I am searching for a framework(preferably c++, but i can learn other languages too) for my application. I will write what i need:
Borderless window(no buttons,frames etc.)
Real time 3d model rendering(or at least easy way to show 2d animation made from 3d model)
Cross-platform support(not mandatory)
If there is any other details you need to know, please tell me.
Thanks in advance.
Xojo will also do what you want. It creates Windows, OS X and Linux desktop apps and has built-in support for OpenGL.
http://www.xojo.com
One of the best cross-platform Gui-Frameworks for C++ is Qt. It can do 3d-stuff using OpenGL too. However, if you only need a plain window without any controls you may want to look into the next OpenGL tutorial for some infos.
I recommend Unity.
It works in Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. (Furthermore in some game consoles.)
Its support languages are C#, boo and js.
C# is like C++ and easy to learn.
Related
I'm not very familiar with Linux, but have some experience with C and C++. I would like to get in touch with some Visual FX and/or UI development (either C or C++). I was wondering if there is a possibility to access the GUI elements of the Desktop on Ubuntu's Unity UI.
What I especially would like to do, is to render animations on the desktop or windows or all over the screen. (particle effects when clicking with the mouse or so).
Can anyone point me in the right direction? (Libraries, Documents, ...)
I think Desktop Effects have to be designed specific for the corresponding Window Manager.
I think unity uses (some sort of) compiz, so you should look into compiz plugin development.
A lot of "i thinks" so i am not really sure if that'll help you, but good luck.
You want to learn a lot more about GTK. There are lot of documentation on line (and some books also). You might code in C++ using GtkMM (but you could consider Qt also). GTK itself is coded in C, with well designed coding style and convention. Looking inside its source code is worthwhile.
I have some knowledge in C/C++ but only using the Console. I'd like to start programming some graphical interfaces, but I don't have the minimal idea where to start.
I've heard of GUI applications and DirectX applications. I'd like to know which is the best for start programming?
Which libraries also is good to use and some tutorials if possible.
What's your platform?
If you only care about Windows and don't mind an outdated technology, you can go to MFC way.
If you want a cross-platform GUI toolkit; there are several:
GTK
WxWidget
Qt
If you want something more about drawing, instead of boring GUI forms; then you can learn either:
OpenGL (cross-platform)
DirectX (Windows-only)
For simple uses, and if you're in Windows, you can use GDI+, which is also rather outdated.
Newer .NET platforms have GUI technologies with fancy names, though I'm not quite acquaintanced with them to suggest anything.
If you're using Windows 7, please take a look at the excellent Hilo series of tutorials for developing rich UI applications in C++. You may also find that this is a good excuse to begin learning C#/.NET, as GUI development is especially easy to do in it.
If you are on windows the best way to learn is use C++ Builder.
Embarcadaro ( or whatever ) offers a free version if you want. Just google C++ Builder.
If you're on Windows, go for Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). Don't loose time on those traditional GUI-Toolkits, they are past. The present (don't dare to tell about future) are declarative, highly customizable 2D/3D/Multimedia integrated environments, such as WPF.
What is a cross-platform C++ GUI framework that has good skinning ability?
So I could (and give the users) the ability to customise the GUI.
The Qt framework allows for changing the appearance of widgets using style sheets (using css). See: http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-5.0/qtwidgets/stylesheet.html.
EDIT: As you're looking for something like wxSkin, first why not use it in the first place?
Then, if you don't want to use wxSkin, have a look at Juce. Qt's goal is definitely not themeable GUIs although windows masks and stylesheets are a way to implement them. There is the QSkingObject project on Qt-Apps.org but last time I checked it I found that the quality of the code was poor (of course this is subjective and argumentative).
You can have a look at Juce which has a dual license: GPL and commercial.
Qt (LGPL) has stylesheets to style the widgets, but it still let the operating system draw the windows decorations unless you instruct it to draw frameless windows and draw the decorations by yourself.
However, think twice before going the skinned application route. A typical example is Songbird (written in XUL) which used frameless windows and painted its own titlebar and windows buttons. Then they back-pedaled and switch back to system windows decorations after many users complained.
Qt has convenient support for that with Qt style sheets et al. The Qt labs blog had an example post that might give you an idea.
As other say, Qt's stylesheets work well.
You also have the option to customize the drawing in Qt by overriding QStyle. You could allow users to use plugins (exporting a QStyle implementation) to make it super-customizable.
(Then, I don't know if your users are C++ coders or not...)
I've used Juce (compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac OS X) in the past and it has a LookAndFeel class (gotta love the name) that allows you to do that.
I'd have to vote for XULRunner because it's extremely skinnable. However, it's not pure C++: application code is written in JavaScript while extensions can be implemented as C++ XPCOM components.
As you know, many programs are written in C++.
Some of these have fancy GUI with non-classical-Windows style ( think to Photoshop, 3ds max, maya etc )..now my question is: how are they done? In pure Win32 API? MFC? DirectX/OpenGL? or other?
I can reach similar results with C#/WPF but how can I do it in C++?
Read Programming Windows by Petzold
In my experience, it seems to be the most practical way to learn Win32 programming.
If you care about cool effects, Petzold can definitely help you. After you're somewhat familiar with win32, you can skip to the chapter in Petzold to bitblt'ng and doing animation. I had to do some fancy animated graphs in a win32 app once, and I pretty much used Petzold (and some MSDN) as my primary reference.
It really depends on the application and the team that made it. So the answer is all of the above. If you see them doing something that looks off-beat and it looks the same on both windows and mac (assuming its cross platform) they have probably built their own GUI engine. Doing that lets them do custom things to suit their product.
Building a touch-screen app for a mobile device, around the size of a book. What C++ toolkit should I use? I was thinking about Qt, or gtkmm with hildon.
Thanks!
Use the frameworks that are supported/recommended by the OS on the mobile device.
After that, if you get more than one answer to the above question, check to see which one features the features you want for your application.
After that, pick the one done in the programming language you are most used to.
Good luck.
M.
+1 Qt. Qt's framework is great. and it goes LGPL now.
It might be worth looking into easyGUI. It it can be used with just about any OS and supports just about any device. The only downside is that it costs money.
What I really think you're saying is that you're porting Linux to a completely new device, e.g. one of these electric book things.
I'd suggest you port Android (which is Linux down deep so that part of porting is much the same) and use Java for your UI.