Mesa and the Amiga

Ask any serious graphics developer what the king of 3D graphics programming interfaces is and he will probably say Mesa. Based closely on Silicon Graphics’ OpenGL 3D library, the Mesa 3D library offers the highest levels of acceptance, compatibility, and performance, on the vastest assortment of platforms. You are probably already using Mesa on your 68k-based and PowerPC-enhanced Classic Amigas.

Developers use Mesa to deliver 3D applications on Classic Amiga through Haage and Partner’s StormMesa implementation, and legions of developers are using Mesa on Linux to deliver blindingly fast high-res video games. Mesa, with its OpenGL roots, is likely the most ubiquitous graphics programming standard in the world.

Amiga Inc. is leveraging the ubiquity of Mesa in creation of the Next Generation Amiga 3D API. Drawing on the best available resources, this new Mesa implementation gives game developers proof that cross-developing on Amiga is easy. In fact, with the appeal of the Amiga’s Virtual Processor and the real time nature of Intent, Mesa is the icing on the game designer’s cake.

Jonas Gustavsson, Amiga’s Head of 3D Development, calls Mesa, “one of the most approachable APIs out there,” and adds, “the fact that most game companies need OpenGL (or [something] similar) is one of the main reasons Amiga chose Mesa.”

This is confirmed by id Software’s John Carmack, creator of such groundbreaking first-person 3D titles as Wolfenstein 3D and Quake and a living legend in the field of video game development. Carmack is a strong proponent of alternatives to Microsoft’s Direct3D (a closed, Windows-only 3D API), and has been very vocal about exposing the inefficiency of Direct3D when held up to OpenGL.

In one example, Carmack wrote some code that called Direct3D to perform a simple 3D operation. Then, he wrote some code that called OpenGL to perform the same operation. The Direct3D code was several orders of magnitude larger, both in form and function, than the OpenGL code. Such are the advantages of Mesa.

Thomas Freiden, of Amiga game developer Hyperion, sums up the advantages of Mesa by saying, “Application programmers will find Mesa to be a complete OpenGL [implementation], so they should be happy. Game developers will also be happy with it.” Not surprising, considering the origins and development model of Mesa. Thomas continues, “Mesa is a freely available Open Source implementation of the OpenGL 3D API. It’s compatible with OpenGL 1.2, minus some seldom-used functionality.”

To firms like Hyperion, this means unequivocal gaming compatibility among different types of display hardware, especially as 3D performance in hardware is accelerating at relativistic speeds. But add the new Amiga operating environment into the Mesa equation, and suddenly that compatibility gains a whole new meaning.

At the Java One conference in June, parts of the Amiga operating environment were demonstrated running on a Sega Dreamcast video game console. Coupled together with hardware drivers and Mesa, a single base of compiled 3D code can be run anywhere the Amiga operating environment runs, be it on a Sega Dreamcast, a PowerPC Classic Amiga, a Windows NT PC, an iMac, a Linux workstation, or something we haven’t imagined yet. With the Amiga environment and Mesa wrapped around their pre-packaged software products, video game developers won’t have to port games between platforms any more.

Of course, the widespread adoption of Mesa doesn’t solve the problem of porting applications that use non-compatible APIs like Direct3D. While there are some similarities between Mesa and Direct3D, porting from Direct3D is far more complicated than porting from OpenGL.

Moreover, developers who rely on inline assembler for their particular platforms need to convert that code to VP. While this may be somewhat of a challenge, the advantages of VP are more than obvious: it’s the most friendly assembly language you’ll ever meet, and it runs anywhere the Amiga operating environment runs. The conversion process is simplified by the development tools provided in the Amiga Software Development Kit.

Jonas Gustavsson points out the appeal of Amiga to game developers, particularly those who use OpenGL or Mesa in their programming. “The whole approach of VP technology (compile once and run everywhere) is most beneficial, but the fact is that desktop PCs today are fighting a losing battle against the consoles. Game companies are more and more hesitant to write games for computers instead of consoles. What Ami [the codename for the new Amiga Digital Environment] and Mesa give game developers is a solution where they write the game for Ami, and ship one CD or DVD with the hosted [or] non-hosted version of the game. The consumer just loads the game as usual.”

This approach can be used for any supported platforms-hosted platforms like Linux, Windows and WarpOS/Classic Amiga, or non-hosted platforms like x86, PowerPC, Mips, Sparc, etc. This will likely be extended to include the video game consoles, too, so just one binary is all the gamer has to worry about.

When asked what he thought about the appeal of Mesa to potential Amiga developers, Thomas Freiden says, “Amiga is offering the opportunity to use an industry-standard API, but I don't think Mesa will attract developers to the Amiga. Amiga will attract developers.”

Amiga’s Mesa development team includes graphics programming experts from around the world, including people from firms like Matrox, Tao Group, Precision Insight, and Hyperion, in addition to Amiga’s own interface team. Jonas, a self-confessed home theater junkie and long-time computer graphics engineer, leads the effort. Jonas is versed in the notions of particle effects, character animation, rigging, lighting, and compositing. He’s been working for years on television commercials.

One of Jonas’s most recent projects was an advertising campaign for Swedish infrastructure construction contractor Skanska. The video segments animated by Jonas included 3D-rendered animation that resembles a children’s crayon drawing. Fashioned using a variety of graphics tools including Lightwave for rendering and modeling, the 50-second piece includes speed and weight controls for animated cars with their own suspensions, weather effects, and automated traffic motion.

The project, titled “New Ideas,” won the Best in Show award from the 2000 Virtual Film Festival in its Commercial Film category. Jonas is applying his own new ideas and award-winning principles to the principle development of Amiga 3D technology.

Jonas Used Lightwave to Model and Render New Ideas

Backed by some of the top engineers in the business, Jonas, along with Vice President of Development Fleecy Moss and the Amiga interface team, are building the most appealing and revolutionary development environment for 3D software that has ever been created. A tall order, of course-but that’s what makes it Amiga.

What users of Amiga technology can expect is a 3D system that is portable across platforms (due to the hosted Amiga operating environment), is very easy to develop for (due to VP), and offers stellar performance (due to the tightness of Mesa).

While additional graphics interfaces such as Renderware will become available for Amiga in the future, the Next Generation Amiga Mesa library enters closed beta testing in the next few weeks. Amiga developers can expect the 3D implementation as a part of the next Software Development Kit.