I'm thinking about taking my programming to the next level and learning 3D programming.
I used to think OpenGL was the only choice, but after learning D3 was written in DirectX, I'm not sure what to make of it now.
So what's the state of OpenGL vs DirectX these days?
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^misantropia^
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- Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2005 6:24 pm
<a href="http://www.sgi.com/products/software/op ... .html">SGI </a>
Most Widely Adopted Graphics Standard
OpenGL is the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. Since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API), bringing thousands of applications to a wide variety of computer platforms. OpenGL fosters innovation and speeds application development by incorporating a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects, and other powerful visualization functions. Developers can leverage the power of OpenGL across all popular desktop and workstation platforms, ensuring wide application deployment.
High Visual Quality and Performance
Any visual computing application requiring maximum performance-from 3D animation to CAD to visual simulation-can exploit high-quality, high-performance OpenGL capabilities. These capabilities allow developers in diverse markets such as broadcasting, CAD/CAM/CAE, entertainment, medical imaging, and virtual reality to produce and display incredibly compelling 2D and 3D graphics.
Developer-Driven Advantages
* Industry standard
An independent consortium, the OpenGL Architecture Review Board, guides the OpenGL specification. With broad industry support, OpenGL is the only truly open, vendor-neutral, multiplatform graphics standard.
* Stable
OpenGL implementations have been available for more than seven years on a wide variety of platforms. Additions to the specification are well controlled, and proposed updates are announced in time for developers to adopt changes. Backward compatibility requirements ensure that existing applications do not become obsolete.
* Reliable and portable
All OpenGL applications produce consistent visual display results on any OpenGL API-compliant hardware, regardless of operating system or windowing system.
* Evolving
Because of its thorough and forward-looking design, OpenGL allows new hardware innovations to be accessible through the API via the OpenGL extension mechanism. In this way, innovations appear in the API in a timely fashion, letting application developers and hardware vendors incorporate new features into their normal product release cycles.
* Scalable
OpenGL API-based applications can run on systems ranging from consumer electronics to PCs, workstations, and supercomputers. As a result, applications can scale to any class of machine that the developer chooses to target.
* Easy to use
OpenGL is well structured with an intuitive design and logical commands. Efficient OpenGL routines typically result in applications with fewer lines of code than those that make up programs generated using other graphics libraries or packages. In addition, OpenGL drivers encapsulate information about the underlying hardware, freeing the application developer from having to design for specific hardware features.
* Well-documented
Numerous books have been published about OpenGL, and a great deal of sample code is readily available, making information about OpenGL inexpensive and easy to obtain.
The OpenGL Visualization Programming Pipeline
OpenGL
OpenGL operates on image data as well as geometric primitives
Simplifies Software Development, Speeds Time-to-Market
OpenGL routines simplify the development of graphics software-from rendering a simple geometric point, line, or filled polygon to the creation of the most complex lighted and texture-mapped NURBS curved surface. OpenGL gives software developers access to geometric and image primitives, display lists, modeling transformations, lighting and texturing, anti-aliasing, blending, and many other features.
Every conforming OpenGL implementation includes the full complement of OpenGL functions. The well-specified OpenGL standard has language bindings for C, C++, Fortran, Ada, and Java™ . All licensed OpenGL implementations come from a single specification and language binding document and are required to pass a set of conformance tests. Applications utilizing OpenGL functions are easily portable across a wide array of platforms for maximized programmer productivity and shorter time-to-market.
All elements of the OpenGL state-even the contents of the texture memory and the frame buffer-can be obtained by an OpenGL application. OpenGL also supports visualization applications with 2D images treated as types of primitives that can be manipulated just like 3D geometric objects. As shown in the OpenGL visualization programming pipeline diagram above, images and vertices defining geometric primitives are passed through the OpenGL pipeline to the frame buffer.
Available Everywhere
Supported on all UNIX® workstations, and shipped standard with every Windows NT® and Windows® 95 PC, no other graphics API operates on a wider range of hardware platforms and software environments. OpenGL runs on every major operating system including Mac® OS, OS/2®, UNIX, Windows 95, Windows NT, Linux, OPENStep, Python, and BeOS; it also works with every major windowing system, including Presentation Manager, Win32, and X/Window System™. OpenGL is callable from Ada, C, C++, Fortran, and Java and offers complete independence from network protocols and topologies.
Architected for Flexibility and Differentiation
Although the OpenGL specification defines a particular graphics processing pipeline, platform vendors have the freedom to tailor a particular OpenGL implementation to meet unique system cost and performance objectives. Individual calls can be executed on dedicated hardware, run as software routines on the standard system CPU, or implemented as a combination of both dedicated hardware and software routines. This implementation flexibility means that OpenGL hardware acceleration can range from simple rendering to full geometry and is widely available on everything from low-cost PCs to high-end workstations and supercomputers. Application developers are assured consistent display results regardless of the platform implementation of the OpenGL environment.
Using the OpenGL extension mechanism, hardware developers can differentiate their products by developing extensions that allow software developers to access additional performance and technological innovations.
API Hierarchy
OpenGL OpenGL
* OpenGL applications use the window system's window, input, and event mechanism
* GLU supports quadrics, NURBS, complex polygons, matrix utilities, and more
This diagram demonstrates the relationship between OpenGL GLU and windowing APIs.
The Foundation for Advanced APIs
Leading software developers use OpenGL, with its robust rendering libraries, as the 2D/3D graphics foundation for higher-level APIs. Developers leverage the capabilities of OpenGL to deliver highly differentiated, yet widely supported vertical market solutions. For example, Open Inventor™ provides a cross-platform user interface and flexible scene graph that makes it easy to create OpenGL applications. IRIS Performer™ leverages OpenGL functionality and delivers additional features tailored for the demanding high frame rate markets such as visual simulation and virtual sets. OpenGL Optimizer™ is a toolkit for real-time interaction, modification, and rendering of complex surface-based models such as those found in CAD/CAM and special effects creation. The Fahrenheit Scene Graph, scheduled for release in 1999, will leverage OpenGL capabilities to provide a platform for applications and APIs across diverse market segments, allowing reduced development time, maximized performance, and high visual quality.
Governance
The OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB), an independent consortium formed in 1992, governs the OpenGL specification. Composed of members from many of the industry's leading graphics vendors, the ARB defines conformance tests and approves OpenGL enhancements. Currently the board includes representatives from Compaq, Evans & Sutherland, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Intergraph, Microsoft, and SGI. The OpenGL ARB Web site can be found at http://www.opengl.org.
The OpenGL Performance Characterization Committee, another independent organization, creates and maintains OpenGL benchmarks and publishes the results of those benchmarks on its Web site:
http://www.specbench.org.
