When sould I start studying OpenGL? What should I get and where?

OpenGL OpenGL: Basic Coding
1

I am a beginner programmer, I do know well C, I am starting with C++ (2° week now) and I love 3D graphics, and specially OpenGL stuff.

But I don’t know if I am ready to start studying and coding OpenGL programs, maybe more experienced guys can help me!

What experience do I have?

  • C (very good, I think!)
  • C++ (I am starting to get used to the class/object, contructors, overloading them, copy contructors, etc)
  • Assembly (basic 8088 assembly, I have interest in Assembly but I don’t know if I can use it for OpenGL otimization)

What plataform I intent to develop for?

  • Initialy, Windows using MS Visual C++ 6

Well, any one could help me? I am rushing anything or I have enought experience to start coding basic stuff in OpenGL? Where do I get libraries to use in the plataform I stated above?

THANKS in advance for any help!

2

You can download the libs here: http://www.opengl.org/users/downloads/index.html

And here are some good tutorials on OpenGL: http://nehe.gamedev.net/

3

Hi !

VC6 includes everything you need to develop OpenGL applications, you don’t need any extra libraries.

Mikael

4

Hi,

you seem to have all the qualities one needs for OpenGL. To get started, you should read the FAQ on OpenGL.org about OpenGL. There you get many answers to questions, you even don´t have in mind.

Also try this page, i think it is good for starters: http://hem.passagen.se/opengl/getstarted/

The best site on the net to learn OpenGL is definitely nehe.gamedev.net, as already mentioned.

If you try nehe´s first lesson with VC++ 6.0 you really don´t have to bother about lib´s and headers. You will learn everything from nehe.

And of course this forum is the best place to ask questions. As long as the questions are not too stupid (“How do i do sound with OpenGL??”), there will always be someone, who will help you.

Greetings,
Jan.

5

Thanks guys!!!
I’ll try to do some code RIGHT NOW! =]

6

I have been a long time C programmer, have not crossed too much into the C++ area.

Opengl works well with C or C++, I use a freeware compiler called lcc-win32.

If you have some programming background then doing openGL programming should be no problem.

3D graphics uses a good amount of math, so keep handy a good algebra, geometry, and a physics book.

Originally posted by Bengt:
[b]I am a beginner programmer, I do know well C, I am starting with C++ (2° week now) and I love 3D graphics, and specially OpenGL stuff.

But I don’t know if I am ready to start studying and coding OpenGL programs, maybe more experienced guys can help me!

What experience do I have?

  • C (very good, I think!)
  • C++ (I am starting to get used to the class/object, contructors, overloading them, copy contructors, etc)
  • Assembly (basic 8088 assembly, I have interest in Assembly but I don’t know if I can use it for OpenGL otimization)

What plataform I intent to develop for?

  • Initialy, Windows using MS Visual C++ 6

Well, any one could help me? I am rushing anything or I have enought experience to start coding basic stuff in OpenGL? Where do I get libraries to use in the plataform I stated above?

THANKS in advance for any help![/b]