Hi I’d would like some explanations about open gl glide and direct 3d can anyone fo you explane the differances between them? and how they work? thanks.
Grenade Gimbler
I would if I had time… it’s an indepth subject conecerning the way polygons are drawn and displayed… the differences between various ways that a programmer can handle rendering… each graphics board has a different protocol due to which manufacturer’s main proccessor is ON the graphics board… and each one has been optimized for what the hardware desginer thought was the BEST choice for rendering… that is really why there are 3 standards… It’s all band-aids and bug patching… and no one really wants to just have one way… they are all good… and depending on the manufacturer of the processor, motherboard, speed, and memory configuration, is what determines the best to use Rave is great for low memory, Voodoo is good for the whole range, depending on the TYPE of Voodoo (1-5), and as someon here put it they THINK tHAT gilde IS THE FASTEST, but we all know all glide files that an application has to create in order to run GLIDE, so GLIDE is NOT the fastest, but relies the HEAVIEST on your hard drive. now OpenGL is a STILL beta standard on a PC, but it does scaleable ray-tracing that actually makes coding smaller and faster… a programmer can write ONE poly figure and scale it through all sizes, it is a lot faster for the graphics card to retain that data… and since it is scalable and less data to render, the card can retain MORE textures and maps in it’s memory, so it doesn’t really run FASTER, it runs more EFFICIENTLY.
Now just a real quickie about the programs… so you understand… these ZIP ped files, or .PAK files as we all see are coding so the end user can alter them… take a look at Oni… what makes that render so MUCH quicker is because of the TIGH CODING in the packs… now… if an end user just wants a game to PLAY and NOT to ad on to, then heck, a lot of the game software could be written a LOT tighter… take a look at Q3 and Unreal Tournament… did you know that those programs or NOT fully compiled until you run them?.. it’s kind of like selling someone a half-written program that they can put their own plug-ins intoand telling them to load, compile THEN run it… that’s truly what some of the “rendering engines” like Quake and Unreal are all about…
Now, after what i have jsut said in the last paragraph, one can NOW truly understand why there are driver problems and so many different fixes, bugs, etcetera. that is why there is an .INI file , so there is a PATCH file for the SOFTWARE… when you start eh program… it LOOKS at the .INI files, finds what to compl]ile and where to compile it and WHEN to compile it… it makes making addons easier, and since there are so many kinds of graphics environments out on the market,it makes programming SIMPLER… the .INI file can actually be coded to allow the engine to detect the type of card and compile the .PAK files, .UTX and .INT files for the specific card and render compile them correctly so that the game plays, or graphics program renders correctly.
I know i was long winded here everyone, and i am sorry… lol I do get a bit carried away reading how everyone talks about which is better and such… none i BETTER, each one serves it purose… and quite adequately in my opinion… as for MY choice? I take OpenGL hands down the coding is a lot simpler and DEFINITELY relies on the HARDWARE to do the job it was DESGINED to do… remember… hardware will ALWAYS be faster than software… hands down!
Mark Giaimo
PanGia Developement
Thx a real good reply.
My dizziness just disappear.
Hey thanks a lot that really clears up a few things, now all I have to do is figure how to print this blasted thing so I can read it in in more detal.
-Grenade Gimbler