OpenGL

OpenGL is hardware/software package that is available on virtually all modern personal computers and mobile devices. In MacOSX and iOS it is the bottom layer of all drawing.

OpenGL creates virtual shapes in 3 dimensional space and can color them, illuminate them, map images onto them, rotate, translate and scale them and more. It is a complex system. this scary diagram gives some idea. Please don't try to use it as a reference, it's 15 years old.

OpenGL has progressed over the years. Today you will find a number of versions, divided into two camps: pipeline (the older form) and shader. iOS offers OpenGL ES, a somewhat reduced version for embedded systems (the ES) and mobile devices. The pipeline form is version 1.1, the shader form is 2.0.

Apple's documentation for OpenGL starts here. I have found The OpenGL SuperBible to be very good. It is edited by Richard Wright and published by Addison-Wesley. The fifth edition covers shaders, the fourth edition is based on the pipeline. A serious OpenGL programmer may want to have both.

Sample code GLSprite is a good place to get started.

The page was last updated Thursday, December 22, 2011 2:56 PM