[GSoC 2011]Add more simplicity and RAD functionality to OGRE

[Shaun]

I've been looking at OGRE for a couple of years now. It's development has been a long journey of almost 11 years and OGRE is an immensely capable graphics rendering engine. But the best part is that it is open source. Free for everyone. Nobody has to pay license fees. Just install it and do your thing. It's a contribution to society which saves people considerable time and effort and helps people realize their passions and dreams. What a gift that is!

But OGRE is not the best graphics engine out there. There are others as well. And on top of that you can't always tell which the "best graphics rendering/ game engine" really is. But there are always certain effective pros and cons. Against other engines some of which are open source as well OGRE has a certain drawback and that is the esoteric functioning. A lot of people have troubles learning to use OGRE. So in effort of making it simpler to use for many beginners I want to create a GUI implementation of using OGRE.

Whereby I mean say something like a the capabilities of OGRE and the simplicity of "WorldEditor" (Warcraft III map editor) unbelievably simple to use. it could help people in many ways, it will Give RAD functionality to OGRE which has many benefits like increased productivity, decreased time-critical limitations, and that leaves out more time for putting in creativity or increased testing phases letting people put their ideas in action. All these benefits are for those who know how to use the engine. Then of course there are the beginners who get the only benefits they really do need, which are: a one button complete install capability of the engine, ease of learning and ease of use. But the most important benefit, in my perspective is that using the engine will become more "fun". That is capable of more good than anything else i feel

So basically I'm talking about creating a module of OGRE that that allows for using all the basic functionality of OGRE through a fun RD GUI. Since I'm only one person and also because right now I'm more into creating simulators, games and animated movies, I will keep the functionality of this new OGRE module/tool centered on these three uses of OGRE.

More fun in creating is directly proportional to creating more things and since most of the created things share their ideas and methodologies with the people who use them. This module/tool is gonna be true to it's usage as an open source project since that is one of the most generic attributes of open source stuff... sharing. But then again that's my perspective.

Looking for a mentor and I'm new to GSoC so I might need a briefing on some stuff I guess? xD

[Noman]

Unless I'm getting this all wrong, you're basically going for a world/scene editor for Ogre, right?

This topic has been brought up many times, and to keep things short
- A world editor is a HUGE amount of work, probably more than a GSoC project. (Have you had a look at Ogitor ?
- Its hard to decouple a world editor from the game it is editing worlds for.
- Ogre is a rendering engine, not a game engine. Since a real-life editor would also edit game functionality, it might need to operate at a higher level.
- A few years ago one of the projects was a Material Editor, which is smaller than a scene editor but still didn't get to a point far enough to be integrated into the main project.

I suggest that you search the forum for the thread and see how that went down. Also, thinking deeper into this project (try listing the things you want to achieve to some level of detail) will focus you into what is achievable and what isn't.

Good luck!

[spacegaier]

I am also not totally sure what he or she is opting for. I was torn between two interpretations:

1. The editor thing, which as you Noman said is really hard and also already covered by Ogitor IMHO.
2. A configurator/development/deployment tool, similar to Qt or NeoAxisEngine where you select the Ogre modules you need and then automatically matching project files and folder structures are created an populated with a dummy implementation. So some sort of extended OgreWizard plus extra options for deplyoment and various platforms. Something like this: http://www.neoaxisgroup.com/wiki/Docume ... yment_Tool and this http://www.neoaxisgroup.com/wiki/Docume ... nfigurator

The later interpretation could be a good idea, but we would need some further outline to properly judge that.

[Shaun]

Is adding a lot of different features a valid "google summer of code" project?

[Noman]

Depends on what they are. If you list 'em and we like 'em, it is a possibility to group several projects that are each too small for GSoC on their own to create one project.