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macOS OpenGL where to start?
- Thread starter seriypshick
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I found the book OpenGL: A Primer to be a good introduction to the subject. I starts off with the most simple thing (drawing a white square on the screen) and progresses slowly from there, introducing new OpenGL calls and techniques as they are used. This is not a comprehensive OpenGL book, but it actually covers quite a bit, enough to keep you busy for a while. The code is also all non-platform-specific. There are a few quirks your need to discover when using OpenGL with Cocoa, but I didn't have a problem using it on a Mac.
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you specifically want to read the red book and blue book at
http://www.opengl.org/documentation/red_book_1.0/
and
http://www.opengl.org/documentation/blue_book_1.0/
A lot of developers (including me) learned OpenGL from the NeHe tutorials (but read the books anyway)
http://nehe.gamedev.net/
Depending on your needs you may also decide to spare yourself the trouble of learning OpenGL and use a 3D engine which may simplify development. A lot are free but quality varies. I can't really recomend which engine would best suit you.
http://www.3dengines.net/
http://www.opengl.org/documentation/red_book_1.0/
and
http://www.opengl.org/documentation/blue_book_1.0/
A lot of developers (including me) learned OpenGL from the NeHe tutorials (but read the books anyway)
http://nehe.gamedev.net/
Depending on your needs you may also decide to spare yourself the trouble of learning OpenGL and use a 3D engine which may simplify development. A lot are free but quality varies. I can't really recomend which engine would best suit you.
http://www.3dengines.net/
There are also some third party 3-d engines listed on Apple's software site here
For example Unity which looks really interesting ($249 but there is a demo) as a game IDE.
and Torque which is cheaper ($100) but the licensing seems more restrictive for that price and it seems more of an SDK than a development environment.
For example Unity which looks really interesting ($249 but there is a demo) as a game IDE.
and Torque which is cheaper ($100) but the licensing seems more restrictive for that price and it seems more of an SDK than a development environment.
isgoed said:
i agree, red book and blue are important. once you read a bit of the books, your see a lot of people on nehe.gamedev.net have read that same books as well.
GLUT can help you out.
GLUT Tutorial
That tutorial will guide you through all the basics. Sticking shapes on the screen, text, input from keyboard. You can build on from there. You should be able to write a simple game like Pong using just what you learnt in that tutorial.
GLUT Tutorial
That tutorial will guide you through all the basics. Sticking shapes on the screen, text, input from keyboard. You can build on from there. You should be able to write a simple game like Pong using just what you learnt in that tutorial.