3 ms·

Like it or not, the answer is probably OpenGL. If you go with version 3.3 (a good choice in my opinion) and then it's really only a few function calls and you'r

by jleahy 6y ago

Like it or not, the answer is probably OpenGL. If you go with version 3.3 (a good choice in my opinion) and then it's really only a few function calls and you're submitting vertices, and it's going to be supported on any platform. Use glfw and you don't need to worry about platform stuff (creating windows is a pain otherwise). Counting the lines of a renderer I have lying around it's 300 lines (including much whitespace). That's very full functioned, it correctly positions the window in the center of the monitor, handles errors properly, takes mouse and keyboard input, sets up the view/projection matrices, uses shaders, etc.

phendrenad2 6y ago
Agreed. And despite being "deprecated", the "fixed-function" OpenGL 1.x API is still implemented on all major platforms (for now?), and it's even more high-level (although your graphics may look somewhat dated). Plus you can mix/match API levels (I think), so you can start with 1.x and move some things to 3.x/4.x style OpenGL when you need shaders. I wish Vulkan wasn't a huge steep learning cliff in comparison.
- jleahy 6y ago
  It'll be there forever (compatibility), but the problem is there's not a lot of overlap between 1.x and 3.x/4.x. I think people are better sticking to the 3.x core profile. Shaders just aren't that hard and fixed function is a really outdated way of thinking. Generally I'd also say stick with 3.x (rather than 4.x) unless you need tesselation shaders.
  - moron4hire 6y ago
    I believe with the latest versions of the APIs, the fixed function pipeline stuff is now emulated in the programmable pipeline, but the two don't mesh well, so you end up with particularly bad performance. I've had to find and install the old DX9 runtime to get some older games to run at reasonable frame rate.
- iainmerrick 6y ago
  Not Android and iOS (edit to add: and web!) if you consider those major platforms for your purposes. There you need OpenGL ES which doesn’t include the fixed-function pipeline.
jleahy 6y ago
And just for you, I pulled some very ancient code of mine (2012) and stripped it down enough so that it renders a single triangle (and you can move around), nothing more. https://github.com/jleahy/gldemo https://github.com/jleahy/gldemo That's a full OpenGL setup, with all the fiddly bits taken care of. Obviously it's a bit over the top (you don't need vertex buffer region management for one triangle), you don't need SIMD matmul, but that's the maximum. You could port that to any language with OpenGL bindings.

by jleahy 6y ago

phendrenad2 6y ago

Agreed. And despite being "deprecated", the "fixed-function" OpenGL 1.x API is still implemented on all major platforms (for now?), and it's even more high-level (although your graphics may look somewhat dated). Plus you can mix/match API levels (I think), so you can start with 1.x and move some things to 3.x/4.x style OpenGL when you need shaders. I wish Vulkan wasn't a huge steep learning cliff in comparison.

jleahy 6y ago
It'll be there forever (compatibility), but the problem is there's not a lot of overlap between 1.x and 3.x/4.x. I think people are better sticking to the 3.x core profile. Shaders just aren't that hard and fixed function is a really outdated way of thinking. Generally I'd also say stick with 3.x (rather than 4.x) unless you need tesselation shaders.
- moron4hire 6y ago
  I believe with the latest versions of the APIs, the fixed function pipeline stuff is now emulated in the programmable pipeline, but the two don't mesh well, so you end up with particularly bad performance. I've had to find and install the old DX9 runtime to get some older games to run at reasonable frame rate.
iainmerrick 6y ago
Not Android and iOS (edit to add: and web!) if you consider those major platforms for your purposes. There you need OpenGL ES which doesn’t include the fixed-function pipeline.

jleahy 6y ago

And just for you, I pulled some very ancient code of mine (2012) and stripped it down enough so that it renders a single triangle (and you can move around), nothing more. https://github.com/jleahy/gldemo https://github.com/jleahy/gldemo That's a full OpenGL setup, with all the fiddly bits taken care of. Obviously it's a bit over the top (you don't need vertex buffer region management for one triangle), you don't need SIMD matmul, but that's the maximum. You could port that to any language with OpenGL bindings.