nanovg VS LWJGL

I use nanovg for my projects and it works surprisingly well for its size. It integration is pretty simple .... if you know a little bit of OpenGL, otherwise there is a slight learning curve.

The "engine" is built on top of amazing https://www.lwjgl.org/ and https://github.com/bkaradzic/bgfx/, and UI system is baked by https://github.com/memononen/nanovg and https://github.com/facebook/yoga

It's a library for drawing vector shapes, sort of like SVG - https://github.com/memononen/nanovg The old way in the SDK was with GDI+, but the benefit of a vector format is scalability to higher resolutions and better GPU usage. The workaround potentially costs some frames, but its better than bust panels for now.

If you are a beginner in computer graphics, I strongly suggest you to look at the nanovg library: it contains all the primitives you might want to render (circles, lines, filled polygons, text, images, ...). Integrating it in existing codebase is not that hard, since the library is rather small.

NanoVG is the closest thing I came across when I had a similar quesiton: https://github.com/memononen/NanoVG

unfortunately it doesn't seem like it's getting steady updates now unlike the last time I checked. But I imagine it's pretty mature at this point. There also seem to be ports in Metal/DX11 if you didn't want to be stuck in OpenGL.

Also there's NanoVG if you really want a vector api in C, but don't need anti-aliased clipping.

Getting sufficient antialiasing quality for 2D graphics is difficult on GPUs. https://github.com/memononen/nanovg accomplishes this with GL2/GLES2 level hardware for most of the stuff one would want to render as part of a GUI. My project https://github.com/styluslabs/nanovgXC supports rendering arbitrary paths with exact coverage antialiasing, but requires GLES3.1 or GL4 level hardware for reasonable performance.

> to learn the 'nuts and bolts' of rendering

These nuts and bolts are very different between CPU and GPU. CPU-based libraries are painting pixels in bitmaps in system memory. Most GPU-based libraries are uploading indexed triangle meshes, and rendering them with weird shaders.

Worse, there're no good open source implementations of GPU-based ones. Microsoft ships an implementation as a part of OS (Direct2D) but it's not open source. Linux simply doesn't have an equivalent.

At least for initial versions, consider C interop with this https://github.com/memononen/nanovg It cuts a few corners (no cleartype for text, CPU overhead for repeated rendering of same static paths) but it's still good overall, simple, and easy to use.

> My only concern with C# is the cross compatibility

Works well on Linux, Windows and OSX, including ARM CPUs. Not sure about Android and iOS, never tested.

My largest concern with C# would be performance. Technically the language allows to code in any style, but most guides and examples are using OO-heavy one.

Download the latest LWJGL binaries from the official website.

(The LWJGL binding of OpenAL. For more information, see http://www.lwjgl.org)

229 recipes 27 achievements 2023-11-15 18:45:08 [CLIENT] [INFO] Setting user: aleislost (Session ID is token:0:) 2023-11-15 18:45:08 [CLIENT] [INFO] LWJGL Version: 2.9.4 Starting up SoundSystem... Initializing LWJGL OpenAL (The LWJGL binding of OpenAL. For more information, see http://www.lwjgl.org) OpenAL initialized. # # A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment: # # EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) at pc=0x00007ffd49392ee7, pid=5988, tid=0x0000000000002188 # # JRE version: OpenJDK Runtime Environment (8.0_392-b08) (build 1.8.0_392-b08) # Java VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (25.392-b08 mixed mode windows-amd64 compressed oops) # Problematic frame: # C [ig7icd64.dll+0x22ee7] # # Failed to write core dump. Minidumps are not enabled by default on client versions of Windows # # An error report file with more information is saved as: # C:\Users\Ale\AppData\Roaming\PollyMC\instances\1.5.2\.minecraft\hs_err_pid5988.log # # If you would like to submit a bug report, please visit: # https://github.com/adoptium/adoptium-support/issues # The crash happened outside the Java Virtual Machine in native code. # See problematic frame for where to report the bug. # AL lib: (EE) alc_cleanup: 1 device not closed Process exited with code 1.

Both libGDX and JMonkey engine make use of LWJGL.

