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Rendering Engine Rundown

Started by templewulf May 12, 2006 at 12:16 PM 7 replies 1.9k views

Original Post

May 12, 2006 at 12:16 PM

After struggling with my own renderer for a while, I thought I'd better check out popular rendering APIs to broaden my conceptions about them. I tried OGRE3d, OpenSceneGraph and Blender. I've read up on Irrlicht, but haven't tried it yet. I wanted to do SOME programming so that I could use this project in my portfolio, so I ruled out Blender. Ogre seems really popular, but the structure of the engine seems sort of obtuse to me. I'm testing out OSG at the moment, and I like it, but the documentation is a little lacking and the site seems...umm...amateurish in comparison to Ogre and Blender. Does anyone have any experience using these various packages? Is OSG higher quality than the site that represents it? Would I be better off with a multi-API renderer like Ogre, or is OSG's OpenGL-only approach enough?

krum

May 12, 2006 at 6:48 PM

You should check out Wild Magic. It has an architecture very similar to Gamebryo. So, say for example, you learn to use Wild Magic, you'll already be familiar with the way one of the major third-party game engines work.

I've used both and although I don't personally use the scene graph parts of Wild Magic (I have... I just like mine better :D ), I do use some of its math and geometry code in my game engine. Gamebryo's a great engine too but comes with a price.

Funkymunky

259

Funkymunky

May 15, 2006 at 1:45 AM

Right now i'm working with OGRE, and I love it! You said it seems kind of obtuse? do you mean, "lacking sharpness or quickness of sensibility or intellect : difficult to comprehend : not clear or precise in thought or expression"...? Because if so I have to disagree. OGRE is vey straightfoward and pretty damn powerful. The latest sdk release includes the code for an HDR effect, which seems to be the industries golden love child at the moment...

I'd suggest you give OGRE another go, it has a vast range of flexibility and a wondeful/robust community!

Promit

Mod

1,082

Promit

May 15, 2006 at 2:18 AM

Quote:
Original post by Funkymunky
OGRE is vey straightfoward and pretty damn powerful.

I don't think OGRE is straightforward at all, and I have considerable experience with it. I'd also dispute the claim that it's powerful. OGRE is a very capable engine, but I don't equate that to power.

Anyway, The Nebula Device is a great engine that has been used for commercial titles. It may not have the marketing flair that some of the other engines do, but it's a mature codebase and an extremely powerful and flexible engine -- certainly more so than any other open source engine.

Acid-Chris

May 15, 2006 at 7:15 AM

Tried OGRE, nebula device, wild magic, torque, and a dozen others...

Finally stick at NeL. (Saga of Ryzom MMORPG engine released under GPL)
www.nevrax.org
Enough open source tools, samples and a working MMO to get started with.

It was a paid to bring it to MSVC8 though. But hey...we're programmers, right??
Currently working on to integrate Softimage|XSI. :)
IMO it's the best "game-engine" for serious development out there.

But if you're looking for a "rendering engine", i'd probably using OGRE.
OGRE does exactly what it's supposed to...just render stuff.

best regards

templewulf

Author

templewulf

May 15, 2006 at 10:14 AM

Sorry I haven't been in touch with my own thread over the weekend. You know how family time and grocery shopping can soak up your days off.

Thanks for all the advice, everybody. I've never tried the nebula device, but I certainly will if Promit likes it. I appreciate the recommendation of NeL, but I want something I can program around. Really, I'm just looking for a good model for my own scene graph and renderer. That's why I ruled out Blender, because its prepackaged game engine is great for productivity, but not so great for a portfolio.

I might give Ogre another shot after The Nebula Device, as I like their robust support community and Lovecraftian style, but I find their architecture unintuitive.

Ratings++ to all, and to all a good night!

etsuja

May 18, 2006 at 1:16 AM

for gpl licensed engines do you have to realease your whole game source or just the code of gpl engine that you modified?

Funkymunky

259

Funkymunky

May 19, 2006 at 9:27 PM

I know with Ogre it's the code you've modified (which only includes stuff from the engine you altered for your own purposes, not your own original stuff which utilizes the engine)

So i'm assuming that's how it is with all gpls

Will F

112

Will F

May 19, 2006 at 9:38 PM

Quote:
Original post by Funkymunky
I know with Ogre it's the code you've modified (which only includes stuff from the engine you altered for your own purposes, not your own original stuff which utilizes the engine)

So i'm assuming that's how it is with all gpls

OGRE uses the LGPL, which is a different license from the GPL.

This is a bit of a simplification, but with the LGPL you only need to release the changes you've made to the code covered by the LGPL - in this case you release any changes you might have made to OGRE, but don't need to release the code to your own game.

If you use GPL code, you must make all your code GPL - meaning you have to release the source of everything in your app.

Take a look at the GPL FAQ for more information.

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