Just interesting there is a reason to support OpenGL? As war is follow, i headr many people that''s like OGL or DX. Some people says that OGL slowly dying, and DX is the future of 3D. How do you people think, OGL ( exactly OGL ) will be supported for a long time ( 5-10 years for example ) The hardware providers will support acceleration on their 3D cards for OGL in future ? Or, again Micro$oft with his DX win a "battle" ?

It''s going to be OpenGL in the future, and not Direct3D, as far as I''m concerned.
Microsoft has just ripped the OpenGL interface anyway, for their stuff, if I remember the discussions correctly.

I think you can''t say anything for sure about that right now. MS more or less controls it both (that is because OpenGL drivers for Windows comes from MS themselves).

Keep in mind though that you can''t compare OpenGL with DirectX since DX is a whole suit of gamedev components and OpenGL is only graphics. A more valid question would be the fight between Direct3D and OpenGL.

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Daniel Netz, Sentinel Design
"I'm not stupid, I'm from Sweden" - Unknown

If you don''t want to support M$ (for the reason you want) or if you are planning multi-platform strategy, then OpenGL is the API to support.
Linux is coming, BeOS is free, there''s no reason why you shouldn''t use OpenGL to choose a windows only not very well design API (DirectX).
OpenGL has been thought and proved very usefull, Direct3D is a copy and is windows specific, need I say more ?

OpenGL means : "Open Graphioc Library", so I defintely prefer an open architecture rather than a M$ controlled one.
(Or anyone controlled.)
If you look around, every card as OpenGL miniGL and more and more comes with an OpenGL ICD.
nVidia works much with OpenGL, PowerVR are faster with OpenGL...

OpenGL is the most interesting API out there.
Direct3D had become more interesting, since Dreamcast use it, but it''s not enough to use it.


-* Sounds, music and story makes the difference between good and great games *-

D3D is Windows only, OpenGL is portable. That in itself is reason enough to -know- OpenGL, even if you don''t use it that much. As leading companies like Corel and iD are saying, you have to consider Linux. Not to mention Macs, BeOS or any other new platform that may gain popularity.

No offense. But I''m tired of hearing people say DirectX sucks because it''s MS. That''s a bad reason to say anything sucks. Just cause of the company that makes it.

I am partial to OpenGL. I started to learn DirectX and it just wasn''t my thing. Learned OpenGL and love it. You usually want a 3d accelerator if you are going to code opengl though.

Directx has all components in there, graphics, input, network sound, and programming interface for all of them is very similar, so basically you''ll learn it only once. All that you need, whereas opengl has only graphics (there''s that OpenAL thing, but its nonexistent at this stage). And for some reason, i dont have big hopes on Linux becoming wildly popular all of a sudden. Im not a windows fan (8bit 80 machines like Z80 are the BEST!), but its gonna remain the biggest audience forcouple of years at least, and theres that X-Box announced as well, which is going to use Directx as its API.
So if you have any plans of showing the world your accomplishments in the future, go with DX.

-kertropp

don''t choose either... one can''t tell where anything will be in 5 years, so if you want to be prepared for anything, learn both API''s

OGL is easy to learn. Direct3d is significantly more difficult, but both are easy to use once you know them.

*oof*

Sorry, using Direct3D is risky, since Microsoft may be broken by antitrust law. Confusion and inability of management may suddenly kill usability of Direct3D.

Moreover, Microsoft does not seem to learn from the past. It continues its monopoly-like illegal strategy: using its monopoly advantage for other markets. I wonder if Microsoft even recognize this strategy is illegal. This keeps the risk higher and higher,,,.

OpenGL is safer.

Kate

Edited by - kate on 3/14/00 9:41:46 AM