Thread: Considering learning OpenGL

  1. #1
    Back after 2 years Panopticon's Avatar
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    Considering learning OpenGL

    Are there any newbie-friendly books on OpenGL? I think i should be able to handle learning OpenGL... unless I need to learn some other thing first. thanx in advance
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  2. #2
    Has a Masters in B.S.
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    not really, since they have to cover computer graphics as well and not only the programming side.

    The OpenGL Programming Guide, comes highly recommended by all.
    ADVISORY: This users posts are rated CP-MA, for Mature Audiences only.

  3. #3
    Registered User codingmaster's Avatar
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    you get a complete overview about:
    game programming books at the book section at:
    www.gamedev.net

    and for opengl books at
    http://nehe.gamedev.net

    A good one is the standard: OpenGL The Red Book

  4. #4
    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    A good one is the standard: OpenGL The Red Book
    and for opengl books at
    http://nehe.gamedev.net
    I couldn't disagree more. The first is poorly written and the second skips alot of important things, as well as being fairly nasty code wise.

    This thread should technically be in the game forum, but anyway....I highly reccomend OpenGL Game Programming by Kevin Hawkins and Dave Astell, its a verygood book and for the majority a newbie could survive it. I reccomend at least 3-5 months in c++ before you open it, bout you could do it.


    to give a few

    http://www.linuxfocus.org/English/J.../article15.html

    http://www.opengl.org/developers/code/tutorials.html

    http://www.gametutorials.com/Tutorials/opengl

    http://www.frii.com/~martz/oglfaq/gettingstarted.htm

    http://www.xmission.com/~nate/tutors.html

    http://cg.cs.uni-bonn.de/personal-p...ler/opengl.html

    http://vblinks.netfirms.com/advance/index.htm

    http://www.opengl.org/developers/code/sig99/index.html

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    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    This book is the one i have/mentioned, worth every cent:

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

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    Originally posted by RoD

    This thread should technically be in the game forum,
    Not at all, OpenGL is used in a lot more things than games... in fact it was created for uses other than gaming I believe.

  8. #8
    Speedy5
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    OpenGL is nice, but I think DirectX is better. Its used MUCH, MUCH more in games. I heard somewhere that OpenGL is a state machine, ooo, bad! (Of course, I could be wrong). Use DirectX's classes, its even on .NET now (DirectX 9.0). But DX is only for Windows but thats what most people use.

    I guess you'll learn what you want to learn, its all opinion here...

  9. #9
    Back after 2 years Panopticon's Avatar
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    Wow so much helpful feedback. Yeah, I was wondering about DirectX too. Im more interested in making 3d objects, like in flash. Whats the difference between DirectX and OpenGL anyways? I reckon OpenGL sounds more professional but anyways. heh.

    And about those Ebay books... wish I was over 18 so I cud bid. lol. O well.

  10. #10
    Back after 2 years Panopticon's Avatar
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    And one more question out of curiosity, what exactly does OpenGL mean? Is it an acronym or abbreviation or does it mean Open Graphic L-something?
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    If you're looking for games, entertainment, fast-paced action, vertex buffers, and stuff like that: DirectX
    If you're looking for models, animation: OpenGL

    I would choose DirectX, theres a lot more resources for it and I got a MASSIVE tutorial I could send you. It teaches you the basics of every part of DirectX (input, drawing, networks, etc).

  12. #12
    Back after 2 years Panopticon's Avatar
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    Really? that would be so swell.
    My email is [email protected]
    Thanks again.
    I AM WINNER!!!1!111oneoneomne

  13. #13
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    Either lie about your age, or get your parents to bid for you! I've bid on stuff before, and i'm not of age. You can get the Blue book and Red book for free over the internet. These are entire books, for free. Check www.opengl.org for them.

    If I were you, i'd choose OpenGL. It's platform independant, extremely low-level, fast... plus and there's no massive SDK to download. OpenGL is just as capable as DirectX is.

    I suggest you look up the pros and cons of each before you jump into learning one. I work on Linux and Windows, I like platform independance... I choose OpenGL.
    Last edited by Eibro; 01-27-2003 at 10:09 PM.

  14. #14
    Back after 2 years Panopticon's Avatar
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    What's an SDK?
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  15. #15
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    Software Development Kit.
    If you want to program DirectX applications, you need to download a ~200mb SDK from microsoft.

    On the other hand, most compilers come with support for OpenGL.
    #include <gl/gl.h> and link opengl32 to your project and you're all set.

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