How to draw a circle

Hi,
Does anyone know how to draw a circle in openGL? I mean a simple circle picture, where i just write circle(x,y,radius)and it’ll draw it for me … I’ve seen many codes but most of them it’s really complicated. I really appreciate it if someone can post the actual code. Thanx’s

Try this thread.

Or try NeHe’s tutorial, Lesson number 18, which is on Quadratics.
The web page is: http://nehe.gamedev.net/opengl4.asp

I used this excellant tutorial and had no problems. hope this helps…

Hi,
Thanx’s for the help, but i need the code for drawing circle in 2D mode. I’ve try the thread and checked all the code, but the circle always stuck in the middle of the window. Isn’t there any other way to make it dynamic so i can put it anywhere i want? Thank you

huh? have you looked at the code to try and understand it and modify it to your own purpose?

I realise you might not know much/anything about trigonometry (and thus actually computnig the verticies of the circle), but what can’t you understand about applying glTranslate calls before drawing the circle?

Hellrage,

Here is what I do to draw a circle in 2d or 3d It takes care of resolution of the circle also. Really nice when added to the ends of cylinders so you can see them on end.

Public Sub DrawCircle(x1 As GLdouble, y1 As GLdouble, z1 As GLdouble, rad As GLdouble, Nsides As GLint)
Dim INC As GLdouble
Dim deginrad As GLdouble
Dim i As GLint
glDisable GL_LIGHTING
glDisable GL_COLOR_MATERIAL
glEnable GL_LINE_STIPPLE
glLineStipple SYSLTSCALE, TmpLTPattern
If Nsides < 3 Then Nsides = 3
INC = DEG2RAD * (360# / Nsides)
glTranslatef x1, y1, z1 ’ Move to center point
glBegin GL_LINE_LOOP
For i = 0 To Nsides - 1
deginrad = i * INC
glVertex2f Cos(deginrad) * rad, Sin(deginrad) * rad
Next i
glEnd
glTranslatef -x1, -y1, -z1 'Move back to origin
End Sub

This is in VB but you get the idea.
And for your next question. Here is the code for an Arc.

Public Sub DrawArc(x1 As GLdouble, y1 As GLdouble, z1 As GLdouble, rad As GLdouble, Nsides As Integer, startang As Double, arcang As Double)
Dim INC As Double
Dim deginrad As Double
Dim i As Integer
Dim Nsec As Double ’ angle of each segment in radians.
Dim Ssec As Double ’ start angle based in radians
Dim Asides As Integer
glDisable GL_LIGHTING
glDisable GL_COLOR_MATERIAL
glEnable GL_LINE_STIPPLE
glLineStipple SYSLTSCALE, TmpLTPattern
Asides = arcang / 360# * Nsides
If Asides < 3 Then Asides = 3
glTranslatef x1, y1, z1 ’ Move to center point
glBegin GL_LINES
INC = DEG2RAD * (arcang / Asides) 'get radian amount for each segment
Ssec = (startang / arcang) * Asides ’ start angle expressed as percent of total arc
'calculate the start point
For i = 0 To Asides
deginrad = (i + Ssec) * INC ’ add on the start angle
glVertex2f Cos(deginrad) * rad, Sin(deginrad) * rad
deginrad = (i + Ssec + 1) * INC ’ add on the next point
If i < Asides Then
glVertex2f Cos(deginrad) * rad, Sin(deginrad) * rad
End If

Next i
glEnd
glTranslatef -x1, -y1, -z1 'Move back to origin

End Sub

Hope this helps.

Here is a little routine I am working on, draw diffrent 2D shapes, triangles, squires, etc. Add about 100 points looks like a circle. Builds array of vertex points.
You could snip the inner code and put the routine between a glBegin/glEnd.

void buildquad( int sides, Point3F polygon)
{
float angle, xangle;
float x, y, z;
float r;
int i;

r = 2.0f;
xangle = 3.1415927f / sides;

for (i=0; i <= sides; i++)
{
angle = xangle * i * 2;
polygon[i].xyz[0] = r * cos( angle ); // X
polygon[i].xyz[1] = r * sin( angle ); // Y
polygon[i].xyz[2] = 0.0f; // Z
}
polygon[i] = polygon[0];
}

Originally posted by hellrage:
Hi,
Does anyone know how to draw a circle in openGL? I mean a simple circle picture, where i just write circle(x,y,radius)and it’ll draw it for me … I’ve seen many codes but most of them it’s really complicated. I really appreciate it if someone can post the actual code. Thanx’s

One way to draw a circle without using sin and cos: (neither very good nor fast and aweful style, but works if you