Continued Innovation
The OpenGL standard is constantly evolving. Formal revisions occur at periodic intervals, and extensions allowing application developers to access the latest hardware advances through OpenGL are continuously being developed. As extensions become widely accepted, they are considered for inclusion into the core OpenGL standard. This process allows OpenGL to evolve in a controlled yet innovative manner.
In the most recent revision of OpenGL (version 1.2), several capabilities that were previously available as extensions were rolled into the core OpenGL standard.
Licensing
ARB-approved OpenGL specifications and source code are available to licensed hardware platform vendors. End users, independent software vendors, and others writing code based on the OpenGL API are free from licensing requirements. See http://www.opengl.org/ for more information.
OpenGL Applications (partial list)
Company Application
3D Animation and Modeling
Alias® Maya™
Byte by Byte Soft F/X 3D
Caligari truSpace
CrystalGraphics Crystal 3D Impact Pro
Hash Inc. Hash 3D Animation System
Hollywood FX Inc. Hollywood FX
Kinetix 3D Studio Max, Character Studio
Lightscape Lightscape
MultiGen GameGen™, MultiGen® Creator
Newtek LightWave 3D
Nichimen Graphics N-World
Softimage Digital Studio, Softimage 3D®
Strata StudioPro™
Template Graphics Software LiveWork 3D, 3Space Publisher
CAD/CAM & Digital Prototyping
Bentley Systems MicroStation®
CoCreate SolidDesigner
Dassault Systèmes CATIA®
EDS Unigraphics Unigraphics®
Kinetix 3D Studio VIZ
Matra Datavision EUCLID Quantum
Parametric Technology Corp. Pro/ENGINEER®, PT/Modeler
Parasolid UG/Creator
SDRC I-DEAS™
SolidWorks SolidWorks
Visual Simulation and Virtual Reality
Advanced Visual Systems AVS/Express™
Coryphaeus Software Designer's Workbench™
DataPath RealiMation
IBM Visualization Data Explorer
MultiGen MultiGen II Pro
Paradigm Simulation Vega
Research Systems IDL®
Sense8/Engineering Animation Inc. WorldToolKit™
SGI IRIS Performer
VRML
Cosmo Software Cosmo™ World, PageFX
Ligos Technology V-Realm Builder
Rendersoft Rendersoft VRML Editor
Sense8/Engineering Animation Inc. World Up
Systems in Motion PolyRed
Games
Epic Megagames Unreal
id Software Quake2
ION Storm Dai-Katana, Anachronox
Laminar Research X-Plane
Ritual Entertainment SiN
Valve Software Half-Life
Zombie VR Studios SpecOps
OpenGL Graphics Functions (partial list)
Accumulation buffer. A buffer in which multiple rendered frames can be composited to produce a single blended image. Used for effects such as depth of field, motion blur, and full-scene anti-aliasing.
Alpha blending. Provides a means to create transparent objects. Using alpha information, an object can be defined as anything from totally transparent to totally opaque.
Anti-aliasing. A rendering method used to smooth lines and curves. This technique averages the color of the pixels adjacent to the line. It has the visual effect of softening the transition of the pixels on the line and those adjacent to the line, thus providing a smoother appearance.
Color-index mode. Color buffers store color indices rather than red, green, blue, and alpha color components.
Display list. A named list of OpenGL commands. The contents of a display list may be preprocessed and might therefore execute more efficiently than the same set of OpenGL commands executed in immediate mode.
Double buffering. Used to provide smooth animation of objects. Each successive scene of an object in motion can be constructed in the back or "hidden" buffer and then displayed. This allows only complete images to ever be displayed on the screen.
Feedback. A mode where OpenGL will return the processed geometric information (colors, pixel positions, and so on) to the application as compared to rendering them into the frame buffer.
Gouraud shading. Smooth interpolation of colors across a polygon or line segment. Colors are assigned at vertices and linearly interpolated across the primitive to produce a relatively smooth variation in color.
Immediate mode. Execution of OpenGL commands when they're called, rather than from a display list.
Materials lighting and shading. The ability to accurately compute the color of any point given the material properties for the surface.
Pixel operations. Storing, transforming, mapping, zooming.
Polynomial evaluators. To support non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS).
Primitives. A point, line, polygon, bitmap, or image. Raster primitives: Bitmaps and pixel rectangles.
RGBA mode. Color buffers store red, green, blue, and alpha color components, rather than indices.
Selection and picking. A mode in which OpenGL determines whether certain user-identified graphics primitives are rendered into a region of interest in the frame buffer.
Stencil planes. A buffer that can be used to mask individual pixels in the color frame buffer.
Texture mapping. The process of applying an image to a graphics primitive. This technique is used to generate realism in images. For example, a tabletop drawn as a rectangle could have a wood-grain texture applied to it to make it look more realistic.
Transformation. The ability to change the rotation, size, and perspective of an object in 3D coordinate space.
Z-buffering. The Z-buffer is used to keep track of whether one part of an object is closer to the viewer than another. It is important in hidden surface removal.
New Core Capabilities of OpenGL 1.2
The latest specification of the OpenGL API defines new core capabilities for all 1.2 implementations and a new optional imaging subset.
* Three-dimensional texturing for supporting hardware-accelerated volume rendering
* BGRA pixel formats and packed pixel formats to directly support more external file and hardware frame buffer types
* Automatic rescaling of vertex normals changed by the modeling matrix; rescaling can, in some cases, replace a more expensive renormalization operation
* Application of specular highlights after texturing for more realistic lighting effects
* Texture coordinate edge clamping to avoid blending border and image texels during texturing
* Level of detail control for mipmap textures to allow loading only a subset of levels; this can save texture memory when high-resolution texture images are not required due to textured objects being far from the viewer
* Vertex array enhancements to specify a subrange of the array and draw geometry from that subrange in one operation; this allows a variety of optimizations such as pretransforming, caching transformed geometry, and so on
Optional Imaging Features of OpenGL 1.2
The optional imaging subset includes a variety of enhancements to the OpenGL pixel path. An implementation may or may not support the subset, but any implementation that supports it must provide all of the documented features.
The imaging subset includes all of the following features:
* Blending enhancements include specifying a constant color as one component of a blend as well as a way to define new blending equations; some of the new equations supported include the ability to choose the minimum or maximum of the blend colors and to subtract one of the blend colors from the other
* A color matrix stage, which transforms colors under an arbitrary 4x4 matrix, may be enabled after convolution; it may be used to reassign and duplicate color components or for simple color space conversions
* Color tables are an RGBA format color look-up mechanism capable of operating on a subset of color components; it is possible to respecify parts of a color table without recreating the table
* Simple 1D and 2D convolutions may then be done; both separable and nonseparable 2D filters are allowed; new convolution border modes define several possible behaviors when the filter samples both image and border pixels
* The pixel path may gather histogram statistics that the application may query
Most Widely Adopted Graphics Standard
OpenGL is the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. Since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API), bringing thousands of applications to a wide variety of computer platforms. OpenGL fosters innovation and speeds application development by incorporating a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects, and other powerful visualization functions. Developers can leverage the power of OpenGL across all popular desktop and workstation platforms, ensuring wide application deployment.
