well I have just aquired an application that was suggested to me by a friend who is in the computer gaming industry called Deep Exploration.
This application converts a 3d model of various formats to any one of other various formats.
I have been wondering about the usage of 3d models in OpenGL code lately, and so I aquired this program in order to help convert files to a proper format so that I might be able to use them.
All of my 3d models were originally in .3ds format (3DS Max mesh), but I did not know how to use a 3ds mesh in OpenGL, so I decided to convert it to OpenGL code using Deep Exploration.
Take into account the model I am converting contains about 9500 vertices and 18000 triangles.
The resultant cpp file was 15000 lines of code in length, made up of almost purely data for those vertices and faces.
(Obviously it put them in display lists).
What do you think of this method? Do you think it would be more efficient to just find out a method of loading the .3ds mesh into my program instead of converting it into a OpenGL cpp code file?
Or do you think it would take the same amount of data and processing power either way I go?
I'm not sure whether I really want to try implementing this model as a cpp file when the file is over 15000 lines long of data....but then again....if I learned the .3ds format and created my own loading procedures to lead the .3ds mesh, wouldnt it take just the same amount of data, or what?
How much do you think it would affect my fps rate? (my current rate is about 60 fps with my 3d terrain generator I have created so far).