For an experienced c++ programmer and complete game dev beginner, should I learn DirectX or Ogre3D. people ask this question already, and it seems answer depends on my goal. My goal is not to use Unity rapidly making a game without programming. My goal is really to practise graphics programming with C++ and learn cool programming techniques, which can be used in other software development areas, and meanwhile making my own game.

thanks very much

I would recommend to go for DirectX as you can learn many graphic techniques, there are tons of "gems" (you know what I mean) out there that use DX as their primary support code. Even the "god" John Carmack said that DX has matured to the point where it's now a better API than OGL as it handles multi-threading and state much better and now with the new shader model 5 it's starting to rock hard!

You're asking a strange question because you're mixing different libraries and terminologies here... learn direct3D (not really the other DX libraries, unless you want to) if you want to do more hands-on graphics programming at a lower level. On the other hand, as a rendering engine, Ogre will still have you dealing with graphics math, but usually on a higher level (it wraps D3D and OpenGL functionality for you). This may give you less experience with graphics but will likely provide more experience in dealing with game programming, dealing with scene graphs, engine structure, and so on. Either way, if you want to make a game you will still require additional libraries for other functionality, such as sound and input. You can easily mix DirectX libraries with Ogre, too.

Learn both - they'll teach you different aspects of graphics and game development.

thank you very much!

You're asking a strange question because you're mixing different libraries and terminologies here... learn direct3D (not really the other DX libraries, unless you want to) if you want to do more hands-on graphics programming at a lower level. On the other hand, as a rendering engine, Ogre will still have you dealing with graphics math, but usually on a higher level (it wraps D3D and OpenGL functionality for you). This may give you less experience with graphics but will likely provide more experience in dealing with game programming, dealing with scene graphs, engine structure, and so on. Either way, if you want to make a game you will still require additional libraries for other functionality, such as sound and input. You can easily mix DirectX libraries with Ogre, too.

Learn both - they'll teach you different aspects of graphics and game development.

thank you very much!

Why limit yourself? Try both and see from first hand experience which you enjoy using more. Having several tools you can utilize as a programmer, will ultimately make you more effective for a wide range of projects. If you're experienced in C++, you should have no trouble picking up either.

If you want to practice graphics programming, why not try OpenGL?

thank you very much!

I would recommend to go for DirectX as you can learn many graphic techniques, there are tons of "gems" (you know what I mean) out there that use DX as their primary support code. Even the "god" John Carmack said that DX has matured to the point where it's now a better API than OGL as it handles multi-threading and state much better and now with the new shader model 5 it's starting to rock hard!