point me in the right direction

[Evilsizer]

i was wondering if yall could point out some good programing tools for GUI's and how i might be able to make a 3D GUI.

thanks in advance

[0x12d3]

I can't say that I've done any graphic intensive stuff, but tk may be the toolkit you're looking for (tcl/tk). It allows for rapid development but on the downside has the weakness of interpreted languages.

[yrone]

What language do you program in?
theres
tcl/tk
perl/tk
gtk
qt
swing
and a bunch of others
I think if you are looking into a TRUE 3d gui you might want to lookinto opengl / mesa(?)
good luck!! do you ahve anything in mind already? it would make good discussion!!!!

[Strike]

Look into GLUT (GL Utility Toolkit), it has windowing stuff in it, iirc.

[Evilsizer]

i dont program yet but i am really interested in it. i do realise that linux has some great GUI's out there but i see it as a time for change to get away from 2D with all the powerfull graphics cards out there. i already have a testbed in mind it is my old 433celeron with a tnt2 ultra. im going to change the cpu to a 400 and overclock it to 600.

yea i do have some stuff in mind,i plan on starting a notebook with basic drawings and layouts. im also going to see if there is a way to port it to windows (LOL). i also plan to make different layouts of the gui for different needs. Im prolly not the first to think of this idea. i also wonder if i would need to develop my own 3D engine for the job or if i might be able to modify a current 3d game engine. I wonder if the way i want my GUI to work would require modifing of the Kernel it self. As i have no real way to know yet till i get the ball rollin.

p.s. do any of yall also know of some "help kits/files" for the programs?

thanks for the replies

[Primus]

That sounds pretty intense, and like a hellva lot of coding. Good luck with that. And you say you don't know any programming yet? Quite the project to start with don't you think?

Best of luck anyhow. :)

[Evilsizer]

yea alot but its just and idea i had......i have to many ideas right now and not enough money to do them all......

[Evilsizer]

for got to ask this to but to start off what is a good 2d gui program/kit to download? thanks agian guys!!!

[stoe]

i've worked with gtk and wxwindows on linux, both are very nice gui libraries ... gtk is c-based, while wxwindows is c++-based. wxwindows is very similar to MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes).

take it slow with your 3D GUI idea ... in addition to good programming skills your gonna need an understanding of some high level math ... knowledge of analytic geometry of 3-space / linear algebra / some calculus will serve you well.

computer graphics programming is a enjoyable discipline, so I would recommend it if you can put in the time to learn the requisite skills.

you mentioned money as an issue ... if you got a box w/ linux and a decent graphics card you shouldn't need to spend anymore money ... get the gcc compiler, and a couple of libraries, and dilligently follow the c/graphics programming tutorials on the net. you probably have everything that would cost you anything already (the hardware).

[Evilsizer]

thanks stoe but with money things i was reffering to some classic car rebuilding. Yea im set for hardware as you see in the sig. but i thougth that some of the programming programs would cost some money as i know there as some out there mainly the ones from microsoft but i was not sure about others.

[binaryDigit]

example of GLUT and openGL (http://www.codeexamples.org/cgi-bin/c2h/hl.cgi?filename=rotate-box.c&type=HTML-detail)

example of gtk+ (http://www.codeexamples.org/cgi-bin/c2h/hl.cgi?filename=helloworldgtk.c&type=HTML-detail)

another gtk+ example (http://www.codeexamples.org/cgi-bin/c2h/hl.cgi?filename=signals.c&type=HTML-detail)

to give you an idea of what's available. there is more out there if you look hard enough.

[Evilsizer]

cool thanks!!

[Strike]

Originally posted by binaryDigit
example of GLUT and openGL (http://www.codeexamples.org/cgi-bin/c2h/hl.cgi?filename=rotate-box.c&type=HTML-detail)
Whoever wrote this should be given a medal and a lifetime supply of whatever he wants ;)

[Evilsizer]

ok after doing somethinking....... i believe the best way for me to start this off would be to do it in 2D first and see if i can get it to act as 3D (sound right?). so what recommendations do yall have for a GUI program? would it also be possible if later if i use the same code to use it in the 3d ver. or do yall think i would have to rewrite it?

thanks for all the imput guys

[yrone]

Try this. Go out and get the "Programming in C" book. Go through and do all the examples until you understand them. Go get the allegro library (I think its windows only) and try and draw a pixel to the screen. Once you do that its a simple thing to get it to move around the screen and then you might be hooked! I wrote a few programs that do different things like a fuzzy tv screen that you can move around the screen using the arrow keys and some other lame stuff. I just wasnt a C or graphics kinda guy though so I went on to Perl and now PHP.
When you get a 2d graphics engine going you will have to rewrite the whole thing if you want it 3d.
Just start simple though if you dont want to be discouraged. Going out and getting a book and thinking that you are going to write the next KDE or GNOME in 3d just is too high a goal for a beginnner. BUT ... it is possible once you learn the language and get a few hand written tools under your belt and then you get good enough to start on a large project like that. If the code is good and it gets enough attention then other people will want to help too and your off!!!

Good luck

[binaryDigit]

Originally posted by Strike
Whoever wrote this should be given a medal and a lifetime supply of whatever he wants ;)

lmao.

i would actually vote for the person who wrote the gkt+ examples
:rolleyes:

[Evilsizer]

Originally posted by binaryDigit
lmao.

i would actually vote for the person who wrote the gkt+ examples
:rolleyes:

if you read his oringal one he quoted that meaning the one who did the examples....... yes the examples are nice for those like me starting out.

[Strike]

Originally posted by Evilsizer
if you read his oringal one he quoted that meaning the one who did the examples....... yes the examples are nice for those like me starting out.
Nah, I only quoted the GLUT example, because that's the only one of the three that I wrote :)

[binaryDigit]

and i was being a sarcastic smart @ss.
i wrote the gtk+ examples :D