TSE vs Irrlicht vs Panda3d
by Lonnie Cumberland · in General Discussion · 05/30/2005 (11:11 pm) · 4 replies
Hello All,
I am starting my work on a Fedora 3 Linux based VR type project and have narrowed the possible engines that I am interested in using down to:
1. TSE
2. Irrlicht
3. Panda3D
From what I can tell, these are the best ones out there at no costs or reasonable costs.
Has anyone done a comparrison on these or perhaps a few others as well that might go well in a VR type project?
I will need, in addition, to be able to dynamically add in 3D-Text, and animated textures to produce the effects of movies on a "wall" perhaps or similar to the TSE demo.
One other thing is that I need to make the scene brighter. I was playing with the TGE demo but it appears to be dark and I do not know how it increase the world light brightness as well.
Any advice is greatly appreciated,
Lonnie
I am starting my work on a Fedora 3 Linux based VR type project and have narrowed the possible engines that I am interested in using down to:
1. TSE
2. Irrlicht
3. Panda3D
From what I can tell, these are the best ones out there at no costs or reasonable costs.
Has anyone done a comparrison on these or perhaps a few others as well that might go well in a VR type project?
I will need, in addition, to be able to dynamically add in 3D-Text, and animated textures to produce the effects of movies on a "wall" perhaps or similar to the TSE demo.
One other thing is that I need to make the scene brighter. I was playing with the TGE demo but it appears to be dark and I do not know how it increase the world light brightness as well.
Any advice is greatly appreciated,
Lonnie
#2
I use both Panda3d and Torque. Even though I know Python, which is my reason for also using Panda, I find it a little harder to understand the concepts of Panda over Torque. Torque has lots of documentation and a very active user community. The Panda community is much smaller.
Here's a blurb from one of the Panda creators, he works for Disney VR Studios (creators of Panda3d):
David Rose:
//begin
But to be honest, if your goal is to do one of the standard genre games, you probably will find it easier to use an engine like Torque, which will have many of the features you need already pre-canned for you.
Panda doesn't have so many standard game features already done for you; you'll have to do them yourself. What Panda gives you is a framework that makes it easy to do general 3-D design, rather than a kit of parts for standard 3-D games. That makes Panda a better choice if you want to do something new and unique.
//end
The documentation of Panda is a little light currently but a work in-progress. Most of the functionality can be learned from the tutorials (example Python code) that is shipped with Panda.
The best thing about Torque for me was the Ken Finney book "3D Game Programming All In One." That coupled with this website and you'll find the answer to most of your questions.
Here's a little more information on Panda3d that you may find interesting.
The environment has a lot of potential.
Have fun!
05/31/2005 (3:27 pm)
Lonnie,I use both Panda3d and Torque. Even though I know Python, which is my reason for also using Panda, I find it a little harder to understand the concepts of Panda over Torque. Torque has lots of documentation and a very active user community. The Panda community is much smaller.
Here's a blurb from one of the Panda creators, he works for Disney VR Studios (creators of Panda3d):
David Rose:
//begin
But to be honest, if your goal is to do one of the standard genre games, you probably will find it easier to use an engine like Torque, which will have many of the features you need already pre-canned for you.
Panda doesn't have so many standard game features already done for you; you'll have to do them yourself. What Panda gives you is a framework that makes it easy to do general 3-D design, rather than a kit of parts for standard 3-D games. That makes Panda a better choice if you want to do something new and unique.
//end
The documentation of Panda is a little light currently but a work in-progress. Most of the functionality can be learned from the tutorials (example Python code) that is shipped with Panda.
The best thing about Torque for me was the Ken Finney book "3D Game Programming All In One." That coupled with this website and you'll find the answer to most of your questions.
Here's a little more information on Panda3d that you may find interesting.
The environment has a lot of potential.
Have fun!
#3
I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my post and I will probably use Torque for this VR project as it seems to be the best for what I need.
Have a great day,
Lonnie
05/31/2005 (4:13 pm)
Thanks all,I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my post and I will probably use Torque for this VR project as it seems to be the best for what I need.
Have a great day,
Lonnie
#4
Cool.
Do you already know how to make these devices work with Torque?
By the way, if you are working on Linux I would suggest TGE over TSE if you wish to start early, because TSE is still work in progress and it runs on Win only.
Bye, Thc. (EDIT: re-reading this all i feel like I'm a bit rude, but there's no offense, trust me.)
05/31/2005 (6:54 pm)
Do you mean Virtual Reality such as gloves and eyeglasses-displays?Cool.
Do you already know how to make these devices work with Torque?
By the way, if you are working on Linux I would suggest TGE over TSE if you wish to start early, because TSE is still work in progress and it runs on Win only.
Bye, Thc. (EDIT: re-reading this all i feel like I'm a bit rude, but there's no offense, trust me.)
Torque Owner Jay Barnson
Anyway - last time I worked with Irrlicht, it was a pretty cool tool for doing an FPS game - but it was still mainly just a 3D engine - you don't get the robust "game engine" that you have with Torque. You'd have to do your game logic, scripting, networking, sound, etc. yourself. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's a factor to weigh in. I also was not at all impressed with the terrain support they added to it (though I am glad that they have it) - it's nowhere near what Torque has, nor does it look as pretty. Nor does it support the Mac, which was a big reason I decided not to go with it. Mac may be a small market, but it's significant enough for indies that it's painful to ignore it. And obviously, it doesn't have the level of maturity (read: Bug fixes and community support) that Torque has, but it at least has a very supportive community around it.
Anyway, so there's the quick-and-dirty version of my comparison. Again - things may have changed in the 6+ months since I last looked at it, but I don't think so.
Oh - and as to the darkness level of Torque - the Synapse Lighting Pack does WONDERS for the lighting in Torque. It's well worth the price. (And this is coming from a guy who has done his OWN 3D engine - multiple times - including lighting).