OpenGL graphics

Hi,

I'm having trouble getting around what everything means in the lighting and section of OpenGL. I have managed to get lighting working, but whatever i try for shading doesn't work. I've been working of tutorials but can't make much sense of it. If anybody could help me understand whats going on and how to get shading working would be great. Ive got comments on my code which is as far as i understand.

Code:

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void glutInit(int argc, char ** argv)
{
          // Setup the basic GLUT stuff
         
        glutInit(&argc, argv);                                                // initialises environment
          glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_RGB | GLUT_DEPTH);        // uses a double buffer - colour mode -

          // Create the window
 
        glutInitWindowSize(200, 200);                                        // creates the window size
          glutInitWindowPosition(100, 150);                                  // position of the window on the screen
          glutCreateWindow("3D Draughts");

        // Register the event callback functions
 
        glutDisplayFunc(Display);                                        // called everytime it needs to refresh the display
        glutIdleFunc(idle);                                                // called when it isnt doing anything


       
          glutKeyboardFunc(KeyboardHandler);                                // picks up keyboard strokes
        glutSpecialFunc(SpecKeyHandler);
       
        glutMouseFunc(processMouse);                                        // mouse movement and clicks
        glutMotionFunc(processMouseActiveMotion);



        glutReshapeFunc(Reshape);                                        // called everytime it needs to reshape something

        orientMe();

        glClearDepth(1.0f);

        glShadeModel(GL_SMOOTH);
        glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);                                        // Enabling depth test
        glEnable(GL_COLOR_MATERIAL);                                        // Allows colored materials to be affected by the light
          glEnable(GL_LIGHTING);                // Enable lighting
       

        glEnable(GL_LIGHT0);                                                // Enable 1st light, possible 8 - max
        glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_POSITION, LightPos);                        // set light position
          glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_DIFFUSE, LightColor);                        // setting diffuse colour
          glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_SPECULAR, LightColor);                        // setting specular colour

                                                                        // At this point, control is relinquished to the GLUT event handler.
          glutMainLoop();                                                  // Control is returned as events occur, via the callback functions.
 
}

---

thanks

What exactly do you mean by "shading"? Shadows? Or just the dark parts that face away from the light?

If the latter, you might want to try setting the ambient lighting term, like this:

Code:

---

float lightAmbient[4] = {0.1f, 0.1f, 0.1f, 1.0f};
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, lightAmbient);

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You need to specify a normal at each vertex, if I understand what you are asking for. I believe you mean Goraud shading. Note that this only produces reasonably good results for densely tesselated models (each polygon is small), because it interpolates the value of the normal across the face (meaning as you get towards the center of a large polygon you will notice the effects of the averaged normals).

If you simply meant for coloring, you need to enable smooth shading and supply a different color per vertex.

EDIT:
Also, what the hell is a 'draught?'

lol, checkers?? we call it draughts... well 'they'..... i just want simple shadows so you can tell its 3D, from far, atm sometimes it looks 2.

I tried what psychopath suggested, but no luck. I didnt make up my shapes of polygons, i'm not on that level, i simply stuck together 2D shapes to make 3D shapes. I just want simple shadows now, so it adds to the realism. My light is shining from the top, and when you move the camera through it to the bottom side, it is dark. Maybe my positionbing of my light is incorrent??

Code:

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const GLfloat LightPos[] = { 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0 };
const GLfloat LightColor[] = {  1.0f, 1.0f,1.0f, 1.0f };

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There is no integrated support for shadows in OpenGL. You need to do the calculations yourself.

For something simple like checkers, you could just render a simple dark circle under each piece offset by a constant factor.

i see, what about shading on the peices ??