Anton's OpenGL 4 Tutorials book demo code

Note

This series of demos accompanies the e-book "Anton's OpenGL 4 Tutorials": antongerdelan.net/opengl

Table of Contents

1. Info
2. Compiling on Linux
3. Compiling on macOS
4. Compiling on Windows with Visual Studio
5. Compiling on Windows with GCC
6. Contribution and Contributors
7. Licence

Info

Each chapter with major demonstration code has a corresponding demo here. There is also an example of code for Hello Triangle for OpenGL 2.1 for reference.

Each demo has easy-to-read Makefiles for Linux, macOS, and Windows. You may need to download newer versions of the libraries in the third_party/ folder.

This code is some years old now and builds may fall out of date. I try to maintain this so that it functions, but be aware that Makefiles and build details may differ slightly from book text for this reason.

Compiling on Linux

• Install a C and C++ compiler - usually by installing a build-essential bundle package via the package manager on your distribution. E.g. for Ubuntu:

sudo apt install build-essential

• Install the GLEW, GLFW3, FreeType, and Assimp development libraries. E.g. for Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libglew-dev libglfw3-dev libfreetype-dev libassimp-dev

• Open a terminal and cd to the demo of choice, then:

make -f Makefile.linux64

• Or, to build all the demos at once, you can run ./build_all_linux_macos.sh from the main directory.

Compiling on macOS

• Install the Clang or GNU compiler and tools. Usually this is done by installing Apple XCode through the App Store.

• You will probably wish to install libraries via the Homebrew package manager:

brew install glew glfw assimp freetype

• Open a terminal and cd to the demo of choice:

make -f Makefile.osx

• Or, to build all the demos at once, you can run ./build_all_linux_macos.sh from the main directory.

Compiling on Windows with Visual Studio

Install Microsoft Visual Studio. Any edition is fine. There are several alternatives to compile with Visual Studio:

• Using the included batch files.
• Installing libraries with NuGet within Visual Studio.
• Installing libraries manually within Visual Studio.

Note

Compiling using a batch file is an easy option for working with Visual Studio's compiler. It's also an easier way to build all the demos in one go, if you just want to try them all first. The only catch is editing the batch file to get the correct path to your compiler tools.

Batch Files

For your convenience a build.bat file is included in each demo. These will use Visual Studio's command-line tools to compile the demo:

1. Open the build.bat file in a text editor.
2. Check that the path to your edition of Visual Studio's tools matches your installed copy.
3. Run the batch file by double-clicking on it, or from the command line.

If you want to build all the demos in one go, there is a file called build_all_msvc.bat. You will also need to check the Visual Studio tool path at the top of this file.

Within Visual Studio

Create a new Empty, C++, Console project. You can then easily install the required libraries with NuGet, under the Project menu of a new C++ project, and you're ready to draw a triangle in 5 minutes.

Install Libraries with NuGet

1. In the Browse tab search for and install; glfw, and glew. For later tutorials you can also find assimp, and freetype, when required.
2. You need to add the text opengl32.lib to your linker input string. You can find this in Project->Properties->Configuration Properties->Linker->Input->Additional Dependencies. Just add opengl32.lib; to the front of the long string of dependencies so that it changes to opengl32.lib;kernel32.lib;user32;....
3. You do not need to add the libraries you installed via NuGet to the linker string.
4. You can now compile a Hello Triangle demo for OpenGL using GLFW and GLEW.

Install Libraries Manually

If you would rather do things the old fashioned way, without using a package manager, I have recorded a 2020 video stream tutorial where I show how to get Visual Studio set up and start programming OpenGL, including downloading and setting up libraries.

Tutorial: Intro to 3D Graphics Programming with OpenGL 4 (with Anton). Stream Recording.

This includes a very verbose set-up of Visual Studio 2019 with helper libraries.

Compiling on Windows with GCC

• Install the GNU Compiler Collection - usually by installing MinGW. I suggest the minimal MinGW GCC distribution at https://nuwen.net/mingw.html.
• Open a console and cd to the demo of choice.
• make -f Makefile.win64

There is also a build_all_mingw.bat file in the main directory, that you can run to build all of the demos with GCC.

If you have trouble linking supporting libraries you may need to download and recompile GLFW, GLEW, AssImp, and FreeType. It's a good idea to do this anyway to stay up to date.

• https://www.glfw.org/
• https://glew.sourceforge.net/
• https://freetype.org/download.html
• https://github.com/assimp/assimp

Caveats and Errata

• Since publication the most reliable version of newer OpenGL that will work everywhere, including macOS, is 4.1 Core. I suggest setting window hints to try this version first. See the updated Hello Triangle for an example.
• Code is directly copy-pasted from book sections. This means that there will be redundant OpenGL calls to bind things etc., but I think it's easier to follow along like this.
• Code explained in prior examples is moved to a file called gl_utils.cpp to avoid cluttering main.cpp. This means that gl_utils.cpp is not necessarily the same in each demo, but is built up gradually.
• Out-of-date build files have been removed; 32-bit builds, and older Visual Studio files.
• Sometimes people ask for C examples. OpenGL is a C API, and I would have used C if writing the text later. Readers wishing to use a C compiler should do so - only very minor code convention changes are required.

Contribution and Contributors

If you find a bug please feel encouraged to create an Issue, or make a Pull Request, bearing in mind the Caveats above. Build systems and Visual Studio solution files will not be included, to keep things simple.

Special thanks to all the readers over the years that have submitted additions, bug reports, fixes, and feedback. If you have submitted a correction and don't mind having your name/@ printed here please let me know (or if you'd like to change these details).

• Olivier Nivoix
• Sarang Baheti https://github.com/sarangbaheti
• kevin
• Jon
• Julien Castelain https://github.com/julien
• Benjamin Summerton https://github.com/define-private-public
• Fwjrei
• guysherman
• 24kwakahana
• battila7
• Gnimuc https://github.com/Gnimuc
• Peter Getek https://github.com/postfixNotation
• Mikel Losada https://github.com/Workshoft
• Kevin Moran https://github.com/kevinmoran
• Jon https://github.com/0xBAMA
• Pablo Alonso-Villaverde Roza https://github.com/pavroza

Licence

See LICENCE.md for licence and copyright information.