Beginning with REDsdk

Welcome to REDsdk! You're just about to create high quality graphics: 2d, 3d, photorealism... everything in a single package. This book will guide you through the very first steps in working with REDsdk and gives entry points to more detailed sections of the documentation.

So, let's start!

What do I need?

REDsdk has no dependencies. It means that to develop with REDsdk, you only need to get the include files and one library: REDCore. Those libraries come already compiled for Windows x86/x64, Linux x86/x64 and Mac OS x64. Additional libraries may be needed for some specific functions. See Deployment for details.

REDsdk is a C++ API, meaning that it can be used out-of-the-box to start writing C/C++ applications immediately with it. At the price of writing (or generating) a wrapper, it can also be used with a lot of other languages.

REDsdk comes with a huge amount of documentation material including reference manual, programming guide and tutorials. The tutorials are already compiled for every supported platforms but you can recompile them at your will by using the provided Microsoft Visual Studio solutions or Unix/Mac OS makefiles.

Finding information

REDsdk covers all the graphics needs and therefore may look a little bit complex to new users. But don't be afraid, the dozens of tutorials and the brand new documentation system are here to guide you through your journey.

The entry point to all your requests is the documentation system. Just select from the provided categories or search for keywords to get access to hundreds of pages.

The documentation is divided in four categories:

• Books are collections of information on one subject;
• Tutorials are example implementations demonstrating one (or a few) REDsdk feature(s) at a time;
• Tasks are code excerpts which demonstrate the implementation of an atomic task with REDsdk;
• The API reference is the REDsdk reference manual and lists all the API methods, functions and data structures.

What is REDsdk capable of?

REDsdk aims at providing you solution to your rendering needs. REDsdk embeds both a real-time rendering engine and a software rendering engine. You can get a quick overview of REDsdk's feature set here: REDsdk features at a glance.

Starting with REDsdk

Included in the package is a small, light-weight framework which enables you to start very quickly prototyping with REDsdk. It's cross-platform and handles for you the creation and the management of a windowed application with tool bars, menus and commands. It natively encapsulates a pre-built REDsdk view to start rendering immediately.

All the tutorials are written using that framework. To learn more about starting with the framework, please have a look at First App.

Then, you'll need some knowledge of REDsdk fundamentals, so be sure to take a look at the Building a REDsdk application book.

The REDsdk scene graph overview book covers the details of data creation and management with REDsdk.

The creation and manipulation of materials and images is covered in the Building REDsdk materials and REDsdk textures and images books.

Finally, the Rendering with REDsdk book will teach you all the rendering techniques available in REDsdk.