Modeling program: opengl or directx

#1

Hey there, since I will have a lot of free time after this month I thought I could teach myself a bit of graphics programming.

First I thought I should write my own little 3d game…but after some research I think it’s pretty useless since it’s too much work and the results won’t be that impressive…

So I decided that I will TRY to make my own little modeller. Now my question is what’s better suited for this task, opengl or directx?

I know that opengl could be used on any platform…also the code should be cleaner…but isn’t directx more “up to date”?

I know there will be alot of math…but since I’m studying software engineering we have analysis, linear algebra, discrete maths…and so on…so I hope this won’t be the main problem

#2

opengl is portable, it’s also arguably faster than directx. however it’s certainly no where near as pretty. i would recommend using opengl if only for speed and compatability in a modeler.

#3

yup, use opengl. The 1.5 spec includes all of the stuff you’re going to need for writing a modeller. Plus it’s a hell of a lot quicker to get code up and running with opengl.

Plus opengl smells better

#4

shouldn’t you first focus on the core of the program which has nothiung to do with OPENGL ? cause my modeller has software mode as well…

#5

hm, I don’t plan to include a software mode…do you think it’s neccessary?

and at the moment I’m just doing some research, and I think it’s important if I know this in the beginning.

#6

I personaly would go with DirectX so that the viewport could be able to take advantge of real time rendering. Its getting cloder to a realitly. Wouldn’t it be nice to see reflection maps, bump maps, ect in real time as you work instead of having to stop and wait for a render to see how it looks. :drool: of course offering the option of OpenGL wouldn’t hurt either. It would be really cool to offer support for OpenGL2 when its released.

#7

I’m doing something similar too. I’m using OpenGL. The main reason is that it’s totally cross platform. DirectX might be great and all but you basically get Windows and that’s it. Plus, I just like the way OpenGL works. To me, it’s more friendly. Plus, you can do just about everything in OpenGL that you can in DirectX.

-=GB=-

#8

yup I have allready chosen opengl, but I think I’m not sure yet about the api…I think I will go with the winapi first…and maybe later port it to linux/macosx.

#9

LOL! Oops… Look at me giving advice to you! ;D Sorry, just ignore me. :stuck_out_tongue: By the way, as far as API goes, I’ve been running through Glut tutorials all day and it’s looking pretty neat. I don’t know if I’ll stay with it but it’s pretty fun to be able to create a window and then some sub-windows inside that. That’s a bitch in Win32.

Incase you haven’t seen these:

http://www.lighthouse3d.com/opengl/glut/index.php3?5

http://www.cs.arizona.edu/classes/cs433/spring02/opengl/
and
http://www.nullterminator.net/glut.html

There are a bunch more but I think that’s enough to give you a better feeling for what it can do.

Maybe it’s not the right rout for you though.

till latter!

-=GB=-

#10

ngrava:

Hey I’m also just starting out with opengl, so any advice is welcome :wink:

Glut is pretty easy to program, thats really nice. But the problem is that there are many features missing which you will need in any application. For example I couldn’t find anything about a “Load window” in the GLUT documentation…but every program will need this for open/save/import/export files.

And I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to mix GLUT with the win api. Or even if it is possible.

And since I’m not really a linux freak…well to be honest I don’t like it (no use for it…just have to program for it because of my study) I think it’s better to go with the win api.

I also think if you have a nice clean structured program, it shouldn’t be a too big problem to port the finished program to linux. But there is a long way to go… :wink:

Now there is much to do before I really start programing. First I’m not sure yet about my data structure for my polys. There seem to be two main structures (winged edge, half edge). Or maybe I will just use one from a known file format and base my program on this (for example .obj). Than I have to see how much work it will be to convert from this format to .RIB, because I plan to integrade/go some freeware renderman renderer.
There are also some hidden surface removal methods…not sure yet which one fits best.
Well than I have to write my two main algorithm - the first one which converts my subdividided mesh into my voxel object, and the second one which calculates the poly mesh from my voxel object.

hm…long long way to go :wink:

#11

Man, We’re paralleling each other! I was just looking at the half edge structure for the first yesterday. I don’t know enough about it just yet but it looks pretty promising so far. It looks pretty simple to implement as well. I may just add it in to Oasis to experiment with. The winged edge structure looks pretty neat too but it’s a little heady for me. I have trouble keeping track of all those pointer. I like the fact that with just a few pointers you can achieve some of the same effects with half edge that you can with winged edge. Have you seen the Quad edge structure? Man that one’s pretty insane. It’s like the full extension of the winged edge concept by pointing toward just about anything it can. :slight_smile:

Anyway, I’m still having fun just drawing simple shapes and loading .obj’s into GL windows right now. Made my first quad view today! He he!

till later,

-=GB=-

#12

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