High Visual Quality and Performance
Any visual computing application requiring maximum performance-from 3D animation to CAD to visual simulation-can exploit high-quality, high-performance OpenGL capabilities. These capabilities allow developers in diverse markets such as broadcasting, CAD/CAM/CAE, entertainment, medical imaging, and virtual reality to produce and display incredibly compelling 2D and 3D graphics.
Developer-Driven Advantages
* Industry standard
An independent consortium, the OpenGL Architecture Review Board, guides the OpenGL specification. With broad industry support, OpenGL is the only truly open, vendor-neutral, multiplatform graphics standard.
* Stable
OpenGL implementations have been available for more than seven years on a wide variety of platforms. Additions to the specification are well controlled, and proposed updates are announced in time for developers to adopt changes. Backward compatibility requirements ensure that existing applications do not become obsolete.
* Reliable and portable
All OpenGL applications produce consistent visual display results on any OpenGL API-compliant hardware, regardless of operating system or windowing system.
* Evolving
Because of its thorough and forward-looking design, OpenGL allows new hardware innovations to be accessible through the API via the OpenGL extension mechanism. In this way, innovations appear in the API in a timely fashion, letting application developers and hardware vendors incorporate new features into their normal product release cycles.
* Scalable
OpenGL API-based applications can run on systems ranging from consumer electronics to PCs, workstations, and supercomputers. As a result, applications can scale to any class of machine that the developer chooses to target.
* Easy to use
OpenGL is well structured with an intuitive design and logical commands. Efficient OpenGL routines typically result in applications with fewer lines of code than those that make up programs generated using other graphics libraries or packages. In addition, OpenGL drivers encapsulate information about the underlying hardware, freeing the application developer from having to design for specific hardware features.
* Well-documented
Numerous books have been published about OpenGL, and a great deal of sample code is readily available, making information about OpenGL inexpensive and easy to obtain.
The OpenGL Visualization Programming Pipeline
OpenGL
OpenGL operates on image data as well as geometric primitives
Simplifies Software Development, Speeds Time-to-Market
OpenGL routines simplify the development of graphics software-from rendering a simple geometric point, line, or filled polygon to the creation of the most complex lighted and texture-mapped NURBS curved surface. OpenGL gives software developers access to geometric and image primitives, display lists, modeling transformations, lighting and texturing, anti-aliasing, blending, and many other features.
Every conforming OpenGL implementation includes the full complement of OpenGL functions. The well-specified OpenGL standard has language bindings for C, C++, Fortran, Ada, and Java™ . All licensed OpenGL implementations come from a single specification and language binding document and are required to pass a set of conformance tests. Applications utilizing OpenGL functions are easily portable across a wide array of platforms for maximized programmer productivity and shorter time-to-market.
All elements of the OpenGL state-even the contents of the texture memory and the frame buffer-can be obtained by an OpenGL application. OpenGL also supports visualization applications with 2D images treated as types of primitives that can be manipulated just like 3D geometric objects. As shown in the OpenGL visualization programming pipeline diagram above, images and vertices defining geometric primitives are passed through the OpenGL pipeline to the frame buffer.
Available Everywhere
Supported on all UNIX® workstations, and shipped standard with every Windows NT® and Windows® 95 PC, no other graphics API operates on a wider range of hardware platforms and software environments. OpenGL runs on every major operating system including Mac® OS, OS/2®, UNIX, Windows 95, Windows NT, Linux, OPENStep, Python, and BeOS; it also works with every major windowing system, including Presentation Manager, Win32, and X/Window System™. OpenGL is callable from Ada, C, C++, Fortran, and Java and offers complete independence from network protocols and topologies.
Architected for Flexibility and Differentiation
Although the OpenGL specification defines a particular graphics processing pipeline, platform vendors have the freedom to tailor a particular OpenGL implementation to meet unique system cost and performance objectives. Individual calls can be executed on dedicated hardware, run as software routines on the standard system CPU, or implemented as a combination of both dedicated hardware and software routines. This implementation flexibility means that OpenGL hardware acceleration can range from simple rendering to full geometry and is widely available on everything from low-cost PCs to high-end workstations and supercomputers. Application developers are assured consistent display results regardless of the platform implementation of the OpenGL environment.
Using the OpenGL extension mechanism, hardware developers can differentiate their products by developing extensions that allow software developers to access additional performance and technological innovations.
API Hierarchy
OpenGL OpenGL
* OpenGL applications use the window system's window, input, and event mechanism
* GLU supports quadrics, NURBS, complex polygons, matrix utilities, and more
This diagram demonstrates the relationship between OpenGL GLU and windowing APIs.
The Foundation for Advanced APIs
Leading software developers use OpenGL, with its robust rendering libraries, as the 2D/3D graphics foundation for higher-level APIs. Developers leverage the capabilities of OpenGL to deliver highly differentiated, yet widely supported vertical market solutions. For example, Open Inventor™ provides a cross-platform user interface and flexible scene graph that makes it easy to create OpenGL applications. IRIS Performer™ leverages OpenGL functionality and delivers additional features tailored for the demanding high frame rate markets such as visual simulation and virtual sets. OpenGL Optimizer™ is a toolkit for real-time interaction, modification, and rendering of complex surface-based models such as those found in CAD/CAM and special effects creation. The Fahrenheit Scene Graph, scheduled for release in 1999, will leverage OpenGL capabilities to provide a platform for applications and APIs across diverse market segments, allowing reduced development time, maximized performance, and high visual quality.
Governance
The OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB), an independent consortium formed in 1992, governs the OpenGL specification. Composed of members from many of the industry's leading graphics vendors, the ARB defines conformance tests and approves OpenGL enhancements. Currently the board includes representatives from Compaq, Evans & Sutherland, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Intergraph, Microsoft, and SGI. The OpenGL ARB Web site can be found at http://www.opengl.org.
The OpenGL Performance Characterization Committee, another independent organization, creates and maintains OpenGL benchmarks and publishes the results of those benchmarks on its Web site:
http://www.specbench.org.
Continued Innovation
The OpenGL standard is constantly evolving. Formal revisions occur at periodic intervals, and extensions allowing application developers to access the latest hardware advances through OpenGL are continuously being developed. As extensions become widely accepted, they are considered for inclusion into the core OpenGL standard. This process allows OpenGL to evolve in a controlled yet innovative manner.
In the most recent revision of OpenGL (version 1.2), several capabilities that were previously available as extensions were rolled into the core OpenGL standard.
