macOS Best way for a beginner to learn OpenGL?

[ThePiratkapten]

Hi!

Half a year ago I started programming, without knowing anything about it before. Now I would like to learn some OpenGL too. Does anyone know a good site or book for someone who doesn't have any prior experience with "graphics"? I will be using Xcode and C++.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Blakeasd]

I like Open.GL and Anton's OpenGL 4 Tutorials. You will have to do some reading before hand to setup OpenGL 4 with Anton Gerdelan's tutorial. For Open.GL you can run OS X Mountain Lion or higher, but for Gerdelan's tutorial you will need to be running OS X Mavericks.

 

[drsoong]

Nehe

I learnt a lot in the beginning from Nehe.

The examples are kept fairly generic, and most of the can be downloaded as XCode projects, too.

-DrSoong

 

[Blakeasd]

I learnt a lot in the beginning from Nehe.

The examples are kept fairly generic, and most of the can be downloaded as XCode projects, too.

-DrSoong

I would be careful using NeHe to learn OpenGL. The site teaches Legacy OpenGL -- in legacy OpenGL, the graphics pipeline is not programmable. As I'm aware OpenGL 1.x is taught specifically on NeHe; it's important to note that OpenGL 1 came out in 1997.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Hi!

Half a year ago I started programming, without knowing anything about it before. Now I would like to learn some OpenGL too. Does anyone know a good site or book for someone who doesn't have any prior experience with "graphics"? I will be using Xcode and C++.

Thanks in advance!

Learning OpenGL is not for the faint of heart. Many have tried and failed. What is your end goal? Chances are that learning OpenGL will be a frustrating waste of time for you, although I can't tell you what you should be learning if you don't tell me what your end goal is.

 

[drsoong]

mea culpa

I would be careful using NeHe to learn OpenGL. The site teaches Legacy OpenGL -- in legacy OpenGL, the graphics pipeline is not programmable. As I'm aware OpenGL 1.x is taught specifically on NeHe; it's important to note that OpenGL 1 came out in 1997.

Good point, Blakeasd. I missed that, as it's been some time I went through it myself.

-DrSoong

 

[chrono1081]

Wow why didn't these sites exist when I was learning!?

 

[teagls]

I do OpenGL dev for a living. Personally I would start with something simple like javascript and WebGL. It's basically OpenGL ES 2.0. But, much more forgiving then C++/OpenGL.

It will ease you into using shaders with vert/frag shaders and there are a ton of WebGL tutorials. When you get comfortable with that then I would jump into OpenGL ES 2.0 for iOS. You will have a much easier time making that transition since the api is essentially the same. One is in js vs c, but the concepts will all carry over.

If you jump right into OpenGL/C++ using a higher level of OpenGL with geometry shaders and some of the newer features it might be overwhelming for you.

Also having really good linear-algebra knowledge is essential.

Here are some intro webgl tuts.
http://learningwebgl.com/blog/?page_id=1217