OpenGL Tutorials

Last Updated: Oct 19th, 2014

OpenGL is a powerful cross platform graphics API. With OpenGL, you can get hardware accelerated 2D and 3D rendering. This tutorial set was made to give beginners a head start by going through the basics of OpenGL usage.

For this tutorial we'll be starting using the OpenGL 2.1 era code to get started with the basics. Then we'll transition to modern OpenGL 3.0+ shader based programs.

Make sure to check out the Frequently Asked OpenGL Tutorial Questions. If you're having trouble with vector math, check out my OpenGL Math Primer.

Table of Contents
The Introduction to Introduction to OpenGL	What we will be covering in this OpenGL Tutorial.
Hello OpenGL	Render your first polygon with OpenGL.
Matrices and Coloring Polygons	Learn to add color to your OpenGL polygons.
The Viewport	Learn to control rendering in your OpenGL Window using the viewport.
Scrolling and the Matrix Stack	Learn to scroll your scene using matrices.
Texture Mapping and Pixel Manipulation	Learn to take pixels and turn them into OpenGL textures.
Loading a Texture	Learn to load texture images using DevIL.
Clipping Textures	Learn to clip portions of an OpenGL texture.
Non-Power-of-Two Textures	Learn to render OpenGL textures of any size.
Updating Textures	Learn to update texture pixels.
Color Keying and Blending	Learn to make images transparent using blending.
Stretching and Filters	Learn to stretch and scale images with OpenGL.
Rotation	Learn to rotate images with OpenGL.
Matrix Transformations	Learn to transform your OpenGL texture mapped quads.
Repeating Textures	Learn to tile textures in OpenGL.
Extensions and GLEW	Learn to use extended OpenGL using GLEW.
Vertex Arrays	Learn to render OpenGL polygons using Vertex Arrays.
Vertex Buffer Objects	Learn to render a polygon using modern OpenGL vertex buffer objects.
Textured Vertex Buffers	Learn to render an OpenGL texture using modern VBO.
Sprite Sheets	Learn to use multiple images per OpenGL texture using VBO sprite sheets.
Bitmap Fonts	Learn to load and render an OpenGL bitmap font.
Alpha Textures	Learn to use 8bit alpha textures for transparency blending.
Texture Blitting and Texture Padding	Learn to blit one OpenGL texture onto another.
FreeType Fonts	Learn to render FreeType fonts using OpenGL.
Text Alignment	Learn to align and center OpenGL text.
Transforming Text	Learn to rotate and scale OpenGL text.
The Stencil Buffer	Learn to stencil your scene using the OpenGL stencil buffer.
Frame Buffer Objects and Render to Texture	Learn to render your scene to a taxture using a Frame Buffer Object (FBO).
Antialiasing and Multisampling	Learn to render smooth polygons in OpenGL.
Hello GLSL	Learn to create GLSL shader programs.
Loading Text File Shaders	Learn to load GLSL shaders from a text file.
GLSL Matrices, Color, and Uniforms	Learn to set uniform variables to give polygons color.
GLM Matrices	Learn to use GLM matrices with GLSL.
Multi-Color Polygons and Attributes	Learn to use GLSL attributes in a shader program.
GLSL Texturing	Learn to render a texture using OpenGL 3.0 GLSL.
GLSL Font	Learn to render a OpenGL Font using OpenGL 3.0 GLSL methods.
Vertex Array Objects	Learn to use Vertex Array Objects in this VAO Tutorial.
Conclusion to Introduction to OpenGL	The OpenGL Tutorial conclusion. Thanks for visiting!

I am not claiming to know everything there is to know about programming/C++/OpenGL, but I have gained knowledge from the OpenGL projects I've worked on. These tutorials are made to pass on the knowledge I gained to those just starting out and to make OpenGL much less intimidating to beginners. I try to keep my code and tutorials as bug free as possible. If you find any errors please report them to me. Suggestions are also welcome.

So if you have any suggestions, comments, questions, bugs reports, typos, or anything else you want to say about the tutorials, feel free to contact me.