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inally, you are through all that math and introductory stuff. Now, on to the first chapter that really deals with 3D models!

First up, the MD2 format. The MD2 format was created by the folks at id Software for the hit game, Quake II (see Figure 3.1). Since then, the MD2 format has become a popular format for aspiring game develop­ers due to its simple, easy-to-use format, the availability of quality tools with which to create models, and the large collection of fan-built models available at sites such as https://www. polycount. com. MD2 models can be used in your game for just about anything. Enemies, weapons, pickups, even pieces of the world geometry such as crates and light fixtures can be stored using this format.

Figure 3.1 id Software’s Quake II introduced the MD2 format Throughout the game all the enemies, pickups, and weapons were stored in this format. Here, one of the monsters (stored in the MD2 format of course) from the game harasses the player.

From here on, I am assuming that you are familiar with basic file I/O routines, specifically the ones in the standard C library (FILE *, fread, fwrite, and so on). If you’re not, you definitely want to brush up on them before you continue. A large part of loading 3D models is getting them loaded into memory correctly. Any good C book should have a detailed section on these functions, but you get an introduction right here in this chapter!