Need help getting started!

[DaSilentStorm]

Hi Xerilon,

first of all, why do you want to reinvent the wheel? There are already a lot of free and OpenSource 3D engines available.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to "advertise" in this forum, but to name a few of these engines, there are




OGRE (http://www.ogre3d.org/)
CrystalSpace (http://www.crystalspace3d.org/)
Irrlicht (http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/)
and a lot more. You can find an overview at the DevMaster (http://www.devmaster.net/) 3D Engines Database. (http://www.devmaster.net/engines/)

Naturally I tried searching for "3d engines" in google in hope to find some freeware to manipulate into a useful product without writing too much from skratch, but I ended up finding a "great" site with all sorts of alien phrases and expressions and names about programming.

Maybe you should first try to get a feeling for the whole "3D Stuff". I think the tutorial series (http://nehe.gamedev.net/lesson.asp?index=01) at NeHe (http://nehe.gamedev.net/) may be a good starting point.

To answer the last question, Wikipedia says about Z-Buffer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-buffer): In computer graphics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_graphics), z-buffering is the management of image depth coordinates in three-dimensional (3-D) graphics, mainly used in hardware (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware), more seldom in software (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software). It is one solution to the visibility problem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visibility_problem), which is the problem of deciding which elements of a rendered scene are drawn in front, and which are hidden. The painter's algorithm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painter%27s_algorithm) is another common solution.

In other words, the Z-Buffer is the depth layer of an image.

Have fun & take care,
yours Storm

[Xerilon]

Thanks so very much for the links and stuff!!! I shall look into this :)

No I am not going to invent the wheel all over, but I have not yet found an engine with the possibilities I need for my concept. I have knowledge of 3d in general, but programming? Nooo...

[DaSilentStorm]

Well, sure ... have a look ... in the end it's your choice ;-)

Oh, and if you come up with the greatest engine of all times, please make it OpenSource :-)

Good luck,
ya Storm

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.