Documentation:

The wiki page for OGRE is http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page contains all the important documentation. The Tutorials sections are probably should be focused on at the beginning, if you will be using it.

The getting started page is has some good reading and include some c++ tutorial links. http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/GetStarted

The manual is http://www.ogre3d.org/docs/manual/ and contains the more stuff on OGRE. From the looks of it, it is mostly on stuff that we might not be interested in, like shadows.

Installation
For installation and configuration of OGRE, it is better to follow this documentation since the install on the wiki doesn’t focus on our environment:

I assume that you will have Microsoft Visual Studio 2005(8.0), so you will need to install Service Pack 1, if you haven’t done so. It needs to be installed in order OGRE to work.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/bb265237.aspx

We are installing a prebuilt SDK version 1.4.5 of OGRE. Download and install the following: http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?groupname=ogre&filename=OgreSDKSetup1.4.5_VC80.exe&use_mirror=internap

There is an application wizard to create projects using OGRE, download it.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=168190&package_id=228741

Run the VC8_Setup.js script under the ogresdkwizard80_Eihort_v1_4_2 directory. OGRE and the OGRE project wizard should now be installed on your machine and ready to be used.

Test The Installation:

To test whether OGRE was installed properly:

Create a new project

File-->New-->Project

Select “OGRE SDK Application” and enter a name for the Project, “OgreTest” will do nicely.

The Ogre Application wizard will appear. Just click Finish.

You have an OGRE solution created. So now select the OgreTest solution and press ctrl+F5 to execute the program. You should see a 3 dimensional head of an ogre, press escape to exit.