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OpenGL

Here you'll find articles specific to the powerful OpenGL API.

For more information about OpenGL, check out:

Resources Listed: 77
Source Code NeHe Tutorials
GLUT LibraryOnline Books
GeneralOpenGL ES
OpenGL
Topic Author Description
OpenGL Frame Buffer Object 201
[Added: 12/14/2006]
Rob “phantom” Jones  Shows how you can use a single FBO to cycle through a number of textures to render to as well as using the OpenGL Shading Language to render to multiple textures at the same time via the Draw Buffers extension 
 
Subcategory: Source Code
Topic Author Description
Example of Processing Mouse Events in OpenGL
[Added: 7/25/1999]
  Source code example of processing mouse events in an OpenGL program using the Win32 API. 
Example of the Minimal Win32 & OpenGL program
[Added: 7/25/1999]
  An example of the minimal Win32 & OpenGL program. It only works in 16 bit color modes or higher (since it doesn't create a palette).  
 
Subcategory: GLUT Library
Topic Author Description
Basics of GLUT
[Added: 1/29/2002]
Ben Woodhouse  Covers the basics of setting up and using GLUT with VC++, and explains how to initialize a GLUT display, open a window and display a smooth-shaded multicoloured triangle in it. 
GLUT for Windows
[Added: 1/19/2002]
  Nate Robin's official page for the Windows port of GLUT. 
GLUT Homepage
[Added: 2/15/2000]
Mark Kilgard  The official place to obtain GLUT, a toolkit providing extensions to OpenGL, including a platform independent windowing system. 
Lighting and Normals
[Added: 1/29/2002]
Ben Woodhouse  Extending on the previous tutorial's spinning cube code, this tutorial will explain how to calculate your cube's face normals and add OpenGL lighting to your program.  
Spinning Cube
[Added: 1/29/2002]
Ben Woodhouse  Expands on the previous tutorial's code to show you the basics of animation and models using OpenGL and GLUT. By the end you should know how to create a spinning cube. 
 
Subcategory: General
Topic Author Description
A Singleton Texture Manager for OpenGL
[Added: 7/18/2001]
Chris Smith  This article will discuss the need for, and creation of, a Singleton Texture Manager in OpenGL, providing a viable and simple means for managing a large number of textures at once. 
An OpenGL Update for Game Developers
[Added: 2/22/2000]
Greg Passmore  A bit dated, perhaps, but it provides some important background information on OpenGL in Windows. 
Compiling OpenGL Code with MFC
[Added: 4/16/2002]
David Nishimoto  This article is little more than code, but it should at least give you a framework for using OpenGL in MFC applications. 
Creating a GLSL Library
[Added: 10/29/2007]
Don Olmstead  covers creating a shader library and writing a texturing and a lighting shader as a next step after reading through the Orange Book 
Fast OpenGL-based "in place" scale & bias technique
[Added: 1/19/2002]
Mark Kilgard  Explains an approach using OpenGL's blending capabilities to perform the in place scale & bias as blended rendering.  
Fast OpenGL-rendering of Lens Flares
[Added: 4/18/2000]
Mark Kilgard  How to implement the popular lens flare effect from one of the masters of OpenGL. 
Moving Beyond OpenGL 1.1 for Windows
[Added: 4/21/2003]
Dave Astle  Explains OpenGL's extension mechanism, and how it can be used to access features beyond OpenGL 1.1 on the Windows platform. 
Object Abstraction in OpenGL
[Added: 5/29/2004]
James Sharpe  Discusses managing OpenGL state using abstract objects. 
OpenGL Object Hierarchy
[Added: 12/28/2000]
Arturo Montieri  Describes how to use OpenGL's matrix stack to attain an object hierarchy. 
OpenGL Texture Mapping: An Introduction
[Added: 2/29/2000]
Nate Miller  An introductory tutorial covering OGL texture mapping basics. 
OpenGL Tutors
[Added: 11/4/1999]
Nate Robins  Tutorial programs that demonstrate basic OpenGL functionality by allowing the user to modify the parameters of a function and see the effect on the scene. 
OpenGL Win32 Tutorial
[Added: 8/30/2000]
Blaine Hodge  A good introduction for setting up Windows for OpenGL programming using WGL. 
Rendering a Magic Halo with OpenGL
[Added: 11/18/1999]
Mark Kilgard  This tutorial describes how to render a halo around an object in OpenGL. 
Rendering efficient 2D sprites in OpenGL using Texture Rectangles
[Added: 11/2/2007]
Brandon Fleming  Working on a 2D game using OpenGL? Want to have the same functionality of Direct3D's sprite interface (ID3DXSprite)? Learn to use texture rectangles using GL_NV_texture_rectangle, GL_EXT_texture_rectangle or GL_ARB_texture_rectangle and make things easier 
Rendering Fast Reflections with OpenGL
[Added: 11/18/1999]
Mark Kilgard  This is a good, brief tutorial on simple rendering of reflections with OpenGL. 
Rendering Grids with OpenGL Evaluators
[Added: 1/19/2002]
Mark Kilgard  Shows a faster and more flexible way to draw a graph paper-like grid. 
Smooth Normal Generation with Preservation of Edges
[Added: 2/17/2002]
Nate Robins  A brief description of the algorithm with full source code included. 
SuperQuadric Ellipsoids and Toroids, OpenGL Lighting, and Timing
[Added: 8/8/2000]
Jonathan Metzgar  Covers superquadrics in OpenGL, a class wrapper for OpenGL lighting, and the basics of timing, complete with a demo and source code. 
Taking advantage of the new Quake compatible OpenGL drivers for Voodoo1/2
[Added: 2/24/2000]
Ryan Haksi  Describes how to guarantee hardware OpenGL support regardless of the card. 
Tiling in OpenGL
[Added: 12/12/2000]
Martin Estevao  Covers basic tiling in OpenGL using textured quads to represent the tiles. 
Understanding and Using OpenGL Texture Objects
[Added: 4/27/2000]
Richard Wright  Describes how to get major performance increases by using texture objects instead of normal texturing methods. 
 
