Panda Specific Resources

The BVW Panda Tutorials. This site has the tutorials that are used in Carnegie Mellon's Building Virtual Worlds class.

Alice Gallery. This site holds many of the models created for use with Alice but exported into the .egg format. Be advised though, some of these models may not work properly.

Python Libraries

Pygame. GNU LGPL. Pygame is a set of Python modules designed for writing games. It includes Python bindings for SDL. Recommended for joystick support. Sound support is a free alternative to FMOD, though not a as capable (no 3D stereo sound for instance)

PyODE. GNU LGPL, or BSD-style license. Python bindings for The Open Dynamics Engine. ODE is a Real-time rigid body dynamics/collision detection physics engine. ODE is much more capable than Panda3D's built-in physics engine.

Psyco. MIT-style license. Python JIT optimizer. Can often make Python code run faster than code written in C (on Intel compatible chips.) Panda3D is written in C, but programed in Python. If Python function calls become a bottleneck, try using Psyco.

Twisted MIT-style license. An event-driven networking framework.

PyOpenAL GNU LGPL. PyOpenAL is a binding of OpenAL for Python. OpenAL is a cross-platform 3D audio API. This is another alternative to FMOD.

Useful Tools

Blender. 3D modeling and animation. Extensible in Python. Very fast user interface. Egg exporters are in the works.

The GIMP. A very capable free software raster image editor. Useful for converting image formats, creating and editing textures.

SWIG. A software development tool that connects programs written in C and C++ with a variety of high-level programming languages including Python.