OpenGL is a graphics standard and API which targets the desktop and workstation markets. It is designed to be easy to accelerate with dedicated computer hardware, and hence most implementations give greatly improved performance over traditional software rendering. Currently, OpenGL is used for ...
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453 views
Rendering 8 bit graphics
I have a strong programming background just not from game development. I only made some pong and snake in high school and I did some OpenGL in college.
I want to make my own game engine. Nothing ...
8
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1answer
815 views
Getting OpenGL hardware acceleration with SDL on Linux
I'm trying to use SDL + OpenGL but I don't believe hardware acceleration is working because the framerate for around 18000 polys is about 24fps on a quad core machine but is a hopeless 1-2fps on an ...
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4answers
7k views
How to improve batching performance
I am developing a sprite based 2D game for mobile platform(s) and I'm using OpenGL (well, actually Irrlicht) to render graphics. First I implemented sprite rendering in a simple way: every game object ...
8
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1answer
2k views
Which c/c++ model animation library for OpenGL
I'm fairly new to game development, played around with xna before and just learning OpenGL & c now and I'm interested to know which c/c++ based model animation libraries are out there and which ...
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5answers
1k views
Geometric Transformations on the CPU vs GPU
I've noticed that many 3d programs normally do vector/matrix calculations as well as geometric transformations on the CPU. Has anyone found an advantage in moving these calculations into vertex ...
8
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2answers
615 views
How to deal with OpenGL and Fullscreen on OS X
I do most of my development on OS X and for my current game project this is my target environment. However when I play games I play on Windows. As a windows gamer I am used to Alt+Tab switching from ...
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5answers
4k views
What alternatives to GLUT exist?
I am trying to learn OpenGL, and I just found out that GLUT is obsolete. I already know SDL, and it seems it is a good alternative. Should I use SDL to develop games with OpenGL, or are there any ...
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7answers
3k views
Library to load images into textures, Linux, C and OpenGl
I am looking for simple, self-contained C library for Linux to load images from files into OpenGL textures. The licence should be quite liberal: zlib, bsd, mit or something. I have found SOIL, however ...
7
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2answers
181 views
2-components color model
RGB is the natural color model for OpenGL. But a lot of other color models exist.
For example, CMY(K) for printers, YUV for JPEG, the little cousins YCbCr and YCoCg, HSL & HSV from the 70's, and ...
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6answers
3k views
AAA Games and OpenGL?
What modern AAA games on the top of the market used OpenGL? If applicable, what engine did they use?
7
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3answers
554 views
Font outline in OpenGL, FTGL
I'm using FTGL library to render fonts in my game, but I have completely no idea how to create an outline around text. Achieving a shadow could be easy, because I can simply do it like this:
(pseudo ...
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votes
3answers
828 views
Deferred shading - how to combine multiple lights?
I'm starting out with GLSL and I've implemented simple deferred shading that outputs G-buffer with positions, normals and albedo.
I've also written a simple point light shader.
Now I draw a sphere ...
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6answers
780 views
Does one need normals for a strictly 2d Game?
I'm starting to learn OpenGL by creating a pure 2D game.
I have to decide on the format of the Vertices. Do I need a normal component? Or is this for a 2d component not needed?
My gut feeling says I ...
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votes
4answers
1k views
glsl demo suggestions?
In a lot of places I interviewed recently, I have been asked many a times if I have worked with shaders. Even though, I have read and understand the pipeline, the answer to that question has been no. ...
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2answers
1k views
Missing features from WebGL and OpenGL ES
I've started using WebGL and am pleased with how easy it is to leverage my OpenGL (and by extension OpenGL ES) experience. However, my understanding is as follows:
OpenGL ES is a subset of OpenGL
...
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1answer
361 views
How wise is this multithreading architecture?
I'm rewriting a game engine I wrote in an attempt to parallelize as much as possible. I'm considering making properties which may be accessed from multiple threads all use accessors which use boost ...
7
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1answer
2k views
in/out keywords in GLSL
I don't really understand how to use the in / out keywords in GLSL, and google is being uncharacteristically unhelpful.