[17:23:20] [Client thread/WARN]: EventBus 0 shutting down - future events will not be posted. [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Reloading ResourceManager: Default, FMLFileResourcePack:Forge Mod Loader, FMLFileResourcePack:Minecraft Forge, FMLFileResourcePack:YUNG's Better Mineshafts, FMLFileResourcePack:Biomes O' Plenty, FMLFileResourcePack:Bountiful, FMLFileResourcePack:Mowzie's Mobs, FMLFileResourcePack:Quark, FMLFileResourcePack:Spiders 2.0, FMLFileResourcePack:Tetra, FMLFileResourcePack:The Twilight Forest, FMLFileResourcePack:Xaero's World Map [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.RenderItem [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderItem, func_180454_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/item/ItemStack;Lnet/minecraft/client/renderer/block/model/IBakedModel;)V) [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderEffect, func_191966_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/client/renderer/block/model/IBakedModel;)V) [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node LDC -8372020 [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node LDC -8372020 [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.EntityRenderer [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderWorldPass, func_175068_a] Descriptor (IFJ)V) [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node INVOKESPECIAL net/minecraft/client/renderer/EntityRenderer.func_78479_a (FI)V [17:23:20] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:20] [Client thread/WARN]: There were errors previously. Not beginning mod initialization phase [17:23:21] [Sound Library Loader/INFO]: Starting up SoundSystem... [17:23:21] [Thread-2/INFO]: Initializing LWJGL OpenAL [17:23:21] [Thread-2/INFO]: (The LWJGL binding of OpenAL. For more information, see http://www.lwjgl.org) [17:23:21] [Thread-2/INFO]: OpenAL initialized. [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.entity.RenderManager [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderEntity, func_188391_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/entity/Entity;DDDFFZ)V) [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node INVOKEVIRTUAL net/minecraft/client/renderer/entity/Render.func_76986_a (Lnet/minecraft/entity/Entity;DDDFF)V [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.entity.Render [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderEntityOnFire, func_76977_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/entity/Entity;DDDF)V) [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.model.ModelBiped [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [setRotationAngles, func_78087_a] Descriptor (FFFFFFLnet/minecraft/entity/Entity;)V) [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node RETURN [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.entity.layers.LayerArmorBase [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderArmorLayer, func_188361_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/entity/EntityLivingBase;FFFFFFFLnet/minecraft/inventory/EntityEquipmentSlot;)V) [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderEnchantedGlint, func_188364_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/client/renderer/entity/RenderLivingBase;Lnet/minecraft/entity/EntityLivingBase;Lnet/minecraft/client/model/ModelBase;FFFFFFF)V) [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node INVOKESTATIC net/minecraft/client/renderer/GlStateManager.func_179131_c (FFFF)V [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node INVOKESTATIC net/minecraft/client/renderer/GlStateManager.func_179131_c (FFFF)V [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:21] [Sound Library Loader/INFO]: Sound engine started [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.entity.RenderBoat [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [doRender, func_188300_b] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/entity/item/EntityBoat;DDDFF)V) [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node INVOKEINTERFACE net/minecraft/client/model/IMultipassModel.func_187054_b (Lnet/minecraft/entity/Entity;FFFFFF)V [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.entity.layers.LayerEntityOnShoulder [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderEntityOnShoulder, func_192864_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/entity/player/EntityPlayer;Ljava/util/UUID;Lnet/minecraft/nbt/NBTTagCompound;Lnet/minecraft/client/renderer/entity/RenderLivingBase;Lnet/minecraft/client/model/ModelBase;Lnet/minecraft/util/ResourceLocation;Ljava/lang/Class;FFFFFFFZ)Lnet/minecraft/client/renderer/entity/layers/LayerEntityOnShoulder$DataHolder;) [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node INVOKEVIRTUAL net/minecraft/client/renderer/entity/RenderLivingBase.func_110776_a (Lnet/minecraft/util/ResourceLocation;)V [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:21] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.BlockModelRenderer [17:23:22] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [renderQuadsFlat, func_187496_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/world/IBlockAccess;Lnet/minecraft/block/state/IBlockState;Lnet/minecraft/util/math/BlockPos;IZLnet/minecraft/client/renderer/BufferBuilder;Ljava/util/List;Ljava/util/BitSet;)V) [17:23:22] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:22] [Client thread/INFO]: Located patch target node INVOKEVIRTUAL net/minecraft/client/renderer/BufferBuilder.func_178987_a (DDD)V [17:23:22] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true [17:23:22] [Client thread/WARN]: ERROR : Couldn't load Narrator library : Unable to load library 'fliteWrapper': Native library (linux-aarch64/libfliteWrapper.so) not found in resource path ([file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/lwjgl3/lwjgl-glfw-classes.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/apache/logging/log4j/log4j-slf4j18-impl/2.15.0/log4j-slf4j18-impl-2.15.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/apache/maven/maven-artifact/3.5.3/maven-artifact-3.5.3.