====== Lab 1: Getting Started with Ogre 3D ======

The [[http://www.ogre3d.org/|Ogre 3D]] engine is an open source graphics engine written in C++. While Ogre 3D is not a game engine, it is designed to work with a range of other game engine components and it sports an impressive amount of well tuned features for game development. Some commercial games, such as [[http://www.torchlightgame.com/|Torchlight]] have been written with and on top of Ogre 3D.

In our course the reasons to get into Ogre 3D include:
  * Get to know a complex but well architectured system that is used in game development
  * Get to know the fundamentals of higher-level graphics techniques for games (e.g. scene management, animation)
  * Have a core C++ framework to build on for the final project

===== What to Do in this Lab=====

In this first lab, your goal is to get your first Ogre application running and then experiment with developing a simple scene. The [[http://www.ogre3d.org/tikiwiki/|Ogre Wiki]] is full of great resources, including really good [[http://www.ogre3d.org/tikiwiki/Tutorials|tutorials]]. We will make extensive use of these tutorials go get up-to-speed, so during this first Ogre week, your assignment is:

  * To complete the steps for [[buildingogrefromscratch|building an Ogre app from scratch]]
  * To complete the [[http://www.ogre3d.org/tikiwiki/Basic+Tutorial+1&structure=Tutorials|Basic Tutorial 1: Introduction to the SceneManager, SceneNode, and Entity objects]]
  * To complete the [[http://www.ogre3d.org/tikiwiki/Basic+Tutorial+2&structure=Tutorials|Basic Tutorial 2: Introduction to Cameras, Lights, and Shadows]] 

The assumption is that you can work on your own machines, so that you can take your development environment with you wherever you go.