RBGL v1.1 Released

We've added a new REALbasic library to our open source software section.

The RBGL library is a set of simple classes for drawing using OpenGL in REALbasic. REALbasic's Quesa-based 3D graphics support was recently deprecated and its 2D drawing API has no built-in support for hardware accelerated graphics, which makes it too slow to use for games.

The RBGL library provides replacement versions of the REALbasic Canvas and Graphics classes that exactly mimic the built-in APIs, but use OpenGL to accelerate the drawing. These classes also give you the hooks you need to use raw OpenGL commands (via declares) for drawing more sophisticated 2D or 3D graphics in your applications.

Best of all, RBGL uses no plugins, relying on declares to the native OpenGL graphics libraries on Mac OS and Windows. And because it's open source, you have the security of knowing that any programs you build on top of it can be maintained indefinitely.

As an additional convenience, we have included a link to our Subversion repository so you can grab the latest version of the code as soon as it's written, without having to wait for official releases. We'll be including repository links for all of our future open source offerings from now on.

RBGL is still in the very early stages of development, and we have a lot of exciting plans for additional functionality, so watch this space. As always, if you find any bugs or think of any features you'd like to see, you can make suggestions via the feedback form on the open source page.