Licensing
ARB-approved OpenGL specifications and source code are available to licensed hardware platform vendors. End users, independent software vendors, and others writing code based on the OpenGL API are free from licensing requirements. See http://www.opengl.org/ for more information.
OpenGL Applications (partial list)
Company Application
3D Animation and Modeling
Alias® Maya™
Byte by Byte Soft F/X 3D
Caligari truSpace
CrystalGraphics Crystal 3D Impact Pro
Hash Inc. Hash 3D Animation System
Hollywood FX Inc. Hollywood FX
Kinetix 3D Studio Max, Character Studio
Lightscape Lightscape
MultiGen GameGen™, MultiGen® Creator
Newtek LightWave 3D
Nichimen Graphics N-World
Softimage Digital Studio, Softimage 3D®
Strata StudioPro™
Template Graphics Software LiveWork 3D, 3Space Publisher
CAD/CAM & Digital Prototyping
Bentley Systems MicroStation®
CoCreate SolidDesigner
Dassault Systèmes CATIA®
EDS Unigraphics Unigraphics®
Kinetix 3D Studio VIZ
Matra Datavision EUCLID Quantum
Parametric Technology Corp. Pro/ENGINEER®, PT/Modeler
Parasolid UG/Creator
SDRC I-DEAS™
SolidWorks SolidWorks
Visual Simulation and Virtual Reality
Advanced Visual Systems AVS/Express™
Coryphaeus Software Designer's Workbench™
DataPath RealiMation
IBM Visualization Data Explorer
MultiGen MultiGen II Pro
Paradigm Simulation Vega
Research Systems IDL®
Sense8/Engineering Animation Inc. WorldToolKit™
SGI IRIS Performer
VRML
Cosmo Software Cosmo™ World, PageFX
Ligos Technology V-Realm Builder
Rendersoft Rendersoft VRML Editor
Sense8/Engineering Animation Inc. World Up
Systems in Motion PolyRed
Games
Epic Megagames Unreal
id Software Quake2
ION Storm Dai-Katana, Anachronox
Laminar Research X-Plane
Ritual Entertainment SiN
Valve Software Half-Life
Zombie VR Studios SpecOps
OpenGL Graphics Functions (partial list)
Accumulation buffer. A buffer in which multiple rendered frames can be composited to produce a single blended image. Used for effects such as depth of field, motion blur, and full-scene anti-aliasing.
Alpha blending. Provides a means to create transparent objects. Using alpha information, an object can be defined as anything from totally transparent to totally opaque.
Anti-aliasing. A rendering method used to smooth lines and curves. This technique averages the color of the pixels adjacent to the line. It has the visual effect of softening the transition of the pixels on the line and those adjacent to the line, thus providing a smoother appearance.
Color-index mode. Color buffers store color indices rather than red, green, blue, and alpha color components.
Display list. A named list of OpenGL commands. The contents of a display list may be preprocessed and might therefore execute more efficiently than the same set of OpenGL commands executed in immediate mode.
Double buffering. Used to provide smooth animation of objects. Each successive scene of an object in motion can be constructed in the back or "hidden" buffer and then displayed. This allows only complete images to ever be displayed on the screen.
Feedback. A mode where OpenGL will return the processed geometric information (colors, pixel positions, and so on) to the application as compared to rendering them into the frame buffer.
Gouraud shading. Smooth interpolation of colors across a polygon or line segment. Colors are assigned at vertices and linearly interpolated across the primitive to produce a relatively smooth variation in color.
Immediate mode. Execution of OpenGL commands when they're called, rather than from a display list.
Materials lighting and shading. The ability to accurately compute the color of any point given the material properties for the surface.
Pixel operations. Storing, transforming, mapping, zooming.
Polynomial evaluators. To support non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS).
Primitives. A point, line, polygon, bitmap, or image. Raster primitives: Bitmaps and pixel rectangles.
RGBA mode. Color buffers store red, green, blue, and alpha color components, rather than indices.
Selection and picking. A mode in which OpenGL determines whether certain user-identified graphics primitives are rendered into a region of interest in the frame buffer.
Stencil planes. A buffer that can be used to mask individual pixels in the color frame buffer.
Texture mapping. The process of applying an image to a graphics primitive. This technique is used to generate realism in images. For example, a tabletop drawn as a rectangle could have a wood-grain texture applied to it to make it look more realistic.
Transformation. The ability to change the rotation, size, and perspective of an object in 3D coordinate space.
Z-buffering. The Z-buffer is used to keep track of whether one part of an object is closer to the viewer than another. It is important in hidden surface removal.
New Core Capabilities of OpenGL 1.2
The latest specification of the OpenGL API defines new core capabilities for all 1.2 implementations and a new optional imaging subset.
* Three-dimensional texturing for supporting hardware-accelerated volume rendering
* BGRA pixel formats and packed pixel formats to directly support more external file and hardware frame buffer types
* Automatic rescaling of vertex normals changed by the modeling matrix; rescaling can, in some cases, replace a more expensive renormalization operation
* Application of specular highlights after texturing for more realistic lighting effects
* Texture coordinate edge clamping to avoid blending border and image texels during texturing
* Level of detail control for mipmap textures to allow loading only a subset of levels; this can save texture memory when high-resolution texture images are not required due to textured objects being far from the viewer
* Vertex array enhancements to specify a subrange of the array and draw geometry from that subrange in one operation; this allows a variety of optimizations such as pretransforming, caching transformed geometry, and so on
Optional Imaging Features of OpenGL 1.2
The optional imaging subset includes a variety of enhancements to the OpenGL pixel path. An implementation may or may not support the subset, but any implementation that supports it must provide all of the documented features.
The imaging subset includes all of the following features:
* Blending enhancements include specifying a constant color as one component of a blend as well as a way to define new blending equations; some of the new equations supported include the ability to choose the minimum or maximum of the blend colors and to subtract one of the blend colors from the other
* A color matrix stage, which transforms colors under an arbitrary 4x4 matrix, may be enabled after convolution; it may be used to reassign and duplicate color components or for simple color space conversions
* Color tables are an RGBA format color look-up mechanism capable of operating on a subset of color components; it is possible to respecify parts of a color table without recreating the table
* Simple 1D and 2D convolutions may then be done; both separable and nonseparable 2D filters are allowed; new convolution border modes define several possible behaviors when the filter samples both image and border pixels
* The pixel path may gather histogram statistics that the application may query
<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/directxSDK/default.aspx">Microsoft</a>
Welcome to the DirectX 9.0 SDK
The DirectX 9.0 SDK enables developers to build outstanding games and graphics applications by taking full advantage of DirectX technologies built into Microsoft Windows. One of the advantages of Windows is the rapid pace of innovation occurring on the platform and the DirectX SDK helps developers target the broadest audience while taking advantage of the latest in hardware innovations. Updated every two months, the DirectX SDK provides additional C/C++ and Managed libraries, samples, tools and documentation over and above the Microsoft Platform SDK.
