Strategic Technology Consultation Services This episode of The Modern .NET Show is supported, in part, by RJJ Software's Strategic Technology Consultation Services. If you're an SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) leader wondering why your technology investments aren't delivering, or you're facing critical decisions about AI, modernization, or team productivity, let's talk.

 Show Notes "For me it's born out of, I mean the old phrase right, that necessity is the mother of invention. And I want to make games actually, but I think there's a missing middleware in the industry at the moment for certain types of game developers."— Ben Bowen

 Hey everyone, and welcome back to The Modern .NET Show; the premier .NET podcast, focusing entirely on the knowledge, tools, and frameworks that all .NET developers should have in their toolbox. I'm your host Jamie Taylor, bringing you conversations with the brightest minds in the .NET ecosystem.

 Today, we're joined by Ben Bowen to talk about TinyFFR - a cross-platform library for .NET which allows developers to render 3D models. TinyFFR came from Ben spotting that there is a gap in the Games Development tools market: somewhere between 3D modelling software and a full-blown game engine.

 "I, personally, believe that a library or software middleware is only really as good as the documentation that comes with it. You probably drive away 90% of the potentially interested parties if you're just saying to them, 'hey, if you want to learn how to use this, you'd better go spelunking through the source code or looking at examples."— Ben Bowen

 Along the way, we talked about the importance of really good quality documentation. And it should come as no surprise to you that we talked about this because the documentation for TinyFFR is fantastic. Seriously folks, when you're done listening to this episode, go check out Ben's Hello Cube tutorial for TinyFFR and you'll see what I mean.

 Before we jump in, a quick reminder: if The Modern .NET Show has become part of your learning journey, please consider supporting us through Patreon or Buy Me A Coffee. Every contribution helps us continue bringing you these in-depth conversations with industry experts. You'll find all the links in the show notes.

 Anyway, without further ado, let's sit back, open up a terminal, type in `dotnet new podcast` and we'll dive into the core of Modern .NET.

 Full Show Notes The full show notes, including links to some of the things we discussed and a full transcription of this episode, can be found at:  https://dotnetcore.show/season-8/from-zero-to-3d-ben-bowen-on-tinyffrs-rapid-net-rendering/

 Useful Links:  TinyFFR Ben's links:  Website Bluesky    Supporting the show:  Leave a rating or review Buy the show a coffee Become a patron  Getting in Touch:  Via the contact page Joining the Discord  Remember to rate and review the show on  Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or wherever you find your podcasts, this will help the show's audience grow. Or you can just share the show with a friend.

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 Music created by Mono Memory Music, licensed to RJJ Software for use in The Modern .NET Show.

 Editing and post-production services for this episode were provided by MB Podcast Services.

We Are .NET

Ben Bowen, author of TinyFFR, discusses his cross-platform .NET 9 real-time 3D rendering library built to fill a gap between raw graphics APIs (OpenGL, DirectX, Vulkan) and full game engines like Unity or Unreal. The library lets developers go from zero to a rendered 3D scene in roughly 20 lines of C# code, targeting hobbyist game developers and systems-driven programmers who prefer a code-first approach. The conversation covers the motivation behind TinyFFR, the philosophy of writing excellent documentation with empathy for new users, cross-platform challenges (especially macOS and Linux fragmentation), and the impressive performance improvements in modern .NET that make high-performance rendering viable without manual GC workarounds.

From Zero to 3D: Ben Bowen on TinyFFR's Rapid .NET Rendering