Subcategory: NeHe Tutorials
Topic Author Description
Setting Up OpenGL In Solaris
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Lakmal Gunasekara  Step by step walkthrough for installing OpenGL and GLUT on Solaris. 
Lesson 1: Setting Up OpenGL In Windows
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Covers how to set up, and use OpenGL in a Windows environment, including displaying an empty OpenGL window, switching into fullscreen or windowed mode, and waiting for you to press ESC or close the Window to exit. 
Lesson 2: Your First Polygon
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Building on Lesson 1, this article adds code to create a triangle and a square on the screen. Also covers the X axis, Y axis and Z axis, translation, and the depth buffer. 
Lesson 3: Colors
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Adds both flat coloring and smooth coloring to the code developed previously. 
Lesson 4: Rotation
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Introduces rotation of the triangle and square from previous lessons. 
Lesson 5: Solid Objects
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Introduces true 3D objects. 
Lesson 6: Texture Mapping
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Covers texture mapping basics, mapping a bitmap onto a cube. 
Lesson 7: Texture Filters, Lighting & Keyboard Control
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Adds extensively to the existing code base, adding two texture filtering methods, basic lighting, and keyboard control. 
Lesson 8: Blending
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Tom Stanis  Covers what blending is and how to use it in OpenGL 
Lesson 9: Moving Bitmaps In 3D Space
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Shows how to move the objects around the screen in 3D, how to draw a bitmap to the screen, without the black part of the image covering up what's behind it, how to do simple animation, and more uses for blending 
Lesson 10: Loading And Moving Through A 3D World
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Lionel Brits  In this lesson you will learn how to load a 3D world from a data file, and move through the 3D world. 
Lesson 11: OpenGL Flag Effect
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Bosco  By the end of the tutorial you should be able to bend fold and manipulate textures of your own. 
Lesson 12: Display Lists
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Shows you how to save time coding AND improve the speed of your code by using display lists. 
Lesson 13: Bitmap Fonts
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Shows an easy way to write the text you want anywhere you want on the screen in any color you want, using any of your computer's built in fonts. 
Lesson 14: Outline Fonts
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Bitmap fonts not good enough? Do you need control over where the fonts are on the Z axis? Do you need 3D fonts (fonts with actual depth)? Do you need wireframe fonts? If so, outline fonts are the perfect solution. 
Lesson 15: Texture Mapped Fonts
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Presents a quick and fairly nice looking way to texture map fonts, and any other 3D object on your screen. 
Lesson 16: Cool Looking Fog
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Chris Aliotta  Shows how to use 3 different fog filters, how to change the color of the fog, and how to set how far into the screen the fog starts and how far into the screen it ends. 
Lesson 17: 2D Texture Font
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Giuseppe D'Agata  In this tutorial you will learn how to write any character or phrase you want to the screen using texture mapped quads. 
Lesson 18: Quadratics
[Added: 8/2/2000]
GB Schmick  Introduces you to the wonderful world of quadratics, which you can use to easily create complex objects such as spheres, discs, cylinders and cones, with a single line of code. 
Lesson 19: Particle Engine Using Triangle Strips
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Shows you how to program a simple but nice looking particle engine to create effects such as an explosion, water fountain, flaming star, etc. 
Lesson 20: Masking
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  Covers using masking to place solid, irregularly shaped objects on the screen without using blending. 
Lesson 21: Lines, Antialiasing, Timing, Ortho View And Simple Sounds
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jeff Molofee  In this tutorial you will learn about: Lines, Anti-Aliasing, Orthographic Projection, Timing, Basic Sound Effects, and Simple Game Logic. 
Lesson 22: Bump-Mapping, Multi-Texturing & Extensions
[Added: 8/2/2000]
Jens Schneider  An advanced tutorial covering hardware multi-texturing on cards that support it, along with a really cool visual effect called bump-mapping. 
