OpenGL SuperBible

Richard S. Wright, Jr.has been using OpenGL for more than 12 years, since it first became available on the Windows platform, and teaches OpenGL programming in the game design degree program at Full Sail in Orlando, Florida. Currently, Richard is the president of Starstone Software Systems, Inc., where he develops third-party multimedia simulation software for the PC and Macintosh platforms using OpenGL. Previously with Real 3D/Lockheed Martin, Richard was a regular OpenGL ARB attendee and contributed to the OpenGL 1.2 specification and conformance tests. Since then, Richard has worked in multidimensional database visualization, game development, medical diagnostic visualization, and astronomical space simulation. Richard first learned to program in the eighth grade in 1978 on a paper terminal. At age 16, his parents let him buy a computer with his grass-cutting money instead of a car, and he sold his first computer program less than a year later (and it was a graphics program!). When he graduated from high school, his first job was teaching programming and computer literacy for a local consumer education company. He studied electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Louisville’s Speed Scientific School and made it half way through his senior year before his career got the best of him and took him to Florida. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, he now lives with his wife and three children in Lake Mary, Florida. When not programming or dodging hurricanes, Richard is an avid amateur astronomer and an Adult Sunday School teacher.   Benjamin Lipchak graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a double major in technical writing and computer science. “Why would anyone with a CS degree want to become a writer?” That was the question asked of him one fateful morning when Benj was interviewing for a tech writing job at Digital Equipment Corporation. Benj’s interview took longer than scheduled, and he left that day with job offer in hand to work on the software team responsible for DEC’s AlphaStation OpenGL drivers. Benj’s participation in the OpenGL Architecture Review Board began when he chaired the working group that generated the GL_ARB_fragment_program extension spec. While chairing the Khronos OpenGL Ecosystem Technical SubGroup, he established the OpenGL SDK and created the OpenGL Pipeline newsletter, of which he remains editor. Benj will now participate in the Khronos OpenGL ES Working Group. After 12 years of OpenGL driver development and driver team management at DEC, Compaq, and ATI, he is headed for smaller pastures. Benj recently became manager of AMD’s handheld software team. Although the API is familiar, the new challenges of size and power consumption make for a great change of scenery. In his fleeting spare time, Benj tries to get outdoors for some hiking or kayaking. He also operates an independent record label, Wachusett Records, specializing in solo piano music.   Nicholas Haemel, developer at AMD in the Graphics Products Group, was technical reviewer for OpenGL SuperBible, Third Edition, and contributed the chapters on GLX and OpenGL ES.  

Preface  xxvii

About the Authors  xxxv

Introduction  1

 

Part I: The Old Testament

Chapter 1     Introduction to 3D Graphics and OpenGL  9

Chapter 2     Using OpenGL  33

Chapter 3     Drawing in Space: Geometric Primitives and Buffers  73

Chapter 4     Geometric Transformations: The Pipeline  127

Chapter 5     Color, Materials, and Lighting: The Basics 173

Chapter 6     More on Colors and Materials  229

Chapter 7     Imaging with OpenGL  251

Chapter 8     Texture Mapping: The Basics  303

Chapter 9     Texture Mapping: Beyond the Basics  341

Chapter 10   Curves and Surfaces  377

Chapter 11   It’s All About the Pipeline: Faster Geometry Throughput  421

Chapter 12   Interactive Graphics  457

Chapter 13   Occlusion Queries: Why Do More Work Than You Need To? 481

Chapter 14   Depth Textures and Shadows  495

 

Part II: The New Testament

Chapter 15   Programmable Pipeline: This Isn’t Your Father’s OpenGL  515

Chapter 16   Vertex Shading: Do-It-Yourself Transform, Lighting, and Texgen  547

Chapter 17   Fragment Shading: Empower Your Pixel Processing  567

Chapter 18   Advanced Buffers  601

 

Part III: The Apocrypha

Chapter 19   Wiggle: OpenGL on Windows  641

Chapter 20   OpenGL on Mac OS X  685

Chapter 21   OpenGL on Linux  713

Chapter 22   OpenGL ES — OpenGL on the Small  735

 

Appendix A    Further Reading/References  773

Appendix B    Glossary  777

Appendix C   API Reference  783

Index  1141