OpenGL - Whats Hot Whats Not?
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Ok, well I know I want to program OpenGL, I have experience in C++, I'm not sure how much I know in comparison to others, but I feel semi-confident. A while ago I was reading NeHe's, but I've been told multiple times that they are seriously outdated, so I was wondering what other good sites/online tutorials there are, preferably newer, or at least accurate. Its not just because they're free (although that is nice) but its also easyer to get help if your using them because fellow programmers like all you can look at the tutorial.
Keep in mind if you would I'm using VC++ 6 (yuck I know), but I'm on a budget here people!
Any help by anyone who ever knows slightly what their talking about would be great, thx in advance!
NeHe might be seriously outdated, but I have NEVER in the 3 years since I've seen it, seen anything that covers the ground those first 5 lessons cover any better (probably about your first week of tutorials).
Start at NeHe, and work from there for at least 2 days. If you ever feel you are not benifiting from it 2 sessions in a row ... look elsewhere (or after you get done with the lessons, whichever comes first).
Personally I've only done about 10 lessons of NeHes, cause I really just used it to give me the leg up I needed to be able to go out on my own. I really just use NeHe, Google, and the red book for my basic needs.
When you get more advanced than say basic OpenGL/3D concepts then post again :)
Start at NeHe, and work from there for at least 2 days. If you ever feel you are not benifiting from it 2 sessions in a row ... look elsewhere (or after you get done with the lessons, whichever comes first).
Personally I've only done about 10 lessons of NeHes, cause I really just used it to give me the leg up I needed to be able to go out on my own. I really just use NeHe, Google, and the red book for my basic needs.
When you get more advanced than say basic OpenGL/3D concepts then post again :)
Nehe isnt really outdated, there are some things that you dont need in there, as well as things that could be implemented much better, but i like to think that they are the way they are to teach better :-), anyone who's seen the quake 2 code knows that the readability of code is inversely porportional to how well it performs ;-)
hope that helps
-Dan
hope that helps
-Dan
The first several tutorials (first 10-15, maybe) and several others throughout the series are fairly decent. A lot of the later ones become somewhat questionable, though. As far as learning basic, it's a great resource -- but don't lean on NeHe too heavily, because you will get kicked.
Quote:
Keep in mind if you would I'm using VC++ 6 (yuck I know), but I'm on a budget here people!
Yuck!? You have VC++ and you say Yuck!?
Anyway, i second...or third, fourth...NeHe's. It's a great starting point! Outdated perhaps, but the basics remain about the same...
After you've chewed through the tutorials you feel are intressting enough, start scan around for other sites. Perhaps go to www.gametutorials.com and have a look at their Quake3 .bsp code? If that's not good enough, start searching for tutorials with GLSL. [smile] (ok, not too hasty, learn the basics first!)
Quote:Original post by Android_sQuote:
Keep in mind if you would I'm using VC++ 6 (yuck I know), but I'm on a budget here people!
Yuck!? You have VC++ and you say Yuck!?
Anyway, i second...or third, fourth...NeHe's. It's a great starting point! Outdated perhaps, but the basics remain about the same...
After you've chewed through the tutorials you feel are intressting enough, start scan around for other sites. Perhaps go to www.gametutorials.com and have a look at their Quake3 .bsp code? If that's not good enough, start searching for tutorials with GLSL. [smile] (ok, not too hasty, learn the basics first!)
No, he says Visual C++ 6 and says yuck ... I used that compiler professionally for over 2 years, and all I can say is - welcome Visual Studio 2003!
Not that VC6 doesn't work just fine for compiling most code that people use - it just has so many little annoying bugs ...
Quote:Original post by Android_s
Perhaps go to www.gametutorials.com and have a look at their Quake3 .bsp code?
I'm guessing you haven't actually been to www.gametutorials.com in a while. You might want to take another look.
They're charging $5 per tutorial for the better stuff?! That's bloody ridiculous considering that that material is definitely available elsewhere...
-Auron
-Auron
I would recommend the Red Book over everything else in the first case. It teaches the basics in a platform-agnostic way and focuses on principles and practise.
For reference the Blue Book is also a valuable resource.
The reason why I'd stay awy from any quick tutorials first is that most of them are pretty shallow (esp. if they focus on technical details, e.g source code) and IMHO focus on copy 'n paste code snippet fiddling. They are good once you have a good grasp of the fundamentals and want to get going with the implementation quickly, though.
Maybe it depends on the kind of person you are. From my experience it's better to know principles so that you can avoid subtle problems that might (and will!) occur with the implementation. On the other hand these (online) tutorials will help you to get immediate (visual) feedback...
Best of luck!
Pat.
For reference the Blue Book is also a valuable resource.
The reason why I'd stay awy from any quick tutorials first is that most of them are pretty shallow (esp. if they focus on technical details, e.g source code) and IMHO focus on copy 'n paste code snippet fiddling. They are good once you have a good grasp of the fundamentals and want to get going with the implementation quickly, though.
Maybe it depends on the kind of person you are. From my experience it's better to know principles so that you can avoid subtle problems that might (and will!) occur with the implementation. On the other hand these (online) tutorials will help you to get immediate (visual) feedback...
Best of luck!
Pat.
I agree with darookie. I oncetried to go through the Nehe path and I had a pretty little engine going on and then I realized I really had no idea what I was doing.
So I got me the Redbook and read through some math books and now I have a good understanding of everything I am doing.
So I got me the Redbook and read through some math books and now I have a good understanding of everything I am doing.
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