The D3DX library, included in the SDK, is a toolkit that provides developers high-level functionality to ease building DirectX applications as well as optimized low-level routines for getting the best performance out of the platform. In addition to the basics, such as math and texture loading routines, D3DX incorporates the latest technology for manipulating art content such as mesh optimization, tangent-frame generation, and pre-computed radiance transfer (PRT). The D3DX Effects Framework and the High Level Shading Language (HLSL) allow developers to easily take advantage of the latest real-time shader technology exposed by Direct3D. Additionally, the Shader Debugger extensions allow developers to write and debug their shaders in the familiar environment of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
The samples in the SDK demonstrate techniques and technologies of interest to graphics and game developers. The Direct3D samples show how to create eye-popping visuals that exploit current and future GPUs. Recognizing that developing Games for Windows involves more than just stunning graphics, the DirectX 9.0 SDK includes examples and technical articles about Windows security, localization, configuration, better installation experiences for users, and getting the most from interactive audio.
Also included in the SDK, PIX for Windows allows developers to analyze their applications and determine whether or not they are using Direct3D optimally. Using PIX for Windows, developers can investigate each and every Direct3D call and visualize the scene as it renders. And for content creators or those who wish to experience DirectX technologies without writing code, the Preview Pipeline incorporates D3DX Effects and other Direct3D technologies into popular digital content creation (DCC) applications.
Microsoft is focused on providing any resources to developers who wish to enrich the Windows experience. We welcome and appreciate your feedback on how we can improve graphics and game development on Windows.
Welcome to the DirectX 9.0 SDK
The DirectX 9.0 SDK enables developers to build outstanding games and graphics applications by taking full advantage of DirectX technologies built into Microsoft Windows. One of the advantages of Windows is the rapid pace of innovation occurring on the platform and the DirectX SDK helps developers target the broadest audience while taking advantage of the latest in hardware innovations. Updated every two months, the DirectX SDK provides additional C/C++ and Managed libraries, samples, tools and documentation over and above the Microsoft Platform SDK.
The D3DX library, included in the SDK, is a toolkit that provides developers high-level functionality to ease building DirectX applications as well as optimized low-level routines for getting the best performance out of the platform. In addition to the basics, such as math and texture loading routines, D3DX incorporates the latest technology for manipulating art content such as mesh optimization, tangent-frame generation, and pre-computed radiance transfer (PRT). The D3DX Effects Framework and the High Level Shading Language (HLSL) allow developers to easily take advantage of the latest real-time shader technology exposed by Direct3D. Additionally, the Shader Debugger extensions allow developers to write and debug their shaders in the familiar environment of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
The samples in the SDK demonstrate techniques and technologies of interest to graphics and game developers. The Direct3D samples show how to create eye-popping visuals that exploit current and future GPUs. Recognizing that developing Games for Windows involves more than just stunning graphics, the DirectX 9.0 SDK includes examples and technical articles about Windows security, localization, configuration, better installation experiences for users, and getting the most from interactive audio.
Also included in the SDK, PIX for Windows allows developers to analyze their applications and determine whether or not they are using Direct3D optimally. Using PIX for Windows, developers can investigate each and every Direct3D call and visualize the scene as it renders. And for content creators or those who wish to experience DirectX technologies without writing code, the Preview Pipeline incorporates D3DX Effects and other Direct3D technologies into popular digital content creation (DCC) applications.
Microsoft is focused on providing any resources to developers who wish to enrich the Windows experience. We welcome and appreciate your feedback on how we can improve graphics and game development on Windows.
I think it depends on what you want to program for right ?
at the end of the day if you want to work with windows and only windows (xbox and its itterations also) then choose DX SDK if you want to do other stuff as well working in other industry areas OGL2 (or its itterations) seems to be prevelant.
Also NVidia cards run GL faster than ATi......... RSX is used in PS3 so I wonder what they will be using.
at the end of the day if you want to work with windows and only windows (xbox and its itterations also) then choose DX SDK if you want to do other stuff as well working in other industry areas OGL2 (or its itterations) seems to be prevelant.
Also NVidia cards run GL faster than ATi......... RSX is used in PS3 so I wonder what they will be using.
from <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/22/news_6129611.html">http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/22/news_6129611.html</a>
PlayStation Meeting Report: PS3 hardware, dev kits, new games
Sony shows off new games, tools, and demos, promises massive developer support...but Ken Kutaragi warns the console won't come cheap.
TOKYO--This week at Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation Meeting, company president Ken Kutaragi appeared onstage to discuss further information on the current status of the PlayStation 3, and he gave a glimpse of some new games in development.
Kutaragi started out by reconfirming that the PS3 will be backward-compatible with PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games and will support high-definition TVs. "We're looking at a life cycle of 10 years with the PlayStation 3. We're currently shifting from standard TVs to HDTVs," said Kutaragi. "But in the next couple of years, most flat-panel TVs will be full HD. We're releasing the PS3 with full HD features from the start so that consumers won't have to buy another version of the console in the future. For the same reason, we're using Blu-ray as the PS3's disc format."
"I'm aware that with all these technologies, the PS3 can't be offered at a price that's targeted towards households. I think everyone can still buy it if they wanted to," said Kutaragi to a mostly Japanese crowd. "But we're aiming for consumers throughout the world. So we're going to have to do our best [in containing the price]."
Then Kutaragi issued a somewhat ominous warning. "I'm not going to reveal its price today. I'm going to only say that it'll be expensive," he stated.
The rest of the discussion on the PS3 during the meeting was mostly oriented toward developers. Kutaragi began by showing a few slides of the PS3's development kit hardware, the first time it was officially unveiled. The preliminary development kit, code-named "Shreck," was a huge square metallic machine that ran with a 2.4GHz Cell chip and 256MB XDR memory. The machine got a face-lift during spring and was renamed to "Cytology," and it is currently about the size of a normal PC. Though it still runs at 2.4GHz, it comes with an upgraded memory size of 512MB.
Kutaragi revealed that Sony plans to shrink the developer kit to the "rack mount" size of a server (around 19 inches wide) when the next, near-final version is released in December. Called the "PS3 Reference Tool," the kit will run at 3.2GHz, equal to the PS3's spec. Kutaragi commented that he also plans to offer a free-standing PS3 reference tool.
Kutaragi surprised the crowd by revealing that, to date, only 450 PS3 dev kits have been shipped worldwide. Sony plans to release an additional 200 units in August and 300 more in September, but most developers probably will have to wait until October, when the company will ramp up its production to 3,000 units per month. For the time being though, Kutaragi admitted that the current shortage is a problem. "We've been getting a lot of requests from developers since E3 that they want more development kits for the PS3," he said. "The demand for the kits has gone beyond what we can handle. We've been discussing what we can do about it."
