I guess I know the answer myself, but how do programs like 3DS MAX render? Do they have their own image generator and not OpenGL?? And how can thay do VP/FP in software when you select OpenGL as driver?? (even when its not on ur card)

For the viewports ( what you do the editing in ), it drawsusing whatever you tell it to ( OpenGL, D3D, or the software driver). The renderer is software although apparently some video cards accelerate it (Generally they start at the cost of $500-1000, they are specifically created for rendering, so don''t expect good performance from games using them) Also, you can change the renderer max uses (I believe Brazil is a popular alternative)

What is VP/FP ? (It''s probably something really obvious that isn''t coming to my mind at the moment...)

*cough* Vertex Program / Fragment Program *cough*

*cough* what he said *cough* LOL!

*cough* Damn cold. *cleares throat*

Maybe they use an API like Mesa3D (software OGL). I think it supports VP/FP and stuff.

And of course D3D has it's own software renderer.

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[edited by - Ilici on October 22, 2003 2:05:11 PM]

And how about Unreal? Does it use projected texture maps for dynamic lighting?? It was made before VP/FP and it uses per-pixel lighing (or likewise)

I think Unreal uses lightmaps.
And per-pixel lighting can be done with bump-maps/env mapping/other bumpmapping methods.

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