|
Mutos
Squire
France
10 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 19 2003 : 01:17:50 AM
|
Hi all,
I'm in search of render engines. For now I use Wild Tangent's Web Driver, which is easy to use from VB6. I've recently discovered Ogre, which seems to me quite good & which I'd like to test. But for now I've found no way to integrate it into VB6.
So, did anyone has any hint on this ? Thanks in advance...
|
@+
Benoit 'Mutos' ROBIN
mailto:mutos@hoshikaze.net
http://hoshikaze.net |
|
|
Mutos
Squire
France
10 Posts |
Posted - Oct 23 2003 : 07:21:44 AM
|
Hi all,
No answer to my query ? So i'll just post the urls of all render engines I konw. I just discovered TrueVision, another engine which seems to be easy to use & provides builtin integration w/ VB6.
WebDriver
http://www.wildtangent.com/
Ogre
http://http://ogre.sourceforge.net/
TrueVision
http://www.truevision3d.com
Hope this'll help anyone w/ same problem of finding suitable engines.
|
@+
Benoit 'Mutos' ROBIN
mailto:mutos@hoshikaze.net
http://hoshikaze.net |
 |
|
|
Peter
Administrator
Canada
67 Posts |
|
|
cbx
Swordmaster
Canada
296 Posts |
Posted - Oct 25 2003 : 11:21:21 PM
|
| Here is another good vb6 game engine http://www.revolution3d.org/ |
Created by: X
http://www.createdbyx.com/ |
|
|
|
Mutos
Squire
France
10 Posts |
Posted - Oct 26 2003 : 03:04:36 AM
|
Hi Peter & cbx, hi all,
Thanks for ur answer, i'll try Revolution3D & tell u what I think of it...
|
@+
Benoit 'Mutos' ROBIN
mailto:mutos@hoshikaze.net
http://hoshikaze.net |
|
|
|
Shannara
Neophyte
3 Posts |
Posted - Nov 04 2003 : 4:31:51 PM
|
Truevision was open source for a long time, until the source code was stolen to create the closed-source Revolution engine. Since then, the TV team closed their source and starting converting things to ASM and C.
I still have the open source version of the engine laying somewhere around here..
As for TV as of now, it's pretty useless as in reality, they have yet to reach a real 1.0 version. They claim to be on v6, w/ no features implimented that was planned for 1.0 over 1 - 2 years ago. So I hold on faith in that engine at all.
I used Genesis3D back before it was bought out by Wild Tangent. Once it was sold, I left. Never heard of Orge though..
I dont touch Rev3D, because Im not about to support theives :)
|
|
|
|
cbx
Swordmaster
Canada
296 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2003 : 12:51:46 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by Shannara
I dont touch Rev3D, because Im not about to support theives :)
OOhhh juicy back story to Rev3D. I have been opserving the progress of both truvision and rev3d for a few years now myself. Unfortunatly it's news to me (about the theft), so until I hear more about the details, I cant concur weather or not there is any thruth to it.
But besides that and for anyone reading this I too also have the source for truevision. I believe it's version 3.7 if i'm not mistaken. I think I also have a couple of example apps for that perticular version also. It's written in vb5/6 but if anyone would like a copy for curiosities sake, I would be happy to track it down and provide it to you.
All hail the software pack rat king! 
|
Created by: X
http://www.createdbyx.com/ |
|
|
|
Eric Coleman
Gladiator
USA
811 Posts |
Posted - Nov 05 2003 : 1:45:30 PM
|
Truevision is more of a DirectX wrapper than it is an Engine. If you look at the list of "features", its pretty much the same features as DirectX such as "lighting," "shaders," and ".x file" support. The only thing they have that's even remotely related to a game engine is loading a bsp map. Being able to render a quake level does not make truevision a game "engine." A game "engine" is much, much more. For starters a game engine is genre specific. For example, you can't use a Quake or Doom engine to create a tile based RPG or RTS game., just like you can't take the Starcraft engine and create a FPS from it.
A game engine must be able to do more than just load map file format from some other game. What would an old style SNES RPG need with bsp files? An engine needs to have a bunch of different systems that all work together. For starters, you need some type of kernel to keep everything working together. The kernel of a game engine is responsible not only for graphics, but for AI, game mechanics, animations, sounds, music, scripting, etc, and keeping them working together. Of course, not all games require a game engine, Pong and tic-tac-toe are examples of that.
