Hello all,

I am creating a 3D game engine, and I am trying to decide if I should use triangles or squares to create the world
My idea was to create the whole world out of small triangles, but group them together into one bigger triangles whenever possible.

I am not sure if this is a good idea, but good article links would be appreciated

Thanks

Alright, and would triangles be better for collision as well?

I think most physics libs expect triangles, so yes

Ahh I see... What I was thinking about doing is just grouping triangles into bigger triangles, but I didn't think about other shapes... thanks for the tip!
Would it be a good idea to group the triangles into convex shapes (with unlimited points) when say, the map is saved?

Alright, so I suppose bullet would be the best way to go eh?
Yes. the plan was to have physics and graphics all separate, and in the map editor, will be able to edit hitboxes on top of the graphics and such

EDIT:
err.. last question -- would squares be best for graphics? or triangles?

[quote name='strongdrink' timestamp='1323449749' post='4892240']
Alright, so I suppose bullet would be the best way to go eh?
Yes. the plan was to have physics and graphics all separate, and in the map editor, will be able to edit hitboxes on top of the graphics and such

EDIT:
err.. last question -- would squares be best for graphics? or triangles?

I would have to agree with the above (the one above yours) reply that triangles are better. Square = 2 right triangles. Also your question is a bit vague, what do you mean by graphics? Usually in computer graphics, graphics are the ins and outs of a pipeline that is responsible for rendering. Rending itself is usually separated into shading and compositing. Do you mean triangles are better for shading or compositing? Further more, even with a pipeline, there are three types "render-er" in general: OpenGL / DirectX, REYES and Ray-tracer. Which one you do you mean? Even with such diversity, triangle is probably your best bet since you really are doing minimal work. I do want to point out that, Ray-tracer usually have the entire scene there during rendering and thus making everything as triangles may not be as efficient. However, on OpenGL / DirectX, each polygons are rendered one at a time and thus triangles may offer the upper hand.

CXD
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Yes, I meant which would be the best to render with. Alright, thanks everyone, I believe my questions have been answered