timurka
April 28th, 2004, 08:47 AM
I am a newbie in a graphics programming (also in English). I have learnt some basics of OpenGL.
But i have to make a choice: what is better- Direct3D or OpenGL?
This includes:
+Easy usage
+Lots of features
+Performance
+Usage frequency
+Personal opinions
Please, send your opinions. All of them will be carefully read.
Marc G
April 28th, 2004, 11:05 AM
It all depends on what you want to do.
Do you want to make games, or do you want to make workstation 3D software? Should it run on multiple platforms or only on Windows?
Easy usage:
Programing with DirectX9 has got a whole lot easier than back in the days of DirectX3.
Basic OpenGl is also pretty straightforward, but doing more complex things can become difficult.
In my opinion OpenGL 1.x versions have some major drawbacks. One of them is the use of "extensions". You have to choose which extension you can use depending on the kind of graphics card in the system. So you have to do different things on an NVidia card than on an ATI card.
I know they are working on OpenGL 2.0, but it still not out and they are already working for several years on it :(
Lots of features:
They both have lots of features, but I have the feeling that DirectX exposes more of the available hardware than OpenGL.
Performance:
Both can be pretty performant.
Usage frequency:
DirectX is used in almost 100% of the new games.
OpenGL is used when you're program has to run on multiple platforms.
Personal opinions:
OpenGL if you need to run on multiple platforms, DirectX otherwise. DirectX is more uptodate than OpenGL 1.x.