Warp3D

Warp3D was a project, founded by Haage & Partner in 1998, that aimed to provide a standard API which would enable programmers to access, and therefore use, 3D hardware on the Amiga.[1][2]

Warp3D
Developer(s)Sam Jordan, Hans-Joerg Frieden, Thomas Frieden, Hans De Ruiter
Stable release
53.22 / May 22, 2013 (2013-05-22)
Operating systemAmigaOS
TypeAPI
LicenseClosed source
Websitehttp://download.haage-partner.de/Amiga/3DWorld/
Warp3D Nova
Developer(s)Hans De Ruiter for A-EON Technology
Stable release
1.5 / June 30, 2019 (2019-06-30)
Operating systemAmigaOS
TypeAPI
LicenseClosed source
Websitehttp://wiki.amiga.org/warp3dnova

Its design was similar to that of both the Picasso96 graphics card drivers and operated in a similar fashion to the 3dfx Glide API, which provided a uniform and standardised way for programmers to create software for the 3D graphics cards that were available at the time.[1]

It was hoped that the creation of this API would not only encourage the development and release of more 3D graphics cards, but also move away from the situation where a new piece of hardware had been developed with no software available to run on it. If the particular piece of software used the Warp3D API (enabled through a shared library), any current or newly developed hardware would be able to be used.[1][3] Hyperion Entertainment developers created OpenGL subset called MiniGL sitting on top of Warp3D to ease porting of games such as Heretic II.[4]

At time of its release, Warp3D provided significant speed increase over software rendering.[5] Years later however, newer 3D APIs (e.g. TinyGL in MorphOS) offered better performance on the same hardware.[6]

In 2014, it was announced that Warp3D was now jointly owned by British company A-EON Technology Ltd.[7] On April 1, 2015, A-EON Technology subsequently released Warp3D for RadeonHD (Southern Islands chipset).[8]

In March 2016, A-EON Technology Ltd announced that they had developed the new Warp3D Nova featuring support for Shaders.[9][10] Warp3D Nova was originally mentioned as planned complete rewrite and Shader-centric design in the AmigaOS 4.0 Feature List more than decade earlier.[11][12] Development of the new release intentionally took some inspiration from this original Warp3D Nova plan.[13] The pre-release version 1.15 was published on 1 May 2016 in the Enhancer Software package for AmigaOS 4.[14][15] Apart from its name and being related to 3D graphics, Warp3D Nova has nothing in common with the original Warp3D.

Also in March 2016 A-EON Technology Ltd announced that Daniel Müßener / GoldenCode.eu had been hired to create an OpenGL ES 2 implementation on top of Warp3D Nova.[9] The first public version 1.4 was released on 31 August 2016 as part of the Enhancer Software package version 1.1.[16]

Running Requirements

Warp3D requires the following in order to work properly

It also requires 3D hardware to be present, and will not run with graphics cards that are 2D only, or AGA, ECS or OCS.[18]

Other implementations

Amiga 3D APIs

Alain Thellier created open source clone called Wazp3D.[19] MorphOS included a Warp3D implementation known as Goa3D Graphics Library developed by Nicolas Sallin.[20]

References
  1. "What is Warp3D". 2006. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  2. Vost, Ben (March 1999). "What's on your disc? At your fingertips, Go 3D". Amiga Format. No. 121. Future Publishing. p. 98. ISSN 0957-4867.
  3. Šostý, Lumír (July 1999). "Warp3D". Amiga Review (in Czech). No. 46/47. Atlantida Publishing. p. 44. ISSN 1211-1465.
  4. Vost, Ben (December 1999). "Previews, Heretic II". Amiga Format. No. 130. Future Publishing. pp. 28–29. ISSN 0957-4867.
  5. Šostý, Lumír (July 1999). "Warp 3D: ADescent - tentokráte srovnání verzí". Amiga Review (in Czech). No. 46/47. Atlantida Publishing. p. 45. ISSN 1211-1465.
  6. Brunet, David (September 2009). "Comparatif : Performances entre AmigaOS 4.1 et MorphOS 2.3 sur Pegasos II". obligement.free.fr (in French). Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  7. "A-EON Software Update" (PDF) (Press release). AmiWest 2014 (Sacramento): A-Eon Technology. October 25, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2016.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  8. "New 3D drivers for AmigaOS 4.1" (PDF) (Press release). Cardiff: A-Eon Technology. April 1, 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
  9. "Introducing Warp3D Nova" (PDF) (Press release). Cardiff: A-EON Technology Ltd. March 22, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
  10. Förster, Moritz (2016-03-24). "Alternative Betriebssysteme: Neues 3D-Treibersystem für AmigaOS 4". iX magazine (in German). Retrieved 2016-10-29.
  11. "AmigaOS 4.0 Feature List Revision 1.0" (PDF). intuitionbase.com. Hyperion Entertainment. January 7, 2003. pp. 11–12. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  12. Williams, Robert (Spring 2003). "AmigaOS 4 Update" (PDF). Total Amiga. No. 14. South Essex Amiga Link. p. 15.
  13. "Introducing Warp3D Nova for OS4". Amigaworld.net. March 23, 2016. Post 59 by Hans. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  14. "Enhancer Software Released On AMIStore (OS4)" (Press release). Cardiff: A-EON Technology. AmigaWorld.net. May 1, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  15. "Changelog". amiga.org. May 1, 2017. Amiga Kit. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  16. "Enhancer Software v1.1 Released - Amiga.org". www.amiga.org. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  17. "Warp3D 3.0 Read Me". 27 March 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  18. "Warp3D 4.2a Read Me". 13 October 2002. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  19. "Wazp3D". Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  20. "Goa3D Graphics Library". Retrieved 17 July 2010.

Further reading
  • "Active Gamer - Warp3D 4.2 for Voodoo3". Amiga Active. No. 24. Pinprint Publishing. September 2001. pp. 50–. ISSN 1467-3533.
  • "Warp Factor 3D!". Amiga Active. No. 25. Pinprint Publishing. October 2001. pp. 46–. ISSN 1467-3533.
  • "Warp3D Masterclass". Amiga Active. No. 26. Pinprint Publishing. November 2001. pp. 48–. ISSN 1467-3533.
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