What 3D engine should I learn?

[TimelessRhythm]

I have just started a small group to make mobile apps and need some clarification on something.

Initially I was going to use unity as the 3D engine, but I see that it is not supported. I have looked and could not find a list of what is supported. Can someone direct me to where this information is, so that I can start learning the correct engine?

[Mark]

Hi,

iOS is supported by Unity. What exactly is the problem you're dealing with? You might want to ask your questions on a Unity forum rather than this LiveCode forum.

Kind regards,

Mark

[TimelessRhythm]

Hello Mark,

Essentially what I am trying to learn is how a 3D engine interacts with LiveCode and which engines work well with it. I am new in this area and am looking for resources to study. Any link to a web site or answer is greatly appreciated.

I am in the Complete Beginners section for a reason.

[Mark]

Hi,

The only 3D engine I know of that LiveCode could interact with, is or was Franklin 3D, which is (IIRC) an IrrLicht implementation. This engine works the same way as any engine would: it is compiled as an external and found by LiveCode on startup. Unfortunately, it was never updated after its initial release and there is no information about iOS compatibility available on the website. Perhaps you should send a message to the publisher of Franklin 3D and ask for an iOS version. More info at mirye.com.

Kind regards,

Mark

[sturgis]

I think box2d (not 3d I don't think) is part of the kickstarter stretch goals, so learning that would be useful.

[dave_probertGA6e24]

Hi,

Prepare yourself for learning two separate systems of App building. LC currently does not have any form of openGL-like 3D support and it doesn't look like it will - unless someone makes an external to supply that feature.

Unity will allow you to export to iOS, but at a price - on a par with LC commercial licence (maybe slightly higher). Unity internally has the use of Javascript, C# and another script language to allow you to code it's internal aspects and interact with the 3D worlds/objects - it would need an external 'wrapper' to allow LC to talk 'into' the Unity space. This is a lot of hard work unless the command set is quite small.

It might be more sensible to have your team work in two fields - 2D & business level Apps - using LiveCode, and 3D Apps using Unity. Both types of App development would need to be learned and used where appropriate.

It is sad to say that I would not recommend holding my breath waiting for any improvements in the 3D area in LC - I've been hoping for over a year to see something.

Good luck in all cases though.

Cheers,
Dave

[Simon]

Hi Dave,

I've been hoping for over a year to see something

In reading this post I decided to look into Franklin 3D but the information I can find is very old/thin. I had always thought that Franklin 3D & LC only made 2D with nice shadowed graphics, is this true or can they be linked? As in 3D objects controlled by LC.

Simon