Does Shiva support the C++11 standard?
I want to learn how to use a game engine and I already know C++, so I prefer Shiva over Unity if it supports C++11.
ShiVa engine development does support development C++.
Please see here for more information.
One of the methods in the above link says:
In ShiVa, create a game with one main AIModel that will act as a "proxy" between the engine and your C++ code, let's call it "AIProxy".
In your "AIProxy", add for instance a handler named "onLoadScene", another one named "onMoveObject", etc.
Import your objects, create your scenes, and any other assets you'll need at runtime.
Now, export your game as an STK file.
On the Mac side, open the ShiVa Authoring Tool and create an Xcode project from your STK file.
Now you can use the function "S3DClient_SendEventToCurrentUser" located in the "S3DClient_Wrapper.h" to call your "AIProxy" handlers from the C++ and/or Objective-C. For the opposite (calling the C++ from the Script you can use the hooks related functions).
Related
I am developing 2 Maya plugins in C++ and would like to call a function in plugin #1 from plugin #2 and send parameters along with the function.
The caller plugin is an MPxNode and the called plugin should be "general" functions whose role are to create some rendering VRayPlugins.
How should I proceed to declare and call the appropriate functions ?
Maya plug-ins are not different from standard DLL whether you run on Windows, OSX, or Linux. There is multiple approach you can use here. You can link the utility dll to your plug-in, and as long the OS can find it, it will be loaded in Maya address space whenever the plug-in loads in Maya (like any DLL, including the Maya DLLs). The other way is to export symbols from the DLL, but link the function/class at runtime (LoadLibrary() / GetProcAdress()). This time, you need to load the utility DLL yourself, and search for the export signatures before calling them. For these 2 methods, this is standard C++ programming, nothing special regarding Maya.
Now if you work with the Maya DG, you could also think about MMessage / MPxNode to transport and evaluate data. This is specific to the Maya DG and API. But I am not sure you need that level of complexity for what you described above.
Cocos2d-JS is Cocos2d-x engine's JavaScript version that includes
Cocos2d-html5 and Cocos2d-x JavaScript Bindings. It equips your game
with cross-browser and cross-platform abilities, accompanied by full
Cocos2d-x features and simplified JavaScript friendly APIs.
I understand that you write JS and it works every where, but how it is done? I want to understand this diagram: http://www.cocos2d-x.org/wiki/Getting_Started_Cocos2d-js As I understand cocos2d-html5 is the same thing as cocos2d-x but it is in JS and based on WebGL. If this is true then what is Cocos2d-JSB? Does it compile JS script to native code? Or is it a JS extended interpreter, that understands more than native interpreter and can interpret cocos2d specific commands?
As I understand cocos2d-html5 is the same thing as cocos2d-x but it is
in JS and based on WebGL. If this is true then what is Cocos2d-JSB?
I believe the JSB appended to cocos2d-x JSB simply means: cocos2d-x JavaScript Bindings
The module that does the translation / mediation between two programming languages is commonly called a "binding". The JSB is just a small aspect of cocos2d-x that allows users to run apps written in cocos2d-js Javascript via the cocos2d-x C++ rendering engine.
Note that cocos2d-html5 is not exactly the same as cocos2d-x. It provides similar functionality than cocos2d-x but runs only in a web browser. Obviously cocos2d-html5 has no functionality for touch or accelerometer input, and other restrictions when it comes to saving and loading files, for instance.
Does it compile JS script to native code? Or is it a JS extended interpreter, that understands more than native interpreter and can interpret cocos2d specific commands?
The JSB simply maps between the Javascript API and the C++ cocos2d-x versions of classes, methods, identifiers and what not.
I don't know whether it compiles Javascript to native code.
The gist of this:
cocos2d-js provides a programming interface (API) in Javascript that produces the same results whether you run it in the browser via cocos2d-html5 or on other (mobile) platforms via cocos2d-x.
Cocos2d-x uses SpiderMonkey, the Firefox JS virtual machine (VM), to
execute JS code.
