3D Texture

[iris_raj]

Dear Opengl Programmers,

All these days I assumed textures are 2D and corresponding to this we have 2D texture mapping. Recently I happen to read 3D texture mapping. What do you mean by 3D Texture mapping.
Does opengl support 3D Texture mapping.

Thanks in advance
RAJESH.R
NEST, Trivandrum
rajeshr@nestec.net

[k_szczech]

What do you mean by 3D Texture mapping.Textures are actually arrays of pixels, so:
1D texture is array with one dimension (you can call it texture width or array length)
2D texture has 2 dimensions (width and height)
3D texture has 3 dimensions (width, height and depth)
There is also CUBE texture which is a set of 6 2D textures.

You can consider 3D texture to be some box filled entirely with pixels.
A CUBE texture would be a box with pixels only on it's surface.


Does opengl support 3D Texture mapping.
Yes, 3D textures are supported on all recent graphics cards. If you want to know the detailed list then look here: http://delphi3d.net/hardware/extsupport.php?extension=GL_EXT_texture3D
CUBE textures were supported even earlier.