpenGL in mind).

If given the choice, chose to learn C++/OpenGL over C#/XNA seems the best investment for anyone willing to enter game/3D industry. Don't you think?

(just my humble opinion)

Joe

I used SDL, an open source C library, to create a small 2D Pacman-like game. Should check out OpenGL for 3D stuff.

arithma

I was going to disagree, but Android, iPhone, Palm Pre and PS3 new dev kit [not sure about wii] change the equation really.
OGL gives you access virtually to everything but XBox. It has some nuances with respect to Windows, driver issues if I recall correctly.
So yeah, if the target audience is Windows/XBox, the game better be DX.
If it's a myriad of platforms, OGL is the only choice [maybe with a port to DX for Windows].
So the wisdom is: choose target audience, platform choice will be easy.

Joe

jeko wroteThanks for sharing. XNA is a good API, it's just again a Microsoft only technology. Everyone but Microsoft uses OpenGL (Sony PS3 & PSP, Nintendo Wii & DS, Apple iPhone, Google Android, etc.). The last modern platform without OpenGL is XBox (which was created to stop wide migration to OpenGL in mind).

If given the choice, chose to learn C++/OpenGL over C#/XNA seems the best investment for anyone willing to enter game/3D industry. Don't you think?

(just my humble opinion)

For some reason, C# is becoming very popular in game development. I'm not talking about theoretical comparison between C# and other languages, but good C#/XNA developers are heavily demanded in the industry today ...

sin

XNA is a good platform for 2D and 3D "light" games. And believe me, that's as far as you can go as lone wolf, or even in small teams.

I've been working on it for a while now, and I've had great results building my first 2D JRPG game and a modest 3D FPS engine.

I highly recommend XNA, unless you're really allergic to C# and Visual Studio (IMO, the best IDE in the market. Can't beat Intellisense).

Of course you can go learning native DirectX and OpenGl in C++, in case you're going to work on the next high budget game with hundreds of developers and designers.

My only downside with XNA is that it's Xbox 360 dependent, so it's currently based on DX9 only. But on the hand, you can make use of 360 APIs, like Avatars (And hopefully a Natal API soon?).

elzalem

got some xperience in virtual reality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXLQBOeiZng

arithma

That's pretty insane, care to share details?

Kassem

Hey arithma, if you're looking for an Actionscript 3.0 study buddy then I'm all for it. I had great results with AS3 and I'm planning to further extend my skills in this pretty language. I've got a long list of resources to help anyone who wants to learn all about AS3 and I'll be glad to share. Currently, I'm kinda busy with PHP but I'm still tackling AS3 as well (I already started building my own personal Flash based portfolio site yesterday).

I do not think AS3.0 is the right choice for game development unless you want to build light weight games, nothing fancy about it. But when it comes to web development, it's definitely the right way to go, unless you want to build some website that has a lot of database work in the back-end.

I read a book about Papervision3D and it was very interesting, but then I got busy with exams so I did not get enough time to experiment with it. I would recommend Papervision3D to anyone who wants to use 3D in Flash. And just like arithma said, if you want a high quality Flash IDE then go for FlashDevelop. The Adobe Flash IDE is NOT for development, it's only for doing the graphics and animations. All of the code work should be done in FlashDevelop, unless you want to go through hell using the Adobe Flash IDE's Actions Panel.

arithma

Yeah definitely you're on :)
I'll PM you my contact details..
I usually study in the wild, the japanese wild.. examples and so on..
wonderfl.net
I do come from a server-side background.. We'll share lots.. Looking forward for the chat.

michaledoughlas

The 3D graphics topic is inevitably centered on the OpenGL library. Here, the author discusses exceptions, not the norm, that OpenGL C library can be translated into Perl. More importantly, the author discusses how an image can be saved into a file rather than being displayed on screen. The RenderMan library is also briefly discussed for device-independent description of 3D graphics..

elzalem

arithma wroteThat's pretty insane, care to share details?

Anaglyph 3D projection
written in c++
optical motion sensor
nvidia PhysX engine
4 days without sleep
the demo was presented @ an art gallery in Hamra during Ramadan holidays

i've also written a timeline based animation framework we're using in anothre VR project (no links here)

my latest project is http://www.dermandar.com

i've written this flash app you find here
http://www.dermandar.com/view.php?pano=0a18d15cda1f8cb86f3cd5b82c4e23e9da6807a9
or http://www.dermandar.com/view.php?pano=b0f6f42f38679275745abc466635b6c611855df8
and http://www.dermandar.com/create.php

it's has a home made 3d engine (and a whole lots of other things)