Other implementations
Alain Thellier created open source clone called Wazp3D. [19] MorphOS included a Warp3D implementation known as Goa3D Graphics Library developed by Nicolas Sallin. [20]
| Developer(s) | Sam Jordan, Hans-Joerg Frieden, Thomas Frieden, Hans De Ruiter |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 53.22 / May 22, 2013 |
| Operating system | AmigaOS |
| Type | API |
| License | Closed source |
| Website | https://web.archive.org/web/20210509065212/http://download.haage-partner.de/Amiga/3DWorld/ |
| Developer(s) | Hans De Ruiter for A-EON Technology |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 1.5 / June 30, 2019 |
| Operating system | AmigaOS |
| Type | API |
| License | Closed source |
| Website | http://wiki.amiga.org/warp3dnova |
Warp3D was a project founded by Haage & Partner in 1998 that aimed to provide a standard API that would enable programmers to access, and therefore use, 3D hardware on the Amiga. [1] [2]
Its design was similar to that of both the Picasso96 graphics card drivers and operated in a similar fashion to the 3dfx Glide API, which provided a uniform and standardised way for programmers to create software for the 3D graphics cards that were available at the time. [1]
It was hoped that the creation of this API would not only encourage the development and release of more 3D graphics cards, but also move away from the situation where a new piece of hardware had been developed with no software available to run on it. If the particular piece of software used the Warp3D API (enabled through a shared library), any current or newly developed hardware would be able to be used. [1] [3] Hyperion Entertainment developers created OpenGL subset called MiniGL sitting on top of Warp3D to ease porting of games such as Heretic II. [4]
At time of its release, Warp3D provided significant speed increase over software rendering. [5] Years later however, newer 3D APIs (e.g. TinyGL in MorphOS) offered better performance on the same hardware. [6]
In 2014, it was announced that Warp3D was now jointly owned by British company A-EON Technology Ltd. [7] On April 1, 2015, A-EON Technology subsequently released Warp3D for RadeonHD (Southern Islands chipset). [8]
In March 2016, A-EON Technology Ltd announced that they had developed the new Warp3D Nova featuring support for Shaders. [9] [10] Warp3D Nova was originally mentioned as planned complete rewrite and Shader-centric design in the AmigaOS 4.0 Feature List more than decade earlier. [11] [12] Development of the new release intentionally took some inspiration from this original Warp3D Nova plan. [13] The pre-release version 1.15 was published on 1 May 2016 in the Enhancer Software package for AmigaOS 4. [14] [15] Apart from its name and being related to 3D graphics, Warp3D Nova has nothing in common with the original Warp3D.
Also in March 2016 A-EON Technology Ltd announced that Daniel Müßener / GoldenCode.eu had been hired to create an OpenGL ES 2 implementation on top of Warp3D Nova. [9] The first public version 1.4 was released on 31 August 2016 as part of the Enhancer Software package version 1.1. [16]
Warp3D requires the following in order to work properly
It also requires 3D hardware to be present, and will not run with graphics cards that are 2D only, or AGA, ECS or OCS. [18]
Alain Thellier created open source clone called Wazp3D. [19] MorphOS included a Warp3D implementation known as Goa3D Graphics Library developed by Nicolas Sallin. [20]
OpenGL is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardware-accelerated rendering.
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AmigaOS is a family of proprietary native operating systems of the Amiga and AmigaOne personal computers. It was developed first by Commodore International and introduced with the launch of the first Amiga, the Amiga 1000, in 1985. Early versions of AmigaOS required the Motorola 68000 series of 16-bit and 32-bit microprocessors. Later versions were developed by Haage & Partner and then Hyperion Entertainment. A PowerPC microprocessor is required for the most recent release, AmigaOS 4.
AmigaOne X1000 is a PowerPC-based personal computer intended as a high-end platform for AmigaOS 4. It was announced by A-Eon Technology CVBA in partnership with Hyperion Entertainment and released in 2011. Its name pays homage to the Amiga 1000 released by Commodore in 1985. It is, however, not hardware-compatible with the original Commodore Amiga system.
Retargetable graphics is a device driver API mainly used by third-party graphics hardware to interface with AmigaOS via a set of libraries. The software libraries may include software tools to adjust resolution, screen colors, pointers, and screenmodes. It will use available hardware and will not extend the capabilities in any way.
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