Irrlicht vs Ogre

[Robomaniac]

Still, for sheer size and quality of terrain, i'd go with ogre if u have experience

There are about 3-5 terrain scene managers all with nice features. All have LOD, detail textures, and the likes. Special managers have paging support, vertex program lod morphing, texture splatting, etc. Very nice.

Basically, in my opinion

If you don't have game, graphics, or c++ experience, or just want to quickly prototype and idea, use Irrlicht.

If you have game, graphics, and c++ experience, use ogre. Its faster, and is more feature rich then irrlicht.

just my opinion though

[Sean Doherty]

Robomaniac,

In OGRE is it even possible to get a 3DS or .X file into the engine. My understanding is that you have to use a plugin to same the model to a mesh file. However, if you use gameSpace there are no OGRE plugins?

[Oz]

If you don't have game, graphics, or c++ experience, or just want to quickly prototype and idea, use Irrlicht.

BAM! I think you hit the nail on the head, there buddy.
Still, im going to have to go look at OGRE again now. *whistle*

[Robomaniac]

Sean: no, you have to export to Ogre mesh, and no, there isn't a gameSpace plugin, but then again, i've never heard of gameSpace before

[Electron]

Calagiri's game-specific modeler. Free version with .x export, though polys quite limited on free version. I consider ogre's restriction of certain modelers to use one of it's annoying points, though I've never used it beyond compiling osme of the samples, so i can't comment on much else about it (besides that it's large and complex)

[Robomaniac]

Export it to .X import it to milkshape, export to ogre

[Oz (Not logged in)]

BTW
Dont forget to resave the X mesh with mview (A directX SDK tool) or it may not work in IrrLicht.

[Sean Doherty]

BTW
Dont forget to resave the X mesh with mview (A directX SDK tool) or it may not work in IrrLicht.

Why, what is the problem?

[Sean Doherty]

Calagiri's game-specific modeler. Free version with .x export, though polys quite limited on free version. I consider ogre's restriction of certain modelers to use one of it's annoying points, though I've never used it beyond compiling osme of the samples, so i can't comment on much else about it (besides that it's large and complex)

I have the full version.

[Sean Doherty]

At present, I am using the Truevision 6.5 beta. So far I have been pretty impressed and the support is far beyond anything I have ever seen. For the most part, you can have your questions answered in real-time by the developers of the product using their real-time chat.

I have to say that one of the low points about Irrlicht and and OGRE is the activity of the community. Now before you come at me with a pitch fork, I have done a far amount of research to backup this statement. Generally, there are to many unanswered questions, or answers that just gently bump you in the right direction by both forums. That said, the OGRE forum is more active of the two. However, I find OGRE less open to new people who and they generally expect people to read though the source code prior to asking questions.

Also, I don't subscribe to the belief that just because the project is open source that should be the answer to every question. In fact, I believe that engines should be documented to the point where you only need to read the source code to implement a new features.

I see pitch forks!

[bal]

BTW
Dont forget to resave the X mesh with mview (A directX SDK tool) or it may not work in IrrLicht.

Why, what is the problem?

Irrlicht wants the ASCII MView version . Seems like there are different ASCII .X file syntaxes.

[Oz (not logged in again)]

@bal
Thanks for the explanation

@sean
The reason the two communities are fairly inactive is cause no-one pays us to help I think! Still I think we are all lucky beggers, however you see it.

Just my 0.2c

[Electron]

I have to say that one of the low points about Irrlicht and and OGRE is the activity of the community. Now before you come at me with a pitch fork, I have done a far amount of research to backup this statement. Generally, there are to many unanswered questions, or answers that just gently bump you in the right direction by both forums. That said, the OGRE forum is more active of the two. However, I find them less open to new people who are unwilling to read though the source code to understand that to do.

Also, I don't subscribe to the belief that just because the project is open source that should be the answer to every question. In fact, I believe that engines should be documented to the point where you only need to read the source code to implement a new features.
I see pitch forks!

hmm. I think that may be the first time I've heard Irrlicht accused of not being newbie friendly. Ogre and Irrlicht are two of the most popular open-source 3D engines and I find the irrlicht forums quite active (Ididn't try Ogre long enough to get a good feel for their forums so I can't comment there). The only other forums I spend much time on besides Irrlicht's are those of Newton Game Dynamics. I assure you that those forums are much less active. I for one have no problem with irrlicht's level of activity.

Now for being not open to people who don't want to study the source:
I'm sorry if you find it that way. When i first joined I found the forums to be quite helpful. Post any basic questuions about the engine on the beginners forum and I'll do my best to answer them.

[Sean Doherty]

@sean
The reason the two communities are fairly inactive is cause no-one pays us to help I think! Still I think we are all lucky beggers, however you see it.

Just my 0.2c

Oz,

I agree with your comment and I think that is most likely the problem with Open Source Engines in general. Generally, speaking I don't believe in Open Source; sure it would be great if we could all work on exactly what we want and we didn't have to worry about money. However, until we catch up with a Star Trek like society that is not the case. Therefore, I actually prefer products that are not free.

I think it is important for the creator of the product to be properly compensated or they will eventually loose interest in what they are doing. I now that there are a number of people who think all software should be open source and free; but I don't see how you can make a living by developing free software.

Also, it is extremely important for independent game developers, people who make their living from game development, to use products that are well supported. Moreover, there needs to be someone accountable for fixing the bugs in these products; it is not enough for the product to be free.

If you look at the a number of open source engines, the initial creators often stop working on the products because there was no ROI in developing a free product. Many times, they get a job inside the commercial game industry or they start the next next version of there engines, usually this time targeted at the commercial audience.

My comments aside, I still think it is important for free versions of to exist for people who cannot afford to purchase the commercial version. However, you should have to registry the engine to remove the water make and release your game for sale.

Lastly, not everyone using Irrlicht or OGRE is a baggers; both engines offer some good features for independent developers who don't want to roll their own engine.

[Sean Doherty]

Electron,

That was a typing mistake. I find Irrlicht to be newbie friendly; OGRE not so much.

Sorry

PS: I edited my post above to reflect.