Ever since the PS3's debut at E3, the biggest concern among publishers has been a rise in development costs due to the complexity of making games for the console. Currently, developers lack familiarity with the console's technology, such as how to use the seven synergistic processing elements (SPEs) of the PS3's Cell CPU. Those fears returned during the meeting, as Kutaragi showed the "duck in the bathtub" demo from E3 and explained that it uses a total of 16 programs, including eight physics simulations and eight programmable shaders.
To assuage the audience's fears, Kutaragi said Sony has been looking into ways to make PS3 development easier and to support game designers. Kutaragi revealed that SCE has signed licensing agreements with a number of renowned development-tool companies to include their programs as a part of the software developer kit that will be provided to PS3 game developers.
Sony has signed licensing agreements with two of the leading developer middleware providers, Havok and Ageia. Based in Dublin, Ireland, and San Francisco, Havok has seen its physics engine used in Max Payne 2 and Half-Life 2. The agreement will let Sony include a "Havok Complete" middleware suite in its PS3 development kit, which will come with an optimized physics engine, animation engine, and other tools, including linkers and debuggers.
Ageia, based in California, is a developer of physics tools and hardware and is best known for its Ageia PhysX physics library, also known as NovodeX. According to Sony, the PhysX's multithreaded capability makes it ideal to leverage the power of the Cell. Sony's licensing agreement with Ageia will allow a PhysX optimized for the PS3 to be included in the third-party publisher software development kits (SDKs).
Sony chief technical officer Masami Chatani was also present at the PlayStation meeting. He disclosed that Nvidia, maker of the PS3's RSX graphics processor, is currently working on a lineup of programmable shader tools for the console. These include a CG compiler, which is a standard for PC graphics that's oriented toward C language; an FX composer, which is a program for creating shaders of various textures, such as skin and hair; PerfHUD and ShaderPerf, which are evaluation tools to optimize the quality of the shaders; and Melody, which lets normal maps be used to drop polygon volumes without lowering graphics quality.
<B>
Chatani reconfirmed that the PS3 will support Open GL/ES as its standard API, and he also revealed support for Collada, an open-interchange file format for the interactive 3D industry.
</b>
In terms of supporting developers in their use of the Cell processor, Sony is forming an alliance with chipmaker Transmeta Corporation, a company renowned for its software emulation technology and its x86-compatible, software-based microprocessors. Transmeta will be offering an SPE optimizer and software that will let developers effectively program for the Cell processor and its seven SPEs. The tools will allow statistical process control (SPC) simulation on PCs and will also let programmers debug and tune their programs with runtime info. Transmeta's tools will be shipped to developers in Q4 2005.
As reported yesterday, Sony has acquired SN Systems Limited, a leading middleware supplier best known for its renowned ProDG tool. The company has had a 10-year-plus relationship with SCE. With its agreement to become a part of Sony, SN Systems will continue to deliver upgraded editions of its ProDG and other development tools as well as provide extensive support to developers.
Chatani revealed that there are already nine major middleware vendors that will be releasing development programs for the PS3, including Metrowerks, CRI Middleware, NDL, Web Technology, Alia, Dolby, Softimage, Autodesk, and RAD. He said that there are currently 2,000 SDK libraries available for development of PS3 games, but that number will expand to more than 20,000 libraries when new licensing partners such as Havok and Ageia are added.
For developers who want to learn the basics of how to program for the PS3, Sony will be releasing the source code, documents, and graphics for the "duck demo" in August. According to Chatani, the demo is a good example of how the PS3's physics and shader programs can be used; if even just one duck in the bathtub moves, it impacts the movement of all the other ducks in real time.
Also as reported earlier, Sony has signed an agreement with Epic Games. It has obtained sublicensing rights to Epic's Unreal Engine 3, a game development framework that was the basis of the flashy "man versus machine" technical demo at E3. Unreal Engine 3 includes a programmable shaders tool, a physics engine, and a GUI-based physics attribution tool, as well as other tools, such as scenario development, movie-scene development, and particle animation tools.
Unlike the other development tools, the Unreal Engine 3 will not be free. Publishers will be given an evaluation version in September, and they can choose whether to purchase the suite at the end of November. Sony did not disclose the Unreal Engine 3's price during the meeting, but he assured developers that it will be "extremely affordable."
Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney appeared onstage to show the powers of the PS3 and the Unreal Engine 3's programmable shader tool, using the "man versus machine" demo from E3 and a new first-person demo that featured a corridor with different effects. With the Unreal Engine turned on, the graphics looked like they were taking full advantage of the PS3's capabilities, with realistic shadows and water effects. With the engine turned off, the graphics looked much blander, like PS2 games with higher resolutions. "The shader programs here [in the demo] are typically about a hundred instructions long [per pixel]. With the PlayStation 2's graphic capabilities, it was about one to one, or two shader instructions [per pixel]," explained Sweeney, emphasizing the PS3's power.
Following Epic Games, Bandai showed off a real-time demo of its PS3 Gundam game. The game is clearly still in development--the demo featured a low frame rate but high-resolution graphics and detailed mechs. Bandai Games company president Shin Unozawa revealed that the demo is using only one of the Cell's SPEs and that he was amazed at the power of the PS3. The demo was developed by Bandai subsidiary BEC and was made solely with in-house developed engines and shading programs.
After Bandai, Koei showed a real-time demo of its PS3 game, Ni-Oh, which featured a Dynasty Warriors-esque character fighting multiple enemies. Pausing the game and changing the camera angles, Koei chairman Keiko Erikawa zoomed in on the character's face to show its detail, which even showed the pores on the skin. Flanked by an assistant wielding a PS2 controller, Erikawa explained that with the PS2, developers were able to allot about 1,000 polygons to a character's face. With the PS3, Erikawa's team was able to allot up to 1.5 million polygons. Erikawa explained that additional polygons allow for more subdivision surfaces, so faces can have more wrinkles and personality. Erikawa also zoomed in on the door of the room in the demo and showed how the PS3 allows the reflection on the floor to change naturally when the camera's angle is shifted around. Like Bandai, Koei developed its demo using its self-produced program engines for the PS3. "Our challenge will be to create a game that is as high quality as the graphics the PS3 can create. We look forward to the Tokyo Game Show," commented Erikawa at the end of her presentation.
Following the real-time demo presentations, Sony announced a number of new PS3 games and showed their trailers, which were created solely with in-game footage. New games announced at the meeting were Lair, developed by game studio Factor 5 and Sony Computer Entertainment America; Endless Saga, developed by Korean maker Webzen; a new Genji title, developed by Game Republic; a new mech game tentatively named "Project Force," developed by From Software; and Resident Evil 5 by Capcom. The trailers are available for viewing below.
