DirectX going down?

Fredricomo · 2001-04-03T22:20:27

I''ve heard that as time is passing that DirectX is slowly going down and OpenGL is being used more often in games that are being sold. Since there are some professional game programmers out there I would like your opinions. Do you think that Microsoft''s DirectX isn''t going to be good and that companies will be wanting programmers that program in OGL instead in the near future? I want to be a game programmer, and I don''t want to go somewhere that is going to come to a dead end soon. Thanks for your input

Graphics and GPU Programming Programming

Started by Fredricomo March 20, 2001 05:16 PM

33 comments, last by Fredricomo 23 years ago

Anonymous

April 02, 2001 01:20 PM

I work for a research and development company as a low level graphics programmer..we have several talented people on staff, and we have developed professional products for military and commercial use..

All of our programmers have experience with both OpenGL and Direct3D, and we have no problem using either one of them when the product demands it..BUT

, there is not one programmer here that actually prefers Direct3D over OpenGL..

As a professional development company, we''ll use whatever it takes to deliver the product according to the customer''s wishes.

As individual programmers, everyone here(myself included) prefers OpenGL..

I have worked with the latest version of Direct3D, in fact, I have recently done D3D driver level work for a major video card vendor, and I can promise you that even though D3D has gotten better, it still does not come close to the flexibility and ease of use that you''ll find with OpenGL..

As a professional, I would advise that you stay up to date as much as possible with both api''s..As a game programmer, I can guarantee that you will learn OpenGL much faster than you will D3D, and have more time to get into other things, like AI, sound, etc.

The api is a tool, a means to an end..in my spare time at home, when I''m just experimenting, I don''t waste time with D3D because(and I speak from experience), I spend more time wrestling with the api than I do working on the actual application I''m writing..well, not really, but you get the idea..

To answer your question(from my experience), learn OpenGL, but keep an eye out for what''s going on in D3D..

BTW My apologies to all for being Anon, I can''t officially represent my company''s position on this, just keeping myself covered

merlin9x9

174

April 03, 2001 11:16 AM

Right on, brother.

SGreth

218

April 03, 2001 09:08 PM

Right now I''m just in the ''hobby'' phase, meaning I''m working at a real job full time, then I come home and code until I''m cross-eye''d. I don''t have the time, or the energy to dink around with API''s. I want results that I can have something to show for. OpenGL definately provides to me that avenue. How many hundreds (thousands?) of demos are on nehe''s site, gamedev, and on the web in general? I can''t really say that I see an over abundance of d3d "demo''s" that people just crank up in a couple of hours. Perhaps I''m not looking hard enough for them, nonetheless (sp?) I''ll have to agree with the anonymous sage that knowing both API''s is definatey a check mark in the plus column, but when it comes down to productivity, ease of use, and personal preference, I''ll take what''s behind door number 1 (hint...hint, it''s OpenGL).

~S''Greth

"The difference between insanity and genius is measured only by success."~Bruce Feirstein

Cyberdrek

100

April 03, 2001 10:01 PM

quote:Original post by grahamr

No it doesn''t. DirectX can be used or OpenGL. It up to you. I think a lot of people confuse DirectX with Direct3D. There is a lot more to DX than D3D. Games like Q3A use a lot of DX (input, sound, etc.) and use OpenGL as their rendering platform.

Hmmm... Isn''t it weird, DirectX is the name for the whole API not just one part of it. I think you''re the one that''s screwed. You seem to think DDraw when you see DX.

quote:
No, he never said that. He said that as a games platform Linux has a long way to go before it gains popularity the Windows has now. However (there''s always a however) most companies now write game servers for both Linux and Win32.

Actually, Linux is one hell of a coding machine for OGL apps. Most distros when installed for Programming will have support for OGL.

quote:
That is a meaningless statement. The basis of an argument is you put forward points to support your viewpoint.

Oh, shut up.

quote:
Fine keep your head in the sand.

hmmm... and this is a point to support your viewpoint?

quote:
Well were on GameDev.Net you know? Also the reason DX is popular is because the only alternative is to write handlers for every type of joystick, graphics card, sound card, monitor, modem, and network card out there. Get reasonable! When the 3DFX first came out OpenGL was the confined largely to mainframes. The 3DFX technology was for cheap and fast 3D which was designed to blit polygons. It wasn''t designed for OpenGL and probably wasn''t a factor in its design. When it came out it Win95 had just been released though a lot of companies (Bullfrog for instance) were still writing and releasing games in DOS. There was even support for GLIDE in DOS. Also if I remember correctly, D3D wasn''t in the first few releases of DX (though I could be wrong).

To put this simple. OGL was used to create alot of apps you used back in the time when windows was just starting up. Think about most CAD programs. For the most part, they were made with OGL so stop your saying that OGL was used on MAINFRAMES. On a MAINFRAME, you don''t have any graphics capabilities.

quote:
Final words: I agree TCS. Learn both.

Isn''t that what people have been saying since the beginning on this board.. Read the thread...

"That''s the bottom line cause I said so"

Cyberdrek
Headhunter Soft
A division of DLC Multimedia

Resist Windows XP''s Invasive Product Activation Technology!