Console graphic APIs
Hi, I'm in Computer Science at college and plan on doing game programming on the side, but hopefully persue it later as a career. After programming Java/C# for a while, I decided to get back into the game with C++. In a month or so, I should be ready enough to start DirectX or OpenGL. Can you tell me which consoles/systems support DirectX/OpenGL? I figure they support both, but I'm trying to get a rough idea. Thanks.
Welcome to the wonderfull world of console programming. Unfortunatly, unless you have a corporatly issued SDK, graphics progamming on any of the modern consoles is a pain in the butt.
Xbox and gamecube are restricted to software rendering right now, as far as I can tell.
The PS2 has a linux devkit, but it is hard to find, and severly crippled.
If you want to give your self a continuous migrane, consider programming for the Dreamcast. It actualy has a hardware accelerated graphics API, and a homebrew OpenGL layer for it.
I suggest sticking with PC's for now if you are into performace graphics. If you come up with something cool, you might be able to get on a devteam someday.
Xbox and gamecube are restricted to software rendering right now, as far as I can tell.
The PS2 has a linux devkit, but it is hard to find, and severly crippled.
If you want to give your self a continuous migrane, consider programming for the Dreamcast. It actualy has a hardware accelerated graphics API, and a homebrew OpenGL layer for it.
I suggest sticking with PC's for now if you are into performace graphics. If you come up with something cool, you might be able to get on a devteam someday.
Thanks for the response. Besides GBA emulators, I don't plan on programming for consoles at home. I'm just trying to get a rough idea of what graphics APIs each console system supports.
Oh, well, in that case...
The gamecube uses a proprietary library quite similar to OpenGL.
The xbox uses DX8.
The PS2 uses a low level poly pusher engine, but there are higher level libraries available.
The Dreamcast uses The PVR chip, and you can code directly to that, or use one of the many abstraction libraries.
The gamecube uses a proprietary library quite similar to OpenGL.
The xbox uses DX8.
The PS2 uses a low level poly pusher engine, but there are higher level libraries available.
The Dreamcast uses The PVR chip, and you can code directly to that, or use one of the many abstraction libraries.
The GBA has no hardware accelerated 3d. Sorry, but all you get is direct screen writes, and a few special rotation and scaling layers.
Well XBox and XBox360 do / will use DirectX and HLSL shading language
PS3 Will use its own version of OpenGL and Nvidia Cg.
At least HLSL and Cg are pretty much identical.
So, Gl or Dx? its up to you.
PS3 Will use its own version of OpenGL and Nvidia Cg.
At least HLSL and Cg are pretty much identical.
So, Gl or Dx? its up to you.
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