Win32, OpenGL and ODE Physics

OpenGL Tutorials

If you are new to the page then have a read of the original news here.

My examples work with Win9x, WinSE, WinME, Win2000 and WinXP, though OpenGL support in Windows is very poor so it is always recommended that you install the latest drivers for your graphics card.

All the programs available from this page were compiled using the free Dev-C++ compiler available here.

I am happy to respond to any questions regarding my programs, whether it is to report problems or if you have a suggestion, but any general programming questions should be posted to the wiki area below. For further help you could also go to #OpenGL on Efnet IRC where you can ask your OpenGL related questions. Though it can get very quiet there due to narrow scope of the subject, unlike other channels like #C++ that deal with a broader range of questions and allow a small amount of off topic conversation.


Hi all. Happy new year!

I know I've been AWOL for a long time, which in my case stands for Away Working Off Line. I'm not flipping burgers but it certainly isn't an IT based job. It just pays a wage and is coincidentally helping me lose a little weight, which after so many years of working on the computer is something we all have to keep a check on. I am still working on my own projects from time to time but the website is a low priority now. I hope that the last tutorial helped people get started with Qt v4.3.0 and discover the fine QDevelop utility but there may not be a follow up to that tutorial. My new years resolution is to do a major rebuild of this site and to get rid of that unsightly wiki at the bottom of the pages which are so easily spammed. I'd also like to release a few more tutorials some time in the year but there isn't the incentive or drive that there once was. One of the reasons is that the whole graphics and game development scene has inevitably lost that exciting atmosphere that it once had. I'll touch on this more in my end of year report as well as put forward a few of my personal ideas.

Those that have had a look at the old news page may also think I've stopped paying attention to the shadow governments, globalization and the many other major conspiracies like 9/11, but I still keep abreast of what is happening. I just don't think this is the right forum for such discussions. So another resolution of mine is to start a new website which focuses solely on these issues. Though I just can't help but share another document with you which discusses the Doomsday Seed Vault in the arctic. It is being funded by Bill Gates so it is not entirely off topic. What is most striking, and pure hypocrisy, is that the others funding this seed bank are major GMO seed producers like Monsanto, DuPont and Hi-Bred. And of course, behind any notable conspiracy you'll find the Rockefellers.

Well not all truths are uplifting, but I'd rather be informed than blissfully ignorant. I hope you feel the same way. If you want to experience a real kind of peace try simply turning off the television. The internet is interactive and you can select from so much more than the mindless propaganda coming from the commercial stations.

That's about it for now, take care and I hope you have a wonderful and rewarding new year.

Alan Baylis thegood@australia.edu

Hi All

I've been taking some time off from the site, as a sort of holiday, but it's good to be back. I've also been working towards creating a terrain editor using the marching cubes algorithm which is keeping me busy. I don't know when it will be completed but in the meantime I will be releasing a series of tutorials on using the Qt C++ toolkit. I've decided to upgrade to the latest version which is still a beta release, though there should be a full release any day now.

To begin the tutorial series I thought the best place to start was with an installation guide. If time permits the next tutorials should follow quickly. They will cover the basics of using Qt with an external IDE called QDevelop, and progress up to creating a full GUI with an OpenGL widget. So until then...

Click here to go to my first Qt Tutorial

Alan Baylis thegood@australia.edu

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FreeWorld Editor
The FreeWorld Editor allows you to create and export world data to be used in your own programs, the data file format is intended to be easy to understand and load, consisting of only polygon and texturing information. The program is still under development and future versions will see an improved interface and many additional features. There is a tutorial included in the download or you can get to it by clicking on the link above.

Screenshot

Spline_Ed
Built on top of the OpenGL MDI demo, this editor allows you to create and save splines for use in other programs. I have used the spline data for setting camera paths but I'm sure it will be useful in other ways later. I apologize that the source code isn't commented very well and this is a habit of mine that I must correct.

Screenshot

MD2Views
Yet another MD2 viewer hits the streets. MD2Views uses the freely released model loading and rendering source by Nathan Lucas's OpenGL MD2 Model viewer v.1.04 and I only take credit for extracting the source and making it a little easier to include in any OpenGL programs. About the only things it can do that differ from other MD2 viewers is show the model under different lighting conditions and allow you to select any weapon model to accompany the main model.

Screenshot

Q2View
Designing a new world editor, data structure format and world renderer can take a bit of time, so for those who have just begun to program graphics using OpenGL/Win32 this program should help to alleviate the desire to have a complete world up and running yesterday. This program has been adapted from Alexey Goloshubin's Poly Engine source code, so full credit for the BSP loading and rendering goes to him and to the ID Software team for being kind enough to release the original source to the programming community. I only take credit for having been able to extract the necessary code from the heavily embedded source of the Poly Engine and making it easier to include it in your own programs.

Screenshot