What exactly do they do? How would I use them if, for example, I want to pass a ...
7
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3answers
642 views
What is the contents of the buffer *after* a call to glSwapBuffers()?
(SDL_GL_SwapBuffers() in particular)
When you have drawn a scene, and you call swap-buffers, it is routine to then glClear() the scene before drawing anything; if you don't clear, what is the ...
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5answers
1k views
Is there a way to blur objects in a 2d game with OpenGL without using shaders?
Is there a nice way in OpenGL to blur objects without using shaders?
Currently, I'm accomplishing blur by rendering the object slightly up, down, left, right, and the four diagonals from its original ...
7
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1answer
426 views
Best practices with Vertices in Open GL
What is the best practice in regards to storing vertex data in Open GL? I.e:
struct VertexColored {
public:
GLfloat position[];
GLfloat normal[];
byte colours[];
}
...
7
votes
1answer
5k views
Making a HUD/GUI with OpenGL (LWJGL)
I'm at the stage in my game development where I need to make a HUD or GUI. I've never gotten to this part, so I don't know how its done. I tried rendering a simple quad at a fixed position on the ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
Should I give each character its own VBO or should I batch them into a single VBO?
I'm making a 3D first person game. Should I give each character its own VBO or should I batch all characters into a single VBO? What are the pros/cons?
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3answers
2k views
OpenGL - Stack overflow if I do, Stack underflow if I don't!
I'm in a multimedia class in college, and we're "learning" OpenGL as part of the class. I'm trying to figure out how the OpenGL camera vs. modelview works, and so I found this example. I'm trying to ...
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1answer
1k views
Sprite sheets with buffer objects and shaders
What is the "best" way to handle sprite sheets with shaders and buffers? In immediate mode it is easy to modify a sprite's texcoords when it is drawn, but I don't know how to do this with modern ...
7
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1answer
5k views
Freeglut vs SDL vs GLFW
i need to port my game project from Android (written in C, OpenGL ES 2.0, thanks to NDK) to Windows and Linux platforms. Of course i will need to rewrite some platform depended code, but now i stuck ...
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2answers
1k views
Fastest way to draw small particles in opengl?
Quick question : Which is the fastest method to render a large array of 4x4/8x8 particles in opengl ? Currently i spend 2triangles for each one but i think that its slow so i would really like to know ...
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4answers
431 views
What types of effects or shaders would you teach in a rendering class? [closed]
I am looking for a list of topics that would be fun to learn and not too complicated to implement with a prototyping tool like FX Composer or Rendermonkey for an intermediate class of real-time ...
7
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3answers
2k views
Optimizing Octree Rendering
Say I have an octree and at a certain level I store VBOs in that octree. I know the dimensions of of the nodes that own the vbo so I can do basic frustum culling. That works nicely because everything ...
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3answers
467 views
I would like to know how an OpenGL driver will be implemented to learn opengl internals?
I'm learning OpenGL and really like to know how the interaction with the Graphics card will be.
I feel understanding how it was implemented in the Graphics driver, will let me know complete internals ...
7
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1answer
1k views
SDL2 with OpenGL — weird results, what's wrong?
I'm porting an app to iOS, and therefore need to upgrade it to SDL2 from SDL1.2 (so far I'm testing it as an on OS X desktop app only). However, when running the code with SDL2, I'm getting weird ...
7
votes
2answers
191 views
Can applications using old versions of Opengl still run on newer cards?
OpenGl 3.0 and up has a quite big difference from the older versions like OpenGl 2.x and opengl 1.x in terms of implementation, does that mean applications which are written with the old versions of ...
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2answers
929 views
What causes some computers to have no or slow OpenGL, and how to fix it?
I am using Java with JOGL to create OpenGL enhanced 2D graphics. The graphics operations I use are nothing fancy, and should be supported by almost any recent graphics card. For example, my game ...
7
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1answer
536 views
Rolling my own scene graph
Hello Game Development SE!
I'm crawling my way through OpenGL with the hopes of creating a simple and very lightweight game engine. I view the project as a learning experience that might make a ...
7
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2answers
436 views
Does use of simple shaders improve performace/battery life?
