Can anybody help a total beginner...????

[Muffinwoman]

I have no experience with OpenGL. Can I use it together with java, or du I have to use C++? Is there any problem with installing OpenGL in WindowsXP?
I would like to make a 3D figure developing over time... or to make a city in which you can move around... any suggestions anybody?

TIA

[mikael_aronsson]

Hi !

First of all, your XP has OpenGL installed from the start, you only need the .lib and .h files to develop applications.

Depending on your hardware you may want to download drivers from their website to get better performance/hardware acceleration.

You can use Java if you want to, the two most common solutions are:

gl4java (search on google for it), this is a JNI layer that gives you full access to OpenGL 1.2 functionality.

Java3D (java.sun.com) this is a high level 3D api that works with both OpenGL and Direct3D, but this is at a much higher level then OpenGL so you don't need any OpenGL knowledge to use it.

There are lots of tutorials on OpenGL, have a look at this website, you will find lots of useful links.

Start out with some simple tutorials to figure out how it works.

Good luck
Mikael

[nexusone]

Here is a good site for tutors on openGL

nehe.gamedev.net

Even has a tutor on creating 3D worlds.

Originally posted by Muffinwoman:
I have no experience with OpenGL. Can I use it together with java, or du I have to use C++? Is there any problem with installing OpenGL in WindowsXP?
I would like to make a 3D figure developing over time... or to make a city in which you can move around... any suggestions anybody?

TIA

[mm_freak]

NeHe's tutorials are ok, but they are sometimes too cryptic and too operating system/programming language specific. I've learned OpenGL with "A 3D case study using OpenGL" by Fotis Chatzinikos, but that is C/C++ specific. Well, for optimal performance, you shouldn't be using Java. There are thousands of tutorials and free compilers for C/C++ out there, maybe you should have a look at that language (you can do everything with it, at least much more, than you can do with Java =).

[Muffinwoman]

I still haven't been able to try out OpenGL, cause I can't find the libraries/ or where to put them to make them reachable from JBuilder (Borland, Java)... anyone? Is there a good site for java examples to test how this would work? I've downloaded JPOT and JAVA3D, but don't really know where to extract them on my Windows XP system...
Desperately seeking help...

TIA