No, it's not necessary, but I wouldn't want to try to make anything other than a FPS in C4.
Well the only two general purpose 3D engines I think are worth anything are TrueVision3D and PowerRender. I think both come in around $150. TV3D can be used with any C++ compiler, whereas you will need to be using Visual Studio or Borland C++ if you want to use PowerRender.
PowerRender is very nice, but development seems to have stalled, and the developer is now looking for volunteers to join the project. To play with or to learn from, it's great, but it's probably not what you want if you want something production ready ( and you said you do. )
TV3D is very fast, very powerful and very easy. The downside is there isn't any official documentation yet, but there are lots of examples, articles and docs for an older version around, and besides it's really *very* easy. I suppose another downside might be that you won't be able to get much C++ help on the forums, so if you need help brushing up your C++ skills, you'll probably want to do that elsewhere. The TV3D community is primarily using VB, and some C#. The biggest upside is it's completely free until you want to release a commercial product, so you don't have to pay to try.
Well the only two general purpose 3D engines I think are worth anything are TrueVision3D and PowerRender. I think both come in around $150. TV3D can be used with any C++ compiler, whereas you will need to be using Visual Studio or Borland C++ if you want to use PowerRender.
PowerRender is very nice, but development seems to have stalled, and the developer is now looking for volunteers to join the project. To play with or to learn from, it's great, but it's probably not what you want if you want something production ready ( and you said you do. )
TV3D is very fast, very powerful and very easy. The downside is there isn't any official documentation yet, but there are lots of examples, articles and docs for an older version around, and besides it's really *very* easy. I suppose another downside might be that you won't be able to get much C++ help on the forums, so if you need help brushing up your C++ skills, you'll probably want to do that elsewhere. The TV3D community is primarily using VB, and some C#. The biggest upside is it's completely free until you want to release a commercial product, so you don't have to pay to try.