Updating texture memory via shader?

Question

What the title says.Is it possible to update a texture via a glsl shader ? Something like :

//Read
vec4 Pixel = texture2D(TextureID,gl_TexCoord[TextureIndex].st);

//Write to texture memory ?
vec4 NewPixel = Pixel + vec4(0.0,0.0,0.0,AlphaPatch);

// ?? How to write back to texture memory ??
texture2D(TextureID,gl_TexCoord[TextureIndex].st) = NewPixel; 

??

Answer 1

What you want is to bind a texture to a shader and then render to that texture. I could spit through miles of documentation specification of OpenGL, but I'm going to give the feeling my gut gives me:

I don't think that's possible.

What I do know is possible, however, is that you create a Frame Buffer Object (FBO) and render to that. First, you must generate an FBO and attach a texture to it with the same size as the one you want to update.

GLuint fbo_handle, fbo_texture_handle;

GLuint texture_width = GetTextureWidth();
GLuint texture_height = GetTextureWidth();

// generate texture

glGenTextures(1, &fbo_texture_handle);
glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, fbo_texture_handle);
glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA8, texture_width, texture_height, 0, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, 0);

// generate framebuffer

glGenFrameBuffers(1, &fbo_handle);
glBindFrameBuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, fbo_handle);
glFramebufferTexture2D(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0, GL_TEXTURE_2D, fbo_texture_handle, 0);

GLenum status = glCheckFramebufferStatus(GL_FRAMEBUFFER);
if (status != GL_FRAMEBUFFER_COMPLETE)
{
    LOG_ERROR("Could not validate framebuffer);
}

glBindFramebuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, 0);

When you want to update your texture, you must take the followings steps.

First, you attach the FBO:

glBindFramebuffer(GL_FRAMEBUFFER, fbo_handle);

glPushAttrib(GL_VIEWPORT_BIT);
glViewport(0, 0, texture_width, texture_height);

Now you can render a fullscreen quad with a shader that outputs the updated color:

vec4 frag_texture = texture2D(TextureID, gl_TexCoord[TextureIndex].st);

vec4 frag_updated = frag_texture + vec4(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, AlphaPatch);

gl_FragData[0] = frag_updated;

And then you have to copy the resulting framebuffer to the original texture.

glBindFramebuffer(GL_READ_FRAMEBUFFER, fbo_handle);
glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, original_texture_handle);
glCopyTexSubImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, texture_width, texture_height);

glBindFramebuffer(GL_READ_FRAMEBUFFER, 0);

glPopAttrib();

However, you should consider the following:

• How often do you update this texture?
• If you don't have to update it every frame, is this method worth the speed penalty?
• Can you generate multiple version of this texture and cycle between them?
• Is there another way to achieve the same effect?

Answer 2

If your hardware supports it, the GL_ARB_shader_image_load_store extension allows you to write to a texture.

Answer 3

Yes it's possible, texture/imageLoad are for reading and imageStore is for writing.