Opengl has always seen more use in the professional graphics market than directx, while directx is used mostly for computer games. Here is a list of games, it might surprise you chris yeah i recall that unreal in the early. Microsofts first technical beta of vista layers opengl over direct3d in order to use opengl with a composited desktop to obtain the aeroglass experience. So the programmer could write the program once, and have it work on any hardware. Mar 24, 2014 with the announcement of directx 12 features like lowlevel programming, it appears were having a revival of the directx vs.
Dec 01, 2011 directx 11 im vergleich zum linux kompatiblen format opengl. The competition between opengl and directx is possibly as well known as the wars waged between amd and. The game left4dead 2 was ported to a 32bit version of linux and initially it achieved 6 fps, which isnt unreasonable for a direct port of a program optimized to run under windowsdirectx. Its not only somewhat slower but also broken visually for most games. With opengl, an open, vendorneutral standard, developers can get significantly better performance up to 1.
You only have absolute pain in the ass, and super primitive debug tools on opengl, making development slow and tedious and as time is money, cost more. As a programmer, i will tell you firsthand directxs support is much kinder to the developer, but like most of microsofts products they have a tendency to make a lot of misjudgments and assumptions based on their misperception of the needs of who they think the customer is the gamer when its actually both the developer and the gamer who is their. Newell shared his thoughts via twitter saying that i think windows 8 is a catastrophe. Whereas directx has had a decade to figure out how to run smoothly, efficiently and quickly on windows.
This is caused by the vicious cycle of vendor support. Why you should use opengl and not directx hacker news. Jan 28, 2015 it mostly relies on what graphics card you have. Opengl was actually seen as the better technology in the early 90s, many aaa games used over directx. If more game developers start using opengl again, the arb will have more incentive and ability to keep improving opengls gaming features. One of the best technical books i have read in the past year or two. What are the differences between direct x and opengl. So if we were going to say anyone was behind it would be microsoft and directx. I wont preach why i prefer opengl over directx, but. Gabe, said that windows 8 will be a catastrophe for pc game makers. Directx was an api that was created that abstracts the underlying drivermanufacturer from the programming. The competition between opengl and directx is possibly as well known as the wars waged between amd and intel enthusiasts. This topic has sparked the fires of many flame wars throughout the years, and i dont anticipate that changing anytime soon. Microsoft has worked hard on directx 10 and 11, and theyre now about as fast as opengl, and support almost as many features.
If an an application runs using a highperformance opengl icd the desktop compositor will switch off significantly degrading the user experience. Then a feature comparison is made between the capabilities of opengl and direct3d. On the other hand, opengl is strictly a graphics api. When it comes to graphics capabilities, both apis rely on the use of the traditional graphics pipeline. Although the function definitions are superficially similar to those of the programming language c, they are languageindependent. Really this poll should have been about direct3d vs. Opengl debatesand we can toss amds mantle into the mix in place of. Opengl is basically sadly broken on amd gpus until further notice. May 07, 2020 opengl is only made to create and support graphics, so it requires the support of other systems for the graphics to function correctly. May 12, 2009 as a programmer, i will tell you firsthand directx s support is much kinder to the developer, but like most of microsofts products they have a tendency to make a lot of misjudgments and assumptions based on their misperception of the needs of who they think the customer is the gamer when its actually both the developer and the gamer who is their real end customer. The game left4dead 2 was ported to a 32bit version of linux and initially it achieved 6 fps, which isnt unreasonable for a direct port of a program optimized to run under windows directx. Mar 12, 2007 directx is an interactive binary preprocessor applied to an interactive multimedia protocol.
Similarly, its a fact that more gaming graphics programmers know how to use directx than opengl, so its cheaper less training required to make a game using directx than opengl. Just to point out, you only have the two choices as far as 3d libraries go, opengl and directx. Jan 17, 2006 microsofts first technical beta of vista layers opengl over direct3d in order to use opengl with a composited desktop to obtain the aeroglass experience. Well directx will has alot of features thati think not 100% sure opengl cant do. The texture cache setting does not work like you possibly think it does. Similarly, directx can be used in a window that sfmlsdlmany others create. With more recent hardware you can and want to use directx 11, opengl 4, opengl es 3. Directx can have multiplayer games,read keyboard and mouse input,joystick draw normal and 3d graphics have sound and maybe more its basically a set of tools but it only works for windows not any other systembut windows is the most popular.
