18.2 OGRE 3D

OGRE is an acronym for Object-oriented Graphics Rendering Engine, and is a free, open-source 3D graphics SDK based on both OpenGL and DirectX. Using the various classes and functions of OGRE, programmers can easily and intuitively build fast-paced 3D games with a professional flair. The OGRE SDK is supported by a large and helpful community, complete with tutorials and documentation on how to use OGRE. The best way to begin programming with OGRE is to visit the OGRE home page (http://www.ogre3d.org/) and look around. Here there is a forum, a wiki, and a download area, as well as a project gallery exhibiting a range of products developed using OGRE 3D. It is also from this site that OGRE 3D can be downloaded.

Several packages must be downloaded from the site, depending on both how a programmer intends to use OGRE and on the IDE. OGRE contains a source package that is needed if a programmer is intending to compile the OGRE SDK from scratch. It also contains some precompiled binary packages (recommended), and these are set up to be used by two IDEs, specifically Visual Studio and Code::Blocks.

Note

To develop OGRE applications I recommend Code::Blocks.