Lesson 23: Sphere Mapping Quadratics In OpenGL
[Added: 8/2/2000]
GB Schmick  Builds on a number of previous tutorials by diving into sphere mapping. 
Lesson 24: Tokens, Extensions, Scissor Testing And TGA Loading
[Added: 8/2/2000]
GB Schmick  Covers how to read and parse what OpenGL extensions are supported by your video card, how to use scissor testing to create a cool scrolling window effect, and how to load and use TGA (targa) image files as textures in projects of your own. 
Lesson 25: Morphing & Loading Objects From A File
[Added: 9/13/2000]
Piotr Cieslak  Learn how to load simple objects from a text file, and morph smoothly from one object into another. 
Lesson 26: Real Reflections Using The Stencil Buffer & Clipping
[Added: 10/16/2000]
Banu Cosmin  Learn how to create amazingly real looking reflections using the stencil buffer. 
Lesson 27: Shadows
[Added: 11/29/2000]
Banu Cosmin & Brett Porter  Covers realistic real-time shadows using the stencil buffer. 
Lesson 28: Bezier Patches
[Added: 11/6/2000]
David Nikdel  Learn how to create bezier patches and how to alter a surface by modifying control points. 
Lesson 29: Blitter Function, RAW Texture Loading
[Added: 11/29/2000]
Andreas Löffler  Learn how to load .RAW image files and how to write your own blitter routine to modify textures after they have been loaded. 
Lesson 30: Collision Detection
[Added: 12/6/2000]
Dimitrios Christopoulos  Learn the basics of collision detection, collision response, and physically based modelling effects. 
Lesson 31: Model Loading
[Added: 12/27/2000]
Brett Porter  Teachs you how to load in and display texture mapped Milkshape3D models. 
Lesson 32: Picking, Alpha Blending, Alpha Testing, Sorting
[Added: 5/7/2001]
Jeff Molofee  This long-awaited tutorial covers some frequently-asked-about topics in the process of creating a complete game. 
Lesson 33: Loading Compressed And Uncompressed TGAs
[Added: 7/23/2001]
Evan Pipho  In this tutorial, you will learn how to load both uncompressed and RLE compressed TGA images.  
Lesson 34: Beautiful Landscapes By Means Of Height Mapping
[Added: 7/23/2001]
Ben Humphrey  This tutorial will teach you how to convert a 2D greyscale height map image into a full blown 3D landscape. 
Lesson 35: Playing AVI Files In OpenGL
[Added: 10/11/2001]
Jeff Molofee  This tutorial will teach you how to play AVI files in OpenGL. 
Lesson 36: Radial Blur & Rendering To A Texture
[Added: 10/11/2001]
Dario Corno  This tutorial will show you how to create an extremely impressive Radial Blur effect. 
Lesson 37: Cel-Shading
[Added: 1/19/2002]
Sami Hamlaoui  This tutorial will teach you Cel-Shading. A very cool effect that makes images look like cartoons! 
Lesson 38: Loading Textures From A Resource File & Texturing Triangles
[Added: 4/20/2003]
Jeff Molofee  I wrote this tutorial for all those people that have emailed me asking "How do I load textures from a resource file so that all the textures are stored in the .exe file?" and for those people that have said "I know how to texture map a quad but how in the heck do I texture map a triangle?" 
Lesson 39: Introduction to Physical Simulations
[Added: 4/20/2003]
Erkin Tunca  Demonstrates motion under gravity, a mass with constant velocity, and a mass connected to a spring.  
Lesson 40: Rope Physics
[Added: 4/20/2003]
Erkin Tunca  Part two of a two part series on physical simulations. 
Lesson 41: Volumetric Fog & IPicture Image Loading
[Added: 4/20/2003]
Jeff Molofee  In this tutorial you will learn how to create Volumetric Fog using the glFogCoordf Extension. You will also learn how the IPicture code works, and how to use it in projects of your own. 
Setting Up OpenGL In MacOS X Using GLUT
[Added: 4/24/2002]
Raal Goff  Will teach you how to get OpenGL working on MacOS X using GLUT. 
 
Subcategory: Online Books
Name Rating Description
OpenGL Programming Guide (Redbook)
[Added: 8/11/1999 Clicks: 28213]
Online version of the Redbook, the standard text for programming OpenGL. Note that this is an older version of the book, corresponding to OpenGL 1.1. 
OpenGL Programming Guide (Redbook)
[Added: 4/29/2000 Clicks: 296329]
The standard text for OpenGL programming in Acrobat PDF format. Same version as the link above. 
OpenGL Reference Manual (Bluebook)
[Added: 8/11/1999 Clicks: 27103]
This is the online version of the Bluebook, the standard reference for OpenGL programming. This book corresponds to OpenGL 1.1. 
 
Subcategory: OpenGL ES
Topic Author Description
An Introduction to BREW and OpenGL ES
[Added: 8/27/2004]
Alan Kemp  Provides a tutorial for setting up the BREW SDK, a basic BREW application, and initializing and using OpenGL ES. 
 
 Key: = HTML article hosted here  , = HTML article hosted elsewhere  = link to another web site  = Adobe Acrobat document  = Zip files  = Word or text document