OpenGL download

I want to study OpenGL…but the only SDK that I can find on SGI website is OpenGL multipipe SDK. Is this what I need? Is openGL a SDK that I can install like DirectX installed?
Thanks for any help.

What operating system do you use? There is no SDK as such, just dll’s that come with (all or some?) Windows versions after Win95. There are also libraries and header files that come with VisualC++ 6 (and 5?). Most of us here use VC++. Borland’s compilers also come with the required files AFAIK. What compiler do you want to use?

It’s downloadable from www.microsoft.com or just goto www.opengl.org coding section to find the links.

V-man

the beauty of opengl is that there is no sdk. to use it, include the headers in your source and supply the libraries to your linker.

go to nehe.gamedev.net (which pretty much has become the standard website for beginners) to learn the basics of setting up opengl in various platforms.

Go to www.nvidia.com.

I have Windows 98 SE right now…and I’ll probably upgrade to 2000 later. I have VC++ 6.0 and I’m studying directX. But I want to learn both directX and opengl. Thank you for all the replies.

Howdy,

to cleear up an earlier question: that multi-pipe SDK is a infrastructure to help write CAVE-like VR software. You won’t need it to write OpenGL stuff.

cheers,
John

Originally posted by tessa:
I have Windows 98 SE right now…and I’ll probably upgrade to 2000 later. I have VC++ 6.0 …

In that case check your {Visual Studio dir}\VC98\include\GL folder for gl.h, glu.h and various other OpenGL related headers. Also check your {Visual Studio dir}\VC98\lib folder for Opengl32.lib & glu32.lib. That’s pretty much all you need to get started. You could also download GLUT (search opengl.org or google for a link) to help you get started.

Hope that helps.

What is the difference between OpenGL and DX?
Never fully understood.

Thanks,
Bauer

OpenGl is just graphics, DX is graphics with sound, networking, and other stuff (much bigger package). But you can of course combine them together (like it is done in QuakeIIIArena (for example)).

hope it helps

Ooops shame on me… Thanks for your help but my question was a bit wrong.
It should be “What is the difference between OpenGL and Direct3D.”

Sorry for the inconvenience…

Well, the main difference is that OpenGl is much smarter to use. A DX-Program is typically 2 to 3 times more API-Calls compared to using OpenGL. Biggest drawback of DX is that it is only available for Windooz. Never use DX where you can avoid it. Just use OpenGL and something like GLUT or SDL…

Hope that helps
CoBour

[This message has been edited by CoBour (edited 08-09-2001).]

Where can I find OpenGL 1.2 dlls and libs?

Novago,

There are no OpenGL 1.2 dlls/libraries for Windows because Micro$oftie doesn’t want to release them ( )

The only version available for Windows is 1.1 (which is probably already installed on your system, except when using Win95 OSR 1)

However, you can get full OGL 1.2 functionality by using extensions.
(have a look at the NeHe tutorials for more information about that)

[This message has been edited by richardve (edited 08-10-2001).]

Thanks alot for your help!

At which stage du you think is the best time to start with OpenGL/3D? Should I learn about 2d an more basic things first? Or should I skip all graphics for now and just focus on maths and do algorithms and such? And when I’m “done” with that jump onto graphics?

Plz help a lost soul =)

Bauer

A good way to learn this is to just start coding. Ive learned alot of mathematics while coding with OpenGL. I didnt know what a vector was untill I started playing with OpenGL. I’d still like to know more mathmatics. From what I’ve seen so far, the more mathmatics you know, the better a graphics programmer you’ll be. This, of course depends on how far you want to take it.

So just jump in a see what comes up.

Sean