Tiny Graphics Engine - Tigre
Overview
Tigre (Tiny Graphics Engine) is a free rendering library for Windows Mobile 5, 6, 6.1 and 6.5 that provides you real time and interactive rendering. Its fully written in managed C# for the .NET Compact Framework and is able to use hardware acceleration for fluid and stunning graphics.
Tigre 1.1 vs. 2.0
There are currently two actual versions of Tigre. Version 1.1 uses the fixed OpenGl ES rendering pipeline while Tigre 2.0 uses the dynamic OpenGl ES pipeline. You can find more details in the Getting started with Tigre and OpenGl ES 2 article.
Important: Tigre 2.0 is a preview of the upcoming 2.1 release, which will merge the dynamic and the fixed pipeline. This will make Tigre to support older and newer devices with just one framework!
| Tigre | OpenGl ES 1.x | OpenGl ES 2.0 |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Yes | No |
| 2.0 | No | Yes |
| 2.5* | Yes | Yes |
*not yet released!
Tigre in action!
If you want to see what Tigre can do you can have a look at the gallery with screenshots or install the samples on your device.
Features
- fast, easy to use and fully object oriented
- hardware accelerated 2D and 3D rendering using OpenGl ES
- based on .NET Compact Framework 3.5
- dynamic rendering pipeline
- flexible camera model
- complete transformation model (using OpenGl ES or DirectX mobile)
- flexible texture model, including cube map textures
- nearest neighbour, bilinear, trilinear and up to 16 x anisotropic texture filtering
- text rendering
- flexible vertex model
- wavefront obj support
- support for shader compiler and binary shaders
- open-source and free for non-commercial use
Requirements for Tigre 1.1
- Windows Mobile 5, 6, 6.1 or 6.5 powered device
- .NET Compact Framework 3.5 runtime
- OpenGl ES 1.0 or 1.1 powered device, see supported devices
- if no OpenGl ES driver is available you can use the vincent software renderer
Requirements for Tigre 2.0
- Windows Mobile 5, 6, 6.1 or 6.5 powered device
- .NET Compact Framework 3.5 runtime
- OpenGl ES 2.0 powered device*
* if the device comes without a shader compiler, a offline shader compiler will be needed
Optional
- OpenGl ES 1.x for faster transformations
- Shader compiler
Windows Mobile and OpenGl ES
The biggest problem with OpenGl ES on Windows Mobile is the driver support. Since the API is not part of the OS itself, its on the manufacturer to deliver proper drivers. Such a driver is the connection between the general OpenGl ES API and the specific hardware of the device. If the manufacturer of the device does not offer the driver there is sadly no way to access the hardware! Fortunately most manufactures offers the driver. HTC for example offers very good drivers for their latest devices (probably not the fastest, but feature richest so that Tigre runs out of the box!). Please refer to the list of supported devices and to Windows Mobile and OpenGl ES drivers for more details!