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/net/sf/trove4j/trove4j/3.0.3/trove4j-3.0.3.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/java3d/vecmath/1.5.2/vecmath-1.5.2.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/lzma/lzma/0.0.1/lzma-0.0.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/scala-xml_2.11/1.0.2/scala-xml_2.11-1.0.2.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/scala-swing_2.11/1.0.1/scala-swing_2.11-1.0.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/scala-reflect/2.11.1/scala-reflect-2.11.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/scala-parser-combinators_2.11/1.0.1/scala-parser-combinators_2.11-1.0.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/scala-library/2.11.1/scala-library-2.11.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/plugins/scala-continuations-plugin_2.11.1/1.0.2_mc/scala-continuations-plugin_2.11.1-1.0.2_mc.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/plugins/scala-continuations-library_2.11/1.0.2_mc/scala-continuations-library_2.11-1.0.2_mc.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/scala-compiler/2.11.1/scala-compiler-2.11.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/scala-lang/scala-actors-migration_2.11/1.1.0/scala-actors-migration_2.11-1.1.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/typesafe/config/1.2.1/config-1.2.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/typesafe/akka/akka-actor_2.11/2.3.3/akka-actor_2.11-2.3.3.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/jline/jline/3.5.1/jline-3.5.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/net/minecraft/launchwrapper/1.12/launchwrapper-1.12.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/ow2/asm/asm-debug-all/5.2/asm-debug-all-5.2.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/net/minecraftforge/forge/1.12.2-14.23.5.2859/forge-1.12.2-14.23.5.2859.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/mojang/patchy/1.3.9/patchy-1.3.9.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/oshi-project/oshi-core/1.1/oshi-core-1.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/net/java/dev/jna/jna/4.4.0/jna-4.4.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/net/java/dev/jna/platform/3.4.0/platform-3.4.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/ibm/icu/icu4j-core-mojang/51.2/icu4j-core-mojang-51.2.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/net/sf/jopt-simple/jopt-simple/5.0.3/jopt-simple-5.0.3.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/paulscode/codecjorbis/20101023/codecjorbis-20101023.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/paulscode/codecwav/20101023/codecwav-20101023.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/paulscode/libraryjavasound/20101123/libraryjavasound-20101123.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/paulscode/librarylwjglopenal/20100824/librarylwjglopenal-20100824.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/paulscode/soundsystem/20120107/soundsystem-20120107.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/io/netty/netty-all/4.1.9.Final/netty-all-4.1.9.Final.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/google/guava/guava/21.0/guava-21.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/apache/commons/commons-lang3/3.5/commons-lang3-3.5.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/commons-io/commons-io/2.5/commons-io-2.5.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/commons-codec/commons-codec/1.10/commons-codec-1.10.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/net/java/jinput/jinput/2.0.5/jinput-2.0.5.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/net/java/jutils/jutils/1.0.0/jutils-1.0.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/google/code/gson/gson/2.8.0/gson-2.8.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/mojang/authlib/1.5.25/authlib-1.5.25.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/mojang/realms/1.10.22/realms-1.10.22.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/apache/commons/commons-compress/1.8.1/commons-compress-1.8.1.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/apache/httpcomponents/httpclient/4.3.3/httpclient-4.3.3.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/commons-logging/commons-logging/1.1.3/commons-logging-1.1.3.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/apache/httpcomponents/httpcore/4.3.2/httpcore-4.3.2.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/it/unimi/dsi/fastutil/7.1.0/fastutil-7.1.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/apache/logging/log4j/log4j-api/2.15.0/log4j-api-2.15.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/org/apache/logging/log4j/log4j-core/2.15.0/log4j-core-2.15.0.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/mojang/text2speech/1.10.3/text2speech-1.10.3.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/libraries/com/mojang/text2speech/1.10.3/text2speech-1.10.3.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/versions/1.12.2-forge-14.23.5.2859/1.12.2-forge-14.23.5.2859.jar, file:/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/net.kdt.pojavlaunch/files/.minecraft/mods/Quark-r1.6-177.jar, asmgen:/]) [17:23:23] [Client thread/INFO]: Transforming net.minecraft.client.renderer.tileentity.TileEntityPistonRenderer [17:23:23] [Client thread/INFO]: Applying Transformation to method (Names [render, func_192841_a] Descriptor (Lnet/minecraft/tileentity/TileEntityPiston;DDDFIF)V) [17:23:23] [Client thread/INFO]: Located Method, patching... [17:23:23] [Client thread/INFO]: Patch result: true

Java Edition uses a number of third party libraries but the core game library is Light Weight Java Game Library, LWJGL.

Minecraft uses LWGL under the hood, which does support Wayland as of version 3 if it is configured to use EGL instead of GLX. (see https://github.com/LWJGL/lwjgl3/issues/748) Version 2 of LWGL does not support Wayland as it relies on xrandr, which is only available on X (see https://github.com/LWJGL/lwjgl/issues/118).