Irrlicht Engine Tutorial

After we have set up the IDE, the compiler will know + where to find the Irrlicht Engine header files so + we can include it now into our code.

+ + + + + +

#include <irrlicht.h>

In the Irrlicht Engine, everything can be found in + the namespace 'irr'. So if you want to use a class + of the engine, you'll have to type an irr:: before + the name of the class. For example, to use the IrrlichtDevice, + write: irr::IrrlichtDevice. To avoid having to put + irr:: before of the name of every class, we tell the + compiler that we use that namespace.

+ + + + + +

using namespace irr;

There are 5 sub-namespaces in the Irrlicht Engine. + Take a look at them: you can read a detailed description + of them in the documentation by clicking on the top + menu item 'Namespace + List'. To keep this example simple, we don't want + to have to specify the name spaces, Hence:

+ + + + + +

using namespace core;
using namespace scene;
using namespace video;
using namespace io;
using namespace gui;

To be able to use the Irrlicht.DLL file, we need + to link with the Irrlicht.lib. We could set this option + in the project settings, but to make it easy we use + a pragma comment:

+ + + + + +

#pragma comment(lib, "Irrlicht.lib")

Now the main method: to keep this example simple + we use int main(), which can be used on any platform. + However, on Windows platforms, we could also use the + WinMain method if we would want to get rid of the + console window which pops up when starting a program + with main().

+ + + + + +

int main()
{

The most important function of the engine is the + 'createDevice' function. The Irrlicht Device, which + is the root object for doing everything with the engine, + can be created with it. createDevice() has 7 parameters:

+ +
deviceType: Type of the device. This can currently + be the Null device, the Software device, Direct3D8, Direct3D9, + or OpenGL. In this example we use EDT_SOFTWARE, but, to try + them out, you might want to change it to EDT_NULL, EDT_DIRECT3D8, + EDT_DIRECT3D9 or EDT_OPENGL.
+
+
windowSize: Size of the window or + full screen mode to be created. In this example + we use 512x384.
+ +
+
bits: Number of bits per pixel when + in full screen mode. This should be 16 or 32. This + parameter is ignored when running in windowed mode.
+
+
fullscreen: Specifies if we want + the device to run in full screen mode or not.
+
stencilbuffer: Specifies if we want to use the stencil + buffer for drawing shadows.
vsync: Specifies if we want to have vsync enabled. + This is only useful in full screen mode.
+
eventReceiver: An object to receive + events. We do not want to use this parameter here, + and set it to 0.
+

+ + + + + +

IrrlichtDevice *device =
		createDevice(EDT_SOFTWARE, dimension2d<s32>(512, 384), 16,
			false, false, false, 0);

Now we set the caption of the window to some nice text. + Note that there is a 'L' in front of the string: the + Irrlicht Engine uses wide character strings when displaying + text.

+ + + + + +

device->setWindowCaption(L"Hello World! - Irrlicht Engine Demo");

Now we store a pointer to the video driver, the SceneManager, + and the graphical user interface environment so that + we do not always have to write device->getVideoDriver(), + device->getSceneManager(), and device->getGUIEnvironment().

+ + + + + +

IVideoDriver* driver = device->getVideoDriver();
ISceneManager* smgr = device->getSceneManager();
IGUIEnvironment* guienv = device->getGUIEnvironment();

We add a hello world label to the window using the + GUI environment. The text is placed at the position + (10,10) as top left corner and (200,22) as lower right + corner.

+ + + + + +

guienv->addStaticText(L"Hello World! This is the Irrlicht Software engine!",
	 rect<s32>(10,10,200,22), true);

To display something interesting, we load a Quake 2 + model and display it. We only have to get the Mesh from + the Scene Manager with getMesh() and add a SceneNode + to display the mesh with addAnimatedMeshSceneNode(). + Instead of loading a Quake2 file (.md2), it is also + possible to load a Maya object file (.obj), a complete + Quake3 map (.bsp), or a Milshape file (.ms3d).
+ By the way, that cool Quake 2 model called sydney.md2 + was modelled by Brian Collins.

+ + + + + +

IAnimatedMesh* mesh = smgr->getMesh("../../media/sydney.md2");
IAnimatedMeshSceneNode* node = smgr->addAnimatedMeshSceneNode( mesh );

To make the mesh look a little bit nicer, we change + its material a little bit: we disable lighting because + we do not have a dynamic light in here and the mesh + would be totally black. Then we set the frame loop so + that the animation is looped between the frames 0 and + 310. Then, at last, we apply a texture to the mesh. + Without it the mesh would be drawn using only a solid + color.

+ + + + + +

if (node)
{
	node->setMaterialFlag(EMF_LIGHTING, false);
	node->setFrameLoop(0, 310);	
	node->setMaterialTexture( 0, driver->getTexture("../../media/sydney.bmp") );
}

To look at the mesh, we place a camera into 3d space + at the position (0, 10, -40). The camera looks from + there to (0,5,0).

+ + + + + +

smgr->addCameraSceneNode(0, vector3df(0,30,-40), vector3df(0,5,0));

Ok. Now that we have set up the scene, let's draw everything: + we run the device in a while() loop until the device + does not want to run any more. This would be when the + user closes the window or presses ALT+F4 in Windows.

+ + + + + +

while(device->run())
{

Everything must be drawn between a beginScene() and + an endScene() call. The beginScene clears the screen + with a color and also the depth buffer, if desired. + Then we let the Scene Manager and the GUI environment + draw their content. With the endScene() call, everything + is presented on the screen.

+ + + + + + +

	driver->beginScene(true, true, SColor(255,100,101,140));

+	smgr->drawAll();
+	guienv->drawAll();

	driver->endScene();
+}

After we are finished, we have to delete the Irrlicht + Device created earlier with createDevice(). With the + Irrlicht Engine, you should delete all objects you created + with a method or function that starts with 'create'. + The object is deleted simply by calling ->drop(). + See the documentation + for more information.

+ + + + + +

	device->drop();
 return 0;
+}

That's it. Compile and run.