Lesson Index

The lessons on this page may contain mistakes, poor commenting, and should not be considered the best resource to learn OpenGL from. What you do with the code is up to you. I am merely trying to make the learning process a little easier for those people new to OpenGL. If you are serious about learning OpenGL, you should spend the money and invest in the following books: Red Book Version 1.4 (4th ed.): 0321173481, Blue Book Version 1.4 (4th ed.): 032117383X, Orange Book Version 1.4 (Shading Language): 0321197895. Although they can be difficult for the new OpenGL programmer to understand, they are by far the best books written on the subject of OpenGL. Another book I would recommend is the OpenGL Superbible, although opinions vary. It is also important that you have a solid understanding of the language you plan to use. Although I do comment the non-GL lines, I am self-taught, and may not always write proper or even good code. It's up to you to take what you have learned from this site and apply it to projects of your own. Play around with the code, read books, ask me questions if need be. Once you have surpassed the code on this site or even before, check out some of the more professional sites such as OpenGL.org. Also be sure to visit the many OpenGL links on my page. Each site I link to is an incredible asset to the OpenGL community. Most of these sites are run by talented individuals that not only know their GL, they also program a lot better than I do. Please keep all of this in mind while browsing my site. I hope you enjoy what I have to offer! One final note, if you see code that you feel is similar to someone else's code, please contact me. I assure you, any code I borrow from or learn from either comes from the MSDN or from sites created to help teach people in a similar way that my site teaches GL. I never intentionally take code, and never would without giving the proper person credit. There may be instances where I get code from a free site not knowing that site took it from someone else, so if that happens, please contact me. I will either rewrite the code, or remove it from my program. Most the code should be original however, I only borrow when I absolutely have no idea how to accomplish something, and even then I make sure I understand the code before I decide to include it in my program. If you spot mistakes in any of the lessons, no matter how tiny the mistake may be, please let me know. One important thing to note about my base code is that it was written in 1997. It has undergone many changes, and it is definitely not borrowed from any other sites. It will more than likely be altered in the future. If I am not the one that modifies it, the person responsible for the changes will be credited.

Texture Mapping: You asked for it, so here it is... Texture Mapping!!! In this tutorial I will teach you how to map a bitmap image onto the six sides of a cube. We'll use the GL code from lesson one to create this project. It's easier to start with an empty GL window than to modify the last tutorial.   You'll find the code from lesson one is extremely valuable when it comes to developing a project quickly. The code in lesson one sets everything up for you, all you have to do is concentrate on programming the effect(s).  Texture Filters, Lighting & Keyboard Control: Ok, I hope you've been understanding everything up till now, because this is a huge tutorial. I'm going to attempt to teach you 2 new ways to filter your textures, simple lighting, keyboard control, and probably more :) If you don't feel confident with what you've learned up to this lesson, go back and review. Play around with the code in the other lessons. Don't rush. It's better to take your time and learn each lesson well, than to jump in, and only know enough to get things done.  Blending: There was a reason for the wait. A fellow programmer from the totally cool site Hypercosm, had asked if he could write a tutorial on blending. Lesson eight was going to be a blending tutorial anyways. So the timing was perfect! This tutorial expands on lesson seven. Blending is a very cool effect... I hope you all enjoy the tutorial. The author of this tutorial is Tom Stanis. He's put alot of effort into the tutorial, so let him know what you think. Blending is not an easy topic to cover.  Moving Bitmaps In 3D Space: This tutorial covers a few of the topics you guys had requested. You wanted to know how to move the objects you've made around the screen in 3D. You wanted to know how to draw a bitmap to the screen, without the black part of the image covering up what's behind it. You wanted simple animation and more uses for blending. This tutorial will teach you all of that. You'll notice there's no spinning boxes. The previous lessons covered the basics of OpenGL. Each tutorial expanded on the last. This tutorial is a combination of everything that you have learned up till now, along with information on how to move your object in 3D. This tutorial is a little more advanced, so make sure you understand the previous lessons before you jump into this tutorial.  Loading And Moving Through A 3D World: The tutorial you have all been waiting for! This tutorial was made by a fellow programmer named Lionel Brits. In this lesson you will learn how to load a 3D world from a data file, and move through the 3D world. The code is made using lesson 1 code, however, the tutorial web page only explains the NEW code used to load the 3D scene, and move around inside the 3D world. Download the VC++ code, and follow through it as you read the tutorial. Keys to try out are [B]lend, [F]iltering, [L]ighting (light does not move with the scene however), and Page Up/Down. I hope you enjoy Lionel's contribution to the site. When I have time I'll make the Tutorial easier to follow.

I am not a guru programmer. I am an average programmer, learning new things about OpenGL every day. I do not claim to know everything. I do not guarantee my code is bug free. I have made every effort humanly possible to eliminate all bugs but this is not always an easy task. Please keep this in mind while going through the lessons! Back To NeHe Productions!