The author of AmiCraftNova recently released a new demo called StarBoxDemo. While everyone has been posting new fps benchmarks with it, how it uses shaders should be of greater interest to aspiring developers. So download the demo (if you haven’t already), and take a look in the Shaders directory.The big advantage of shaders is that you […]
Recently, the AmiCraftNova author was having issues with GLSL shaders, which got me thinking about how to debug them. Shaders need debugging, but standard debugging tools can’t be used. So here are a few tips (for both OpenGL and Warp3D Nova). Check the Compiler Logs Both OpenGL and Warp3D Nova provide compilation logs. So check […]
Alain Thellier recently ported his Cow3D demo/test-program to Warp3D Nova, which allows Warp3D Nova and Warp3D to be compared. Results have been coming in thick and fast, along with speculations as to why the results are what they are. I was expecting Nova to deliver a larger boost, and it actually does; it’s just partially hidden. […]
The previous tutorial’s source-code included animation, but I said that would be a topic for another day. Well, today is that day. I’m going to go through the code I added to animate the cube. IMPORTANT: While this tutorial is about Warp3D Nova, the animation code below is almost 100% generic. You could reuse it to […]
Today I’m going to show you another way to draw coloured triangles with OpenGL (ES). It’ll look less interesting than the previous tutorial’s method. However, it’s a good way to introduce using multiple vertex attributes and you’ll need that for almost everything from here on out.Per Vertex ColourAs the name suggests, vertex attributes are “attributes […]
Time to put the theory learnt last time into practise. This means turning the phong model into shader code, and feeding the GPU the extra data required (surface normals, light/material properties, etc.).Step 1: Copy the Previous Tutorial’s CodeAs usual we’ll kickstart the process by reusing the previous tutorial’s code. So download the code now, and […]
Simulating lighting is critical to realistic 3D rendering. After all, light is what allows us to see the real world. Our first 3D rendering in Warp3D Nova looked pretty flat due to the complete lack of lighting. It’s time to fix this by adding light to the scene.IMPORTANT: 3D lighting calculations involve vector algebra. If […]
Last time I showed you how to set up a windowed OpenGL ES 2 (GLES2) context on AmigaOS. Now lets draw something. This tutorial will show you how to use shaders to draw stuff (a simple triangle, in this case).It closely follows a similar Warp3D Nova tutorial, and you’re welcome to compare the two.NOTE: While […]
Curious how OpenGL ES 2 (GLES2) + Warp3D Nova’s performance compares to MiniGL + Warp3D? Well, the first comparison is here courtesy of the Entwickler-X team. They’ve just released (as at 1 Nov. 2016) a video showing an upcoming game running on both MiniGL and GLES2. The game is built using X-Engine, a game engine […]
Like other Application Programmers Interfaces (APIs), Warp3D Nova has little “gotchas” that catch programmers out. These are common pitfalls that new programmers fall into. Even experienced programmers can make these mistakes; yes, even the API’s designer (i.e., me).Binding Vertex Arrays to the Wrong Shader InputsSetting up vertex arrays is a multi-step process and there are […]