In his final remarks, Kutaragi hinted that PS3 demos of games will be playable at the Tokyo Game Show in September. "We hope to use the Tokyo Game Show as a chance for everyone to get to know, or possibly experience, what next-generation entertainment is all about," he said.
By Hirohiko Niizumi, Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot
POSTED: 07/22/05 01:12 PM PST
PlayStation Meeting Report: PS3 hardware, dev kits, new games
Sony shows off new games, tools, and demos, promises massive developer support...but Ken Kutaragi warns the console won't come cheap.
TOKYO--This week at Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation Meeting, company president Ken Kutaragi appeared onstage to discuss further information on the current status of the PlayStation 3, and he gave a glimpse of some new games in development.
Kutaragi started out by reconfirming that the PS3 will be backward-compatible with PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games and will support high-definition TVs. "We're looking at a life cycle of 10 years with the PlayStation 3. We're currently shifting from standard TVs to HDTVs," said Kutaragi. "But in the next couple of years, most flat-panel TVs will be full HD. We're releasing the PS3 with full HD features from the start so that consumers won't have to buy another version of the console in the future. For the same reason, we're using Blu-ray as the PS3's disc format."
"I'm aware that with all these technologies, the PS3 can't be offered at a price that's targeted towards households. I think everyone can still buy it if they wanted to," said Kutaragi to a mostly Japanese crowd. "But we're aiming for consumers throughout the world. So we're going to have to do our best [in containing the price]."
Then Kutaragi issued a somewhat ominous warning. "I'm not going to reveal its price today. I'm going to only say that it'll be expensive," he stated.
The rest of the discussion on the PS3 during the meeting was mostly oriented toward developers. Kutaragi began by showing a few slides of the PS3's development kit hardware, the first time it was officially unveiled. The preliminary development kit, code-named "Shreck," was a huge square metallic machine that ran with a 2.4GHz Cell chip and 256MB XDR memory. The machine got a face-lift during spring and was renamed to "Cytology," and it is currently about the size of a normal PC. Though it still runs at 2.4GHz, it comes with an upgraded memory size of 512MB.
Kutaragi revealed that Sony plans to shrink the developer kit to the "rack mount" size of a server (around 19 inches wide) when the next, near-final version is released in December. Called the "PS3 Reference Tool," the kit will run at 3.2GHz, equal to the PS3's spec. Kutaragi commented that he also plans to offer a free-standing PS3 reference tool.
Kutaragi surprised the crowd by revealing that, to date, only 450 PS3 dev kits have been shipped worldwide. Sony plans to release an additional 200 units in August and 300 more in September, but most developers probably will have to wait until October, when the company will ramp up its production to 3,000 units per month. For the time being though, Kutaragi admitted that the current shortage is a problem. "We've been getting a lot of requests from developers since E3 that they want more development kits for the PS3," he said. "The demand for the kits has gone beyond what we can handle. We've been discussing what we can do about it."
Ever since the PS3's debut at E3, the biggest concern among publishers has been a rise in development costs due to the complexity of making games for the console. Currently, developers lack familiarity with the console's technology, such as how to use the seven synergistic processing elements (SPEs) of the PS3's Cell CPU. Those fears returned during the meeting, as Kutaragi showed the "duck in the bathtub" demo from E3 and explained that it uses a total of 16 programs, including eight physics simulations and eight programmable shaders.
To assuage the audience's fears, Kutaragi said Sony has been looking into ways to make PS3 development easier and to support game designers. Kutaragi revealed that SCE has signed licensing agreements with a number of renowned development-tool companies to include their programs as a part of the software developer kit that will be provided to PS3 game developers.
Sony has signed licensing agreements with two of the leading developer middleware providers, Havok and Ageia. Based in Dublin, Ireland, and San Francisco, Havok has seen its physics engine used in Max Payne 2 and Half-Life 2. The agreement will let Sony include a "Havok Complete" middleware suite in its PS3 development kit, which will come with an optimized physics engine, animation engine, and other tools, including linkers and debuggers.
Ageia, based in California, is a developer of physics tools and hardware and is best known for its Ageia PhysX physics library, also known as NovodeX. According to Sony, the PhysX's multithreaded capability makes it ideal to leverage the power of the Cell. Sony's licensing agreement with Ageia will allow a PhysX optimized for the PS3 to be included in the third-party publisher software development kits (SDKs).
Sony chief technical officer Masami Chatani was also present at the PlayStation meeting. He disclosed that Nvidia, maker of the PS3's RSX graphics processor, is currently working on a lineup of programmable shader tools for the console. These include a CG compiler, which is a standard for PC graphics that's oriented toward C language; an FX composer, which is a program for creating shaders of various textures, such as skin and hair; PerfHUD and ShaderPerf, which are evaluation tools to optimize the quality of the shaders; and Melody, which lets normal maps be used to drop polygon volumes without lowering graphics quality.
<B>
Chatani reconfirmed that the PS3 will support Open GL/ES as its standard API, and he also revealed support for Collada, an open-interchange file format for the interactive 3D industry.
</b>
In terms of supporting developers in their use of the Cell processor, Sony is forming an alliance with chipmaker Transmeta Corporation, a company renowned for its software emulation technology and its x86-compatible, software-based microprocessors. Transmeta will be offering an SPE optimizer and software that will let developers effectively program for the Cell processor and its seven SPEs. The tools will allow statistical process control (SPC) simulation on PCs and will also let programmers debug and tune their programs with runtime info. Transmeta's tools will be shipped to developers in Q4 2005.
As reported yesterday, Sony has acquired SN Systems Limited, a leading middleware supplier best known for its renowned ProDG tool. The company has had a 10-year-plus relationship with SCE. With its agreement to become a part of Sony, SN Systems will continue to deliver upgraded editions of its ProDG and other development tools as well as provide extensive support to developers.
Chatani revealed that there are already nine major middleware vendors that will be releasing development programs for the PS3, including Metrowerks, CRI Middleware, NDL, Web Technology, Alia, Dolby, Softimage, Autodesk, and RAD. He said that there are currently 2,000 SDK libraries available for development of PS3 games, but that number will expand to more than 20,000 libraries when new licensing partners such as Havok and Ageia are added.
For developers who want to learn the basics of how to program for the PS3, Sony will be releasing the source code, documents, and graphics for the "duck demo" in August. According to Chatani, the demo is a good example of how the PS3's physics and shader programs can be used; if even just one duck in the bathtub moves, it impacts the movement of all the other ducks in real time.
Also as reported earlier, Sony has signed an agreement with Epic Games. It has obtained sublicensing rights to Epic's Unreal Engine 3, a game development framework that was the basis of the flashy "man versus machine" technical demo at E3. Unreal Engine 3 includes a programmable shaders tool, a physics engine, and a GUI-based physics attribution tool, as well as other tools, such as scenario development, movie-scene development, and particle animation tools.