I'm making OpenGL game for Android. Till now i've used only fixed function pipeline, but i'm rendering simple things.
Fixed function pipeline includes a lot of stuff i don't need. So i'm thinking ...
7
votes
1answer
4k views
OpenGL/GLSL: Render to cube map?
I'm trying to figure out how to render my scene to a cube map. I've been stuck on this for a bit and figured I would ask you guys for some help. I'm new to OpenGL and this is the first time I'm using ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
Frustum Culling with VBOs
I have terrain being rendered in my project using VBOs in OpenGL. I would like to apply some Frustum Culling but have no idea how to access each polygon as its drawn to check if it is in view. I think ...
7
votes
1answer
187 views
2D Water top surface profile
I am trying to create the effect of the water surface thickness with a vertex-fragment shader.
I am in a 3D game environment but It's a scroll view so a "2D" view.
Here is a good tutorial of creating ...
7
votes
2answers
635 views
How would I setup fog to follow a players coordinates?
I'm wondering if its possible to setup a fog to a player's coordinates (where there is fog around the player to make it more third-person) the main reason I ask this is because I have my player more ...
7
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0answers
231 views
Which is the best LOD method for planet rendering?
I'm currently working on my thesis, it is an engine to render terrains of planetary size.
I'm still finishing my research and I have encountered a lot of stuff about this subject, the problem is that ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
OpenGL 2D Rasterization Sub-Pixel Translations
I have a tile based 2D engine where the projection matrix is an orthographic view of the world without any scaling applied. Thus: one pixel texture is drawn on the screen in the same size.
That all ...
7
votes
2answers
381 views
Need advice for 3D BSP based graphics engine
I have coded myself a OpenGL BSP viewer for an old game format. It is very similar to the Quake 3 file format. Because my interest is developing graphics engines, I want to be developing while looking ...
6
votes
12answers
7k views
Is it a waste to learn OpenGL?
What I've gathered around the internet and various sources is that DirectX has pretty much taken a stronghold grip onto the graphics API domain. And to be honest, I gave learning DirectX10 a chance, ...
6
votes
8answers
2k views
Best (Most Popular?) Image Format For Texturing
Okay, so I am using C++ with OpenGL, and I am going to create a loader to load in textures for my 3D game. (But the textures are 2D). I want the option of transparency, even if I decide not to use it. ...
6
votes
3answers
686 views
Started game development no idea of computer graphics. Should I learn tools or concepts?
I am in 6th semester of my Computer science bachelor degree program, Working as Intern in a start up company. I started game development using AndEngine, things are going good because I have good hold ...
6
votes
5answers
831 views
Correct level of abstraction for a 3d rendering component?
I've seen lots of questions around this area but not this exact question so apologies if this is a duplicate.
I'm making a small 3d game. Well to be honest, it's just a little hobby project and ...
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3answers
623 views
Understanding how to create/use textures for games when limited by power of two sizes
I have some questions about the creating graphics for a game.
As an example. I want to create a motorbike. (1pixel = 1centimeter)
So my motorbike will have 200 width and 150 height. (200x150)
But the ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
OpenGL ES 2.0: Using VBOs?
OpenGL VBOs (vertex buffer objects) have been developed to improve performance of OpenGL (OpenGL ES 2.0 in my case). The logic is that with the help of VBOs, the data does not need to be copied from ...
6
votes
3answers
784 views
What is a better abstraction layer for D3D9 and OpenGL vertex data management?
My rendering code has always been OpenGL. I now need to support a platform that does not have OpenGL, so I have to add an abstraction layer that wraps OpenGL and Direct3D 9. I will support Direct3D 11 ...
6
votes
2answers
254 views
Must I worry about quad-based rendering in real world scenarios?
Most of the time in the first chapters of a random book about rasterization and rendering techniques, I find some phrases about a triangle-based rendering system and a quad-based one.
I have never ...
6
votes
3answers
394 views
shadowing billboards
I have a lot of billboarded 3D spheres (they have a heightmap so work properly with depth and penetration; although each is made of just a quad (with slight distortion), they look and feel and are ...
