"When DirectX 10 rocks your PC with the release of Windows Vista early next year, it will come courtesy of a trio of forces: The graphics card companies obviously play a huge role, as do the game developers, but DirectX is Microsoft's baby. Ultimately it is up to Microsoft engineers to work together with IHVs and game developers to define the API. We managed to sneak some time into the busy schedules of two key Microsofties to find out what makes DX10 tick, and why they think you're going to want to migrate to a DX10-capable computer for the best experience the PC has to offer."
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Member since:2005-06-30
Well, OpenGL isn't exactly dead. However, you have to realise that OpenGL is developed by a consortium (the OpenGL ARB) while the development on DirectX is pretty much lead by Microsoft. It's easier for a manufacturer to push up their ideas to a single vendor than discussing and making compromises with a group. A Microsoft OS is running on most desktop/gamer machines today... They have the power to create demand, which makes their hardware partners happy.
At the same time, DirectX is an API covering most multimedia peripherals while OpenGL merely deals with graphics. Thus, game developers using DX don't have to learn and live with the quirks of many different APIs. SDL is an interesting alternative, but it doesn't have any serious backing.
Member since:2005-07-06
Uh, what exactly are you talking about? OpenGL is more vital now than it has been in a long time, and its been doing an excellent job of keeping up with Direct 3D. Both have had five major releases (DirectX 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and OpenGL 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, and 2.0), and both have rough feature-parity, with support for a highly programmable pipeline with high-level shading languages.
It may seem like OpenGL progresses mor slowly, because the ARB doesn't do minor releases like Microsoft does, but support for new hardware features is added via OpenGL extensions in a very prompt manner. And while the use of such extensions may require vendor-specific code, in practice this is managable because ATI and NVIDIA are pretty much the only games in town, and they tend to keep their OpenGL extensions largely similar. At the same time, uneven support for the various "shader models" in NVIDIA and ATI hardware result in hardware-specific paths for D3D as well.
As for Carmack being on the DirectX camp, since when? Doom III is still written in OpenGL. Carmack's remarked that Microsoft's dev tools for the 360 are better than Sony's dev tools for the PS3, but that's a seperate issue.
The second post on this thread has some very god snippets from interviews with game developers regarding D3D versus OpenGL:
http://www.genesis3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1005331&forum=9&...
IMHO, OpenGL is still a better designed API. While DirectX has always been one of Microsoft's more sanely designed APIs, it still doesn't have the simplicity and elegence of OpenGL.
In all, now is a better time for OpenGL than it ever has been. It's making serious headway into the gaming market. OpenGL ES will be the primary 3D API on the PS3. The Gamecube already uses an API very similar to OpenGL, and the Wii will likely follow suit. OpenGL now has a very big and successful proponent in the form of NVIDIA, and continues to own the professional 3D market. Over the next few years, OpenGL's market-share in the gaming market is going to grow, if only for the PS3, while it is unlikely that Direct3D's marketshare in the professional market will rise above its current trivial levels.
Member since:
2006-03-15
I remember back in 95-96, John Carmack, of id fame, wrote an article about the superior architecture of OpenGL and dismissed DirectX as some kind of Microsoft toy. It is sad to see that since then, there has been very little progress in the development of OpenGL (rip SGI) while DirectX has grown by leaps and bounds. Microsoft has eventually "got it right" with Direct X and I believe even John Carmack is now squarely in the DirectX camp (something noone would have believed 10 years ago.) I am glad that DirectX is good, but it sure would have been great if OpenGL was still alive and kicking to give Microsoft serious competition. With the up comming release of DirectX 10, the dream of cross-platform games just died a little more.