D3D vs OpenGL

[jakobkraft]

I'm sure people have asked this before, but it's a slow day at work and someone threw Q2 on the server and everyone's in frag heaven. And god help me, an imaging temp not long ago yelled, "OpenGl rocks!"

Whatever.

But I became curious as to the differences between the two, and what most people prefer their games be rendered in. Thoughts?

 

[RSMemphis]

Whatever the native base of the engine is. OpenGL for Half-Life and UT, DirectX for a lot of the current games...

OpenGL has a little bit of an underdog image these days (funny, since DirectX and Direct3D used to be laughed at)...
Graphics wise, I think good DirectX looks better than good OpenGL these days. But YMMV...

 

[jakobkraft]

That's really interesting that OpenGL has an underdog image nowadays, I guess I generally though it to be superior for games, graphic-wise. But I suppose I haven't seen-as you said-GOOD Direct X.

Although Sacrifice is D3D, and is one of the most stunning games I've ever played.

 

[Superwormy]

Direct3D superior for games... maybe...

Direct3D superior for any real applications (3d modeling stuff, Maya3D, Softimage, 3DsMax) OpenGL rules.

 

[singh]

They're both interfaces to the Hardware. That means that their performance will be pretty much the same. Programmers prefer one or the other based on how they like to code. Personally, I find D3D code to be 'messy' compared to OpenGL. But then again, I haven't messed around w/ D3D since DX6 and I hear DX8 has vastly improved the programming interface.

 

[RSMemphis]

Originally posted by: singh
They're both interfaces to the Hardware. That means that their performance will be pretty much the same. Programmers prefer one or the other based on how they like to code. Personally, I find D3D code to be 'messy' compared to OpenGL. But then again, I haven't messed around w/ D3D since DX6 and I hear DX8 has vastly improved the programming interface.

Hee hee hee, true, true, DX6 was rather yucky. The DirectInput libraries back then were all "release" - even the "debug libraries"... A lot of people all of a sudden had compiling problems when the debug libraries finally came out. LOL!

DirectX 7 was already a huge step up, and 8 is indeed quite nice.
I actually find OpenGL more convoluted these days. But that's entirely a matter of taste.


Superwormy: yes, indeed, for anything CAD or similar, OpenGL is the only feasible standard for graphics programming. But I don't think DirectX tries to compete in that market.

 

[TNTrulez]

To tell the truth I don't see the difference between opengl and D3D when playing CS. I just set it to opengl because I heard that's better for that engine but really when I switch to d3d I see no change.

 

[Rand]

Whatever the native API for the application/game engine is- that's what is best.

DX8 is a bit more flexible for gaming features then is the current version of OpenGL, so I'd probably give it a slightly edge on preference for games.
DX has improved incredibly over the various iterations and it quite a decent match for OpenGL now.

OpenGL is definitely the only viable option for any Pro3D rendering apps though, DX has never tried for that market however so it's to be expected.