Recently, with the advent of the new low overhead apis whch is a major turning point for graphical programming there are directx 12 for windows and xbox, metal for ios and vulkan the new opengl for windows and linux including android and tizen. Opengl vs directx difference from graphics card perspective. The only advantage that dx12 has are the same one from any directx vs opengl, for developers. With the announcement of directx 12 features like lowlevel programming, it appears were having a revival of the directx vs. On my shelf but in my defence i never really read it so i cant really comment on it. It is competing with opengl and with sdl and is widely used in the development of computer games for microsoft windows, sega dreamcast, microsoft xbox, and microsoft xbox 360 directx is also used among other software production industries, most notably among. Opengl gives you direct access to all new graphics features on all platforms, while directx only provides occasional snapshots of them on their newest versions of windows. Thats a figure that will make any developer sit up and listen. This looks damming for directx, especially so when the port to opengl even ran faster under windows i. But with a little tuning, they can get 7 to 15 times more performance.
Opengl could be much faster if youre cpu limited snowblind engine is something 80fps vs 50fps opengl accuracy is 10 times better than dx. This results in shakier opengl drivers, leading even more game developers to switch from opengl to directx. Opengl in many ways is more advanced just because its possible for the manufacturers to maintain extensions whereas in directx its not really possible. More importantly, though, opengl again, like directx and direct3d is a very highlevel api that makes it hard to efficiently run code. If you need to develop for more than windows, opengl is the way to go. Opengl is somewhat easier to learn as its possible to set up basic renders with very few lines of code philosophically opengl was designed as a general purpose rendering engine, whereas directx was always games orientated, so opengl would seem a better fit. They issue a number of extensions, maintain the extension repository, and create new versions of the api. Mar 12, 2014 opengl in many ways is more advanced just because its possible for the manufacturers to maintain extensions whereas in directx its not really possible. For instance, if the statusbar for the vrmonitor is over the application, this will. I agree that microsoft has not been consistently clear about the positioning of opengl and direct3d, but i think weve been pretty clear with a couple of notable exceptions about opengl as the api for professional 3d applications.
Apr 18, 2016 opengl was actually seen as the better technology in the early 90s, many aaa games used over directx. So if you are planning to write a game for windows, just use directx, if not opengl and sdl. Its really an amazing story, considering how bad d3d v3 was. The biggest difference is that opengl is purely a graphics api and does not even having windowing functions there are libraries to do this for it though. Proprietary windowsxbox only other audio, input, and sound libs are favored over directxs basically i mean theyre bad. Sgis efforts with cosmo opengl are trivial in comparison. What are the differences between opengl and directx. Part of being a good games engine engineer is researching, reading and combining what you find to build that which you want or altering a pattern or game recipe to produce that which you are trying to build. This page is an informal attempt to summarize the main differences between sgis opengl and microsofts direct3d. Directx windows only, only the latest version of windows if you want the latest directx. On windows, its a fact that the directx graphics drivers are better maintained than the opengl graphics drivers. Using off the shelf game engines is a very popular option but a lot of. However, this question is absolutely a matter of opinion, and directx absolutely has its benefits over opengl, especially 10 and 11 and especially in the context of game development. For instance, if the statusbar for the vrmonitor is over the application, this will cause huge performance issues.
A mini presentation that delves into the history of opengl and directx and briefly describes their standing in the api war. Proprietary windowsxbox only other audio, input, and sound libs are favored over directx s basically i mean theyre bad. See more ideas about game programming, game programmer and this or that questions. Directx is an interactive binary preprocessor applied to an interactive multimedia protocol. And btw, direct3d is still better because if you chose opengl then you still have to either us directx for everything other than 3d, or you have to write your entire interface, sound, 2d, and networking code from the. It goes into the actual implementation details of why opengl or d3d have been more or less popular for games\graphics programming over the years. Directx is a collection of apis for all multimedia applications, not just graphics. For one thing, directx 9 supports a hell of a lot more than opengl does. Ever since opengl gained support for generic shaders its been capable of everything dx has and more. This is probably the most accurate view of the history of opengl vs.
