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Which 3D Engine to use?

To: REALbasic Games <realbasic-games at lists dot realsoftware dot com>
Subject: Which 3D Engine to use?
From: Michael Diehr <md03 at xochi dot com>
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 09:15:38 -0700
Delivered-to: listarchive at realsoftware dot com
Delivered-to: realbasic-games at lists dot realsoftware dot com
Hi All,

I've asked this question a few times before, but it appears to me that enough progress has been made on various fronts that it's reasonable to ask again.

I'm looking for advice on which 3D graphics engine/libraries to target.

My specific goals:

1. Basic 3D functions -- nothing fancy -- I'd like to do a slide show with nice cross-fading & Ken Burns style effects, and perhaps some basic 3D model rotation with simple lighting, and some 3D text.

2. Mac, Win, Linux support.

3. Easy install & small file size -- I'd like to have this be a simple drag & drop install on all platforms...I realize that's not feasible, but would still like to minimize the # and size of files installed. This makes me shy away from RB3D/Quesa support as it's another file/version/megabyte to worry about.

4. Maximal compatibility -- i'd like the 3d functions to "just work" on as many machines/OS combos as possible, w/o requiring end users to update their 3D drivers or hardware.

I'm leaning towards just using direct OpenGL declares, as that route seems to satisfy #1, #2, #3, though I'm not clear about Linux. I'm also not sure about #4 -- does RB3D/Quesa have some advantages for older machines (e.g. Mac OS 9?) and perhaps do a better job of falling back in compatibility modes (e.g. software rendering when no hardware is available?)

Any advice appreciated, thx!

-mike

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