Good day, geeky guys. :cool:

I have some reactions and questions about DirectX and OpenGL...

Suppose (for example only,)
I was hired by a big game company to spearhead game developer teams
then, I want the game we will produce, to make it versatile in any computer
regardless of computer architecture and whether it's a PC or Mac.

...oh, yup. I was making a comparison.

Because as far as we know, that most commonly, it's the DirectX that
most games have been chosen. And currently used.

But one day, when I was surfing internet (and Google searches)
I came across an article about the comparison of OpenGL on others,
which for me, was just too technically written to understand.
(Maybe, because we use DirectX ,most commonly...)

But what about the Mac?
Maybe, it's silly to ask this, but can I use DirectX on Mac?
Now, which is better in those two?

which of the two shall I use for my games, especially those 3D ones?
DirectX, or OpenGL?


P.S. :icon_smile:

Can someone give also the detailed comparison of OpenGL and DirectX, for me?
(These, possibly, I will use this as additional information for my future research papers. Thank you.)

Recommended Answers

All 6 Replies

You cannot use DirectX on a mac.

DirectX is proprietary to Microsoft and its platforms.

OpenGL is open standard, and can therefor be implemented into any platform.

That's about all I know without doing research, and its too early in the morning to do that :D

Look into cross-platform libraries.
I like SFML. Unfortunately version 2 isn't finished yet.
SDL has been around forever and a day. It has a nice community following.
There are others. Google is your friend.

Happy coding.

You cannot use DirectX on a mac.

DirectX is proprietary to Microsoft and its platforms.

OpenGL is open standard, and can therefor be implemented into any platform.

That's about all I know without doing research, and its too early in the morning to do that :D

Oh, so DirectX is only strictly for Microsoft only?
Then, comparing those two, which is the best in your opinion? :)

But what about the Mac?
Maybe, it's silly to ask this, but can I use DirectX on Mac?
Now, which is better in those two?

Apple ships OpenGL as a standard feature of the Mac OS (OS9 and Mac OS X). You can search for it on the net.

I should mention that both SFML and SDL are built on or work in tandem with OpenGL.
Which will work on Macs as well as Windows PCs. As well as Linux PCs.

Umm, may I ask are you going to be building a game engine? You can make a game engine with both Direct3D and OpenGL, look at Unreal Engine (DirectX on Windows, OpenGL on everything else). Then you don't really need to worry about using either or, because you use both.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.