I was wondering which libraries are the most effective to use to make a 3d engine. I have only heard of a few like GLUT but I am sure their are more. I am sure this is a noobish question but I was just wanting to get all my questions answered before I get started on my project.
SDL is a good one to check out. I use it myself and like it very much, as it lets me hook in miscellaneous HID devices such as the SpaceNavigator. 
I really like GLFW, as it is game and demo oriented. Simple and to the point. And mutiplateform too.
GLFW looks nice and simple to use. I wonder if I can ram in SpaceNavigator/wacom support. 
I am not too familiar with such HID, but it is certainly possible to use tools such as GlovePIE to create a virtual joystick out of your HID. Then GLFW can access any number of axis and buttons on this virtual joystick.
Well see I have been using GLUT for a little while and it seems pretty easy to use. Do u think that GLUT is worth while? I have done some research on SDL and it doesn’t seem right to me. Are their any other useful libraries to consider?
GLFW? what exactly is that capable of? can that use 3d and other graphic commands.
read the tutorials and docs here :
http://glfw.sourceforge.net/
GLUT is usable but more for small interactive apps, not so well for something like a game or 3D engine.
If you are after higher level libraries, try something else like Ogre3D, or openscenegraph : http://www.openscenegraph.org/projects/osg
GLEW is good library for loading OpenGL extensions
If you want to create an engine, do window setup yourself. GLUT is useful for small demos, GLFW could be used to create small games. But such frameworks are always limited.
hmm, well I plan on making a 3d fps engine what would be a good library to use to make a project like this (don’t worry I know what I am doing, well I know all the concepts and have some training I just need a good library)? I was hoping to give up glut here but where could I find some info on doing the window rendering myself?
I don’t understand what you mean with “library”. If you mean window creation and management, just use platform API (Win32 API on Windows, X11 on Linux, Cocoa on Mac). There should be plenty tutorials in the net.
what do you guys think about openssl? I was looking around for some opengl related libraries and this came you. any good? meh I will keep looking, I have to find the perfect one before I start production.
openssl? Isn’t that used for cryptography!?
is it? I don’t really know. I use Dev-cpp and I was looking at all the Dev-pack (libraries and other tools) and that was one that came up. Not with a good summary so I didn’t know what it did. I was wondering which library has a bunch of useful 3d commands?
Oo
snowfell, OpenGL is a 3D rendering API. There is no “best library”, there are some libraries that provide certain abstractions (like window management). And what do you mean by “useful 3d commands”?
nvm I done here. I got all the answers I need. Thanks for your help guys