The JS VM is extended to support all the cocos2d, Chipmunk and CocosBuilder Reader APIs. So, when you create a CCSprite in JS, you
are actually creating an C++ CCSprite. When you create an action in
JS, you are actually creating an C++ action, when you create a
particle system in JS, you are actually creating an C++ particle
system… and so on. This approach is about 10x ~ 20x faster than HTML5
games even when they use accelerators like directCanvas Basically all
the cocos2d, Chipmunk or CocosBuilder Reader APIs are going to perform
almost at native speed. But you should pay attention to the following
scenarios: The performance could be slow down while the garbage
collector is run. Workaround: Do not create many JS objects. Reuse as
many as possible Having a complex main loop could slow down the
performance. Workaround: Profile your JS code, and if you can’t
further optimize it, write the expensive parts in C++ and create JS
bindings for those functions.
This is from wiki. So the JS interpreter is extended to understand cocos2d api command such as create Action or create Sprite.
I'm new to Chrome Application development and the Native Client/PNaCL pipeline. I'm a bit confused over the process of using existing C code/libraries in a chrome application. The FAQs and NaCL official docs suggest that using existing code is easy, and one of the advantages of developing Chrome applications.
However, there is also mention of nacl-ports, an official list of ported C libraries to be used in Native Client apps.
If I have some random C library I've used, what is the process for actually using it in my Chrome application? This question feels silly, but I'm quite confused over the process. Do I have to recompile the source with a NaCL compiler? Where in the SDK can I find this?
The FAQ also mentions that things like forks, file i/o is not allowed in the library, so I will have to rewrite any code that does these things, is that correct?
Bottomline: I have an existing C library. What is the process for using it correctly, and making calls to it, in a Chrome application?
The short answer is that you'll have to recompile your library with a NaCl C compiler.
You may want to take a look at naclports: this repository contains ports of many common C libraries to Native Client. You can browse the source more easily here.
As for File I/O, we often suggest using the nacl_io library when porting existing code. This provides a POSIX interface (e.g. fopen/fclose/fread, etc.) Many ported libraries require no modifications when using nacl_io.
We're moving to Windows Phone 8. But since many good libraries out there are in pure C. So what is the best way for Windows Phone C# application to consume this C library?
Place C code in WP Static library. Then reference it from WP Runtime
component
Place C code in WP Runtime component
What is the best practice ?
There isn't any real difference between the two approaches. A static library is nothing but a collection of .obj files, the exact same kind of .obj files that you'll get from approach #2. After the linker is done, there won't be any difference in the result.
That's when everything is perfect, an ideal that can be very difficult to achieve when you use open source C code. An advantage of a static .lib is that it improves build time, not having to re-generate the .obj files. But that's also their disadvantage, you'll shoot your foot if you use a .lib that was created by somebody else and he didn't use the same compiler version or compile options. The simplest example of such a trap is building your Debug version and the .lib was built for Release. Or if it uses winapi functions that are verboten in a Phone app, pretty common. So #3 is the best way to avoid problems, build the .lib yourself so you can control all the compile and link settings. Do beware however that it can be very difficult to get open source C code to build, it often comes with a very extensive configuration script, designed to deal with the differences between the many architecture and Unix variants.
Is there any way to use the library of other language in Action Script 3 ?
For C/C++
I learned that we can use Alchemy: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/alchemy/
But for other languages (here I mean Ruby or Java), can I use their libs via AS3 ?
Alchemy is a cross-compiler from LLVM to ABC, if the language you are interested in can compile to LLVM, then, in theory, you can compile to ABC. So, Alchemy supports (with some tweaks) also C# or Java (but you will have to spend some time getting them to work together, there's no out of the box solution).
AIR (which is a desktop variant of Flash) can use something called "NativeProcess" which means that granted the operating system can execute the code in the library, then you can do so by creating a new process that calls the function from the library you need.
In AIR, again, there's a new feature called ANE (AIR Native Extensions) - this allows you to bind AIR more tightly to the native code. But, it doesn't need to be native as in object files only, it should be something the underlying system can execute. But I have to confess, I never tried creating any such extension, so my knowledge of it is theoretical.
No you can not use Ruby or Java code/libraries in Flash. Alchemy only allows you to use C and C++ libraries. The only way is to port those libraries to ActionScript, or maybe the library you want to use has already been ported to AS3.
It is also possible that there is something similar in AS3. You could ask another question here or on an Flash forum if anyone knows if the library you need has an equivalent in flash.