Unlike the other development tools, the Unreal Engine 3 will not be free. Publishers will be given an evaluation version in September, and they can choose whether to purchase the suite at the end of November. Sony did not disclose the Unreal Engine 3's price during the meeting, but he assured developers that it will be "extremely affordable."
Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney appeared onstage to show the powers of the PS3 and the Unreal Engine 3's programmable shader tool, using the "man versus machine" demo from E3 and a new first-person demo that featured a corridor with different effects. With the Unreal Engine turned on, the graphics looked like they were taking full advantage of the PS3's capabilities, with realistic shadows and water effects. With the engine turned off, the graphics looked much blander, like PS2 games with higher resolutions. "The shader programs here [in the demo] are typically about a hundred instructions long [per pixel]. With the PlayStation 2's graphic capabilities, it was about one to one, or two shader instructions [per pixel]," explained Sweeney, emphasizing the PS3's power.
Following Epic Games, Bandai showed off a real-time demo of its PS3 Gundam game. The game is clearly still in development--the demo featured a low frame rate but high-resolution graphics and detailed mechs. Bandai Games company president Shin Unozawa revealed that the demo is using only one of the Cell's SPEs and that he was amazed at the power of the PS3. The demo was developed by Bandai subsidiary BEC and was made solely with in-house developed engines and shading programs.
After Bandai, Koei showed a real-time demo of its PS3 game, Ni-Oh, which featured a Dynasty Warriors-esque character fighting multiple enemies. Pausing the game and changing the camera angles, Koei chairman Keiko Erikawa zoomed in on the character's face to show its detail, which even showed the pores on the skin. Flanked by an assistant wielding a PS2 controller, Erikawa explained that with the PS2, developers were able to allot about 1,000 polygons to a character's face. With the PS3, Erikawa's team was able to allot up to 1.5 million polygons. Erikawa explained that additional polygons allow for more subdivision surfaces, so faces can have more wrinkles and personality. Erikawa also zoomed in on the door of the room in the demo and showed how the PS3 allows the reflection on the floor to change naturally when the camera's angle is shifted around. Like Bandai, Koei developed its demo using its self-produced program engines for the PS3. "Our challenge will be to create a game that is as high quality as the graphics the PS3 can create. We look forward to the Tokyo Game Show," commented Erikawa at the end of her presentation.
Following the real-time demo presentations, Sony announced a number of new PS3 games and showed their trailers, which were created solely with in-game footage. New games announced at the meeting were Lair, developed by game studio Factor 5 and Sony Computer Entertainment America; Endless Saga, developed by Korean maker Webzen; a new Genji title, developed by Game Republic; a new mech game tentatively named "Project Force," developed by From Software; and Resident Evil 5 by Capcom. The trailers are available for viewing below.
In his final remarks, Kutaragi hinted that PS3 demos of games will be playable at the Tokyo Game Show in September. "We hope to use the Tokyo Game Show as a chance for everyone to get to know, or possibly experience, what next-generation entertainment is all about," he said.
By Hirohiko Niizumi, Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot
POSTED: 07/22/05 01:12 PM PST
Nah microsoft are at least pushing in the right direction. Competition only leads to better things. After all S-Cell being utilised in PS3 was probably in response to microsoft at least having a go at sony in the last round of things.Canis wrote:It's more of the principle of the thing than the efficiency...
If you look at Intels dev plans "I-Cell" is at least 10 to 15 years away.
-
eepberries
- Posts: 1975
- Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:14 pm
Re: So what's the state of OpenGL vs DirectX these days?
Who told you that?Cool Blue wrote: but after learning D3 was written in DirectX,
Re: So what's the state of OpenGL vs DirectX these days?
the back of the boxeepberries wrote:Who told you that?Cool Blue wrote: but after learning D3 was written in DirectX,
\
Required for Doom 3
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
Processor: Pentium IV 1.5 GHz or AM Athlon 1.7 GHz processor or higher
RAM: 384MB RAM
CD-ROM: 8x Speed CD-ROM drive (1200KB/sec sustained transfer rate) and latest drivers
Hard Drive: 1.7GB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 400MB for Windows swap file)
Processor: 100% DirectXR 9.0b compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers
Video Card: 3D hardware Accelerator Card Required - 100% DirectXR 9.0b compatible 64MB Hardware Accelerated video card and the latest drivers
-
eepberries
- Posts: 1975
- Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:14 pm
Re: So what's the state of OpenGL vs DirectX these days?
:icon29:[FTF]Pyro wrote:the back of the box
\
Required for Doom 3
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
Processor: Pentium IV 1.5 GHz or AM Athlon 1.7 GHz processor or higher
RAM: 384MB RAM
CD-ROM: 8x Speed CD-ROM drive (1200KB/sec sustained transfer rate) and latest drivers
Hard Drive: 1.7GB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 400MB for Windows swap file)
Processor: 100% DirectXR 9.0b compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers
Video Card: 3D hardware Accelerator Card Required - 100% DirectXR 9.0b compatible 64MB Hardware Accelerated video card and the latest drivers
Re: So what's the state of OpenGL vs DirectX these days?
:icon26::icon29:
Yeah all the ones written for *nix and Mac OS especially, as well as those written for PS3, revolution, Neo-geo, System 246 and every other piece of hardware that doesnt utilise the MS platform.Memphis wrote:Um.... Now i haven't read this (especially the two essays posted), however I believe the competition is between Direct 3D and Open GL
All games need DirectX
Muuurrrpets
........
-
eepberries
- Posts: 1975
- Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:14 pm
Windows games.[FTF]Pyro wrote:Yeah all the ones written for *nix and Mac OS especially, as well as those written for PS3, revolution, Neo-geo, System 246 and every other piece of hardware that doesnt utilise the MS platform.Memphis wrote:Um.... Now i haven't read this (especially the two essays posted), however I believe the competition is between Direct 3D and Open GL
All games need DirectX
Muuurrrpets
........
btw http://www.planetdoom.com/features/faq/
lurk more, noob
Not to berate you or anything but it would appear that you have a general lack of cranial capacity to compute mental ability correlations
<a href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm">Sarcasm</a> is the making of remarks intended to mock the person referred to (who is normally the person addressed), a situation or thing. It is often used in a humorous manner and expressed through particular vocal intonations. This is often done by simply over-emphasizing the actual statement, or particular words of it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
Harsh form of wit, aimed to wound, which often employs irony.
Yanks and irony = not good.
<a href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm">Sarcasm</a> is the making of remarks intended to mock the person referred to (who is normally the person addressed), a situation or thing. It is often used in a humorous manner and expressed through particular vocal intonations. This is often done by simply over-emphasizing the actual statement, or particular words of it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
Harsh form of wit, aimed to wound, which often employs irony.
Yanks and irony = not good.
