Panda3D
Panda3D is a video game development engine and rendering software. It is developed and maintained by the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center.
- Video game development engine perfect for students, amateur artists and newbie programmers
- Fully integrated with Python with all core functionality written in C++
- Automatically generated wrappers
- OpenGL and DirectX support with fully exposed features
- Supports importing and exporting of 3D models from and to a variety of formats, including collada, X, OBJ, WRL, LWO and FLT
- Can convert 3D models to the EGG format
- Support for the FMOD, OpenAL and Miles audio engines
- Includes a built-in simple physics engine but also has support for Bullet, ODE and PhysX
- Completely free to download and use
- Open source code
- Definitely not the most powerful, professional or compatible video game development engine on the market, and it seems to be lagging behind the times a bit
- Lacks mobile device support
The field of video game development is constantly growing as this lucrative industry reaches more and more of an audience. It's a popular medium for today's programmers and artists, who often get their start as independent developers. Panda3D is an excellent choice for such individuals, as it's a free and open source software that is designed and maintained by students in the industry. The software is easy to use, simple to modify and perfect for developers just starting out. Furthermore, the software is old and established, making it a very stable choice for experimental coding that might overdraw the limits of other rendering engines. A gallery of the software's usage can be viewed on the website, and extensive API functionality and documentation can also be obtained.