Game engines are complicated programs. The reason for a game engine is to allow you to reuse the code you've created to create a similar type of game. To switch games you only need to change the resources, which are the graphics, sounds, music, anything an artist would create. Consider Quake 2 and Half Life, they use the same engine. The only difference is content. I'm generalizing when I say that, but I'm sure you know what I mean. If I mixed up Half Life with some other game, then you'll just have to forgive me because I'm not much of a FPS fan.
Truevision not only requires you to create the game content, but you actually have to create the game engine to handle the content. Its really nothing more than a fancy DirectX wrapper. |
|
|
|
Excaliber
Squire
USA
28 Posts |
Posted - Nov 23 2003 : 6:12:02 PM
|
Thats where TrueVision gets its power. Its a wrapper for DX, nothing more. It makes programming DX easier, and thus simplifies the nit-picky details of 3D programming. It does not limit you to what genre the gamemaker (ewww) was made for, nor does it limit you to what the capabilities of said gamemaker can do.
TV allows you to program and create your own creature. You have full control, and much easier than with straight DX. yet you have all the functionality at the same time.
</rant> |
|
|
|
jviper
Neophyte
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - Aug 22 2004 : 7:53:39 PM
|
Who thinks Revelotion3D is a better 3D engine than TrueVision3D is? One thing that I would point out about TrueVision3D is that, if you aren't registered, there is this watermark that shows up every time you use it's rendering features. to me, it's a bit annoying, either that or maybe I shoud just stop wineing and just register the damn thing, I'm I right? What so you think? Oh, one more thing: first of al the whole reason why I'm bothering to look for these 3d engines is because, while I was is process of trying to learn directx, I started to realize how much bullshit I would end up getting into just to do collisions. Am I on the money, or what?
J Bray at jviper2004002@hotmail.com; drop me a line. |
|
|
|
VBBR
Moderator
Brazil
617 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2004 : 10:49:42 AM
|
Regarding the Rev3D "theft"...
If Revolution3D is but a copy of the old TV3D code, this must be back in the times Rev3D was written in VB.
News for you guys, since version .89 Revolution3D was entirely rewritten in C++. |
Whatever. Who knows... |
|
|
|
sdw
Warrior
USA
160 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2004 : 10:31:07 PM
|
quote:
Thats where TrueVision gets its power. Its a wrapper for DX, nothing more. It makes programming DX easier, and thus simplifies the nit-picky details of 3D programming.
Maybe so, however you still need to distribute the truevision dependencies with your application. So that's something like 1.5 mB already, which is not good. You may not even be using all of the features of the wrapper anyways, so there's just wasted space. It's always better to just write your own little wrapper functions that make sense to you instead of learning someone else's. Besides, wouldn't it make you feel like a better coder/programmer to have done everything by yourself? :D |
|
|
|
Dan
Squire
United Kingdom
29 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2004 : 10:07:04 AM
|
quote:
wouldn't it make you feel like a better coder/programmer to have done everything by yourself? :D
No not really, Its good to learn how things work - but using a tool that helps speed up the development process is a good thing. The new TV6.5 Wrapper (Currently in Closed Beta - for which I'm a tester) offers alot more besides simply wrapping directx to provide rendering. It caters for the flow of assets in to the game world by providing additional tools. for example Newton Physics has been integrated to provide ragdoll and rigid bodies, Exporter plugins for Caligari's gameSpace, 3D Studio Max, XSI, and Maya work well to create .x or .tvo models, A pre game model viewer that allows you to compute Shadow data, generate normalmap, add effects, assign texture, compile morph data, add animation sets, merge animation sets, etc. , A Shader FX Tool for developing and testing HLSL Shaders And Network code for adding a multiplay dimension.
Why keep reinventing the wheel when there are greats tools out there that help... my 2c's |
|
|
|
|
sdw
Warrior
USA
160 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2004 : 5:50:19 PM
|
| Instead of taking time to learn someone else's wrapper you could take time to learn the API yourself, which will benefit you most. After you've learned the api you can do anything you could do with the wrapper, only more. If learning how to use DirectX is too difficult, then maybe making games isn't the thing for you. IMO wrappers limit what you're able to do with your game. |
|
|
|
VBBR
Moderator
Brazil
617 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2004 : 6:09:35 PM
|
| Not really. For example, R3D enables you to access the internal DX objects if you're using C++ or .NET. |
Whatever. Who knows... |
|
|
|
sdw
Warrior
USA
160 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2004 : 7:12:20 PM
|
| Why use a wrapper at all if you're using C++? I would think there'd be some speed issues there. |
|
|
Anyone uses Ogre 3D render engine in VB6 ?
