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What is the recommended animated model format that a game programmer would load in OpenGL?
I have taken a look at .md2 and .3ds formats available at some OpenGL tutorials. However, it would appear that they are both fairly old. Is there any well-supported model format that a contemporary game programmer would prefer?
If you're a beginner, you should probably start with those formats. (Or maybe MD3, which comes after MD2.) Newer 3D formats don't typically supercede old ones by being objectively better, but usually by supporting more complex features. I'd recommend not making life difficult for yourself by picking a complex format.
If you're not a beginner, then you probably wouldn't be asking this question. ;) Professional developers usually have a bespoke model type that is specific to the engine they're using.
If you have specific requirements for your models then it's possible that there exists a model format that fits your needs, but MD2 and MD3 worked fine for commercial games so they'll probably work fine for you too. Generally you should approach this from the other side - what sort of models can my artists create, or what sort of models can I obtain? What format are they in? Can I use that format?
ms3d seems quite common. (there are links to the format on that page).
FBX is another. There is no good documentation for the format but there is an SDK to load it. On directx .x files would be another option but that's probably not so much use ofor opengl. (And it's not really that well supported on directx any more).
The most common format though seems to be to define your own application specific format that contains just what you need and use an exteral converter to convert to that format.
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I've been fighting with several libraries (irrlicht, Ogre3D etc) and falling between either too complex libraries or too complex installation guides.
I'd appreciate some pointers to how to achieve what the title suggests.
Thanks
If you're going for simplicity of setup and use, I'd recommend you Unreal Engine. It not only allows you to render both in 3D and 2D, but has a lot of other functionality including scripting in c++.
If you're looking for a more lightweight solution, though not as easy, you can try using OpenGL. It is quite easy to set up - just install Code::Blocks and start with their OpenGL template. Although it is much harder to learn and use, it is very developing.
If you don't really need to use c++, you can use Unity. Although its interface is exposed through c#, its not very hard to learn for a c++ programmer. I also find it easier to use than Unreal Engine.
I would also reccomend Vulkan, which would probably the most perforamant of all of them, but well, you wanted a "simple" solution.
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I have code to solve 2D truss structures implemented in C++ (as a console application).
I would like to add some simple graphics to it in order to visualize the initial structure and the deformed form. Example: http://people.rit.edu/pnveme/VenkatCOMSOL42/COMSOLTruss2D/ExtractingInfoinMATLAB_01.png
But I have no idea of how to add graphics in any way. How can I implement this kind of graphics?
Cross platform (preferred) or windows.
I doubt this is the answer you want, but to be honest, implementing plotting functionality isn't trivial, even if you're not doing it from scratch: you'll have to review a number of libraries, choose one, and get to grips with it.
Unless it's essential that the plotting functionality be integrated with the solver (e.g. for a product), I think you ought to consider simply exporting your results to, say, a simple ASCII matrix format that can be easily imported into a variety of environments with extensive and flexible plotting capabilities, one or more of which you probably already know (e.g. Matlab, R, Octave, etc.)
One option would be to generate a file which can be shown by another program. For example, generating SVG and using the browser to display it sounds like it would be good for your case, you can even easily include it in a report.
Check out SDL: http://www.libsdl.org/ It's cross-platform and has a ton of features. It maybe a bit overwhelming for your task, but I thought it was very easy to grasp when I was a newcomer.
There is a derivative of SDL that lets you draw basic shapes such as lines and points and is incredibly easy to use:
http://sdl-draw.sourceforge.net/
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I have seen recently that people use xml files as a database to store the settings. However, I don't know why exactly is it done. I am from a C/C++, Linux background. Thus, please help me to understand this concept. Any simple C/C++ example will help me to understand it's benefit better?
XML is a very common tool with tons of libraries to handle it. Although it isn't the most beautiful format in the world, it is possible to read and modify it by both hand and program. Probably one want to use it when program configuration modified by some gui or tool. If you intend manual configuration, it's probably better to choose something else, for example ini. This is why linux tools rarely use XML, BTW.
As a C++ programmer you'd probably find interesting the "boost::property_tree" library to deal with configs. Examples of usage included in the documentation. Also it provides with plenty of different backends to store configuration, so you haven't to stick to some one format.
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I would like to gain some insight from some of you more knowledgeable game designers on what exactly the standards (or most commonly accepted conventions) for creating game assets (textures, models, etc.) are. Or rather if there is anything I have missed.
Here are some things I would like to know in particular...
Conventions for texture files.
Sizes (512x512, 1024x1024, etc.).
File type (JPEG, BMP, PNG, etc.).
Conventions for polygon counts of models (in a modern game).
What polygon count makes something a "low poly" model.
How to use a "high poly" model to generate a good normal map for a simpler model.
Proper way to design UV maps for an object.
Usually my unwraps look alright but nowhere near production quality. Is there a proper technique for this?
Proper way to generate normal maps in realistic fashion.
Also what would be some good applications for developing some assets. Particularly audio. I already use Blender for modeling.
Essentially I'm looking for the tricks of the trade, if anyone is willing to share of course =)
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In my free time, I'm working on a risk analysis application. I have already finished the mathematical and simulation engines, but I'm stuck with the design of the user interface. I want my application to be as easy-to-use as possible for Excel users, but I don't want to make it an Excel add-in, because Excel takes ages to load add-ins. So I'm going to use the old and venerable MFC.
I want to make these things easy in my application:
Modeling tasks:
Defining probability and uncertainty distributions
Defining mathematical relations between the variables
Separating uncertainty from variability (second-order risk modeling)
Validating the risk model
What-if (sensitivity) analysis
Data manipulation/display tasks:
Importing/exporting data from/to Excel and databases
Displaying nice graphs to the user
Do you know any guidelines I could take into consideration in the design of the user interface? The only examples I know, LINGO and Rockwell Arena, are actually examples of what NOT to do. Perhaps I will need to include a simple scripting language in the system but, in that case, it will be an option for advanced users, not for everybody.
1) For risk-specific functionality (at least, in financial world), one of the important guidelines is to allow easy viewing of summary level risk as well as easy drill-down to details (e.g. enterprise-wide down to security level)
2) Plus, don't forget standard GUI design guidelines - there's always Nielsen and there's JoelOnSoftware's Joel Spolsky's design book and series of articles.
High level,
make sure your controls are intuitive (do what the user expects them to),
minimize the amount of work (eye and hand movements) user needs to do to accomplish most frequent tasks,
Allow easy linking (e.g. no dead ends - if you are displaying a list of securities, make an easy way to jump from security's name to detail screen for that security)
Always always usability-test.