OpenGL/Direct 3D

[poordevil]

What is the meaning of these two terms? I understand that they are references to video cards and how graphics are displayed,but that is about it.Do modern cards support both? Is one emerging as an industry standard over the other? Do game developers tend to support one over the other? Does one display better than the other?

I just came from a PC game board where this topic was being discussed,and I got the impression that no one really knew what they were talking about http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

[mjc]

OpenGL is:

OpenGL is the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. Since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API), bringing thousands of applications to a wide variety of computer platforms. OpenGL fosters innovation and speeds application development by incorporating a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects, and other powerful visualization functions. Developers can leverage the power of OpenGL across all popular desktop and workstation platforms, ensuring wide application deployment


Direct3D is:



Microsoft DirectX is an advanced suite of multimedia APIs (application programming interfaces) built into Microsoft Windows operating systems. DirectX provides a standard development platform for Windows-based PCs by enabling software developers to access specialized hardware features without having to write hardware-specific code. DirectX was first introduced in 1995 and is a recognized standard for multimedia application development on the Windows platform.



Most cards support both (at least with some versions of the drivers or GL specific dirvers are available for many cards)

Neither is an "emerging" standard, both have been around for several years, and the GL standard is probably on the way (as far as a Windows environment is concerned..._

And since Direct3D is the MS standard and most game developers want their products to sell (and sell alot of them), and the vast majority of computers in home use are Windows based machines, they tend to support Direct3D over other formats...

On a good high quality modern card they both offer pretty amazing results...in certain games one can be faster/better than the other but overall they are about the same (picture quality)....


Notice in the above I said Windows environment...OpenGL can be used in just about any OS that can be run on a computer...so it can definitely beat out one that can run only in Windows..(not just home use.....)

OpenGL (http://www.opengl.org/)
DirectX (http://www.microsoft.com/directx/default.asp) (part of which is Direct3D)

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mjc
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