Directx vs opengl vulkan api which is better overall. It also goes over why a developer would choose opengl over directx and what this decision means for the gamer. Why you should use opengl and not directx gamasutra. The term professional is used here to refer to the professional production and display of graphics, such as in computer animated films and scientific visualisation, as opposed to games where the graphics produced. I hated directx 9, but directx 10 is actually pretty good. As game developers are driven from opengl to directx by other factors, the graphics card manufacturers vendors get less bug reports for their opengl drivers, extensions and documentation. Opengl basics compared to directx jin li, jan 18th, 2005 introduction to computer graphics 1.
Opengl because direct3d is the only part of directx that directly compares. He is author of the opengl essentials livelessons video series on graphics development. One is ue4 directx another is a custom engine opengl for the opengl application if there is anything that touches the interface, the vr performance with steamvr is hindered. If more game developers start using opengl again, the arb will have more incentive and ability to keep improving opengl s gaming features. Api use was shifted in favor of directx by microsofts twopronged. Great driver support can handle graphics, audio, input, and sound cons. This is the same pipeline that has been used in computer games. So whats the difference between directx and opengl. Directx 11 im vergleich zum linux kompatiblen format opengl. So really its a matter of which people youd like to target. Is there any reason to prefer direct3d over opengl. Many of these features are included in directx, so it is a standalone program. Perhaps the most obvious difference is that directx, as opposed to opengl, is more than just a graphics api. Opengl everything else, including all 32bit windows afaik.
The tesselation technology that microsoft is heavily promoting for directx 11 has been an opengl extension for three years. At the same time, directx offers features that neither opengl, nor sdl can give you. Both libraries need a context window, residentbiscuit used win32 as a context for directx, but it would have been possible to use opengl. So, using linux and an intel core i357 processor you will be able to play descent games, only with the help of your integrated gpu. If everything works fine in fast, the only difference between fast and safe is that safe is eating more ressources.
Since most games are designed for windows, directx is the most widely used in major games. Why you should use opengl and not directx wolfire games. The article mainly discusses the marketing strategies behind directx and how the api became so popular. Also, should you choose to go with opengl, sdl is a wonderful and very popular library, and there are plenty of resources for learning opengl nehe, etc. The amd opengl driver is kinda bad, which is way d3d is faster in most games than opengl, when you have an amd gpu.
It is competing with opengl and with sdl and is widely used in the development of computer games for microsoft windows, sega dreamcast, microsoft xbox, and microsoft xbox 360. Directx 9 covers things lke handling input, sound and graphics. One major difference is that opengl is crossplatform, and directx is available only on windows and xbox. Opengl and directx are made to run on different oss. Nvidia, amd, intel explain how opengl can unlock 15x.
Since valve announced their official support for steam into linux platform, everyone is acting crazy. Directx vs opengl issues steamvr developer hardware. How vulkan could finally pose a challenge to directx. Feb 10, 2018 a mini presentation that delves into the history of opengl and directx and briefly describes their standing in the api war. Why you should use opengl and not directx slashdot. Last time i checked opengl was just about graphics. Depending on what feature is required, opengl may rely on directx. Aug 03, 2012 valve understand that todays hardware is more than capable of playing their games using opengl and linux instead of running windows 7 and directx. Requiring less work to port from the previous opengl api standard, the khronos groups vulkan could finally give microsofts directx a run for its money. With the same hardware, windows 7 opengl gives 303. Also follows my personal adoption of the apis for projects pretty closely. Aug 11, 2014 more importantly, though, opengl again, like directx and direct3d is a very highlevel api that makes it hard to efficiently run code on the gpu directly. Directx supports sound, music, input, networking, and multimedia.
1373 315 1065 1264 873 60 255 1511 175 937 1418 958 929 975 1289 1041 195 414 1184 870 204 535 1287 346 1423 661 37 1065 64 1310 526 1076 1296 840 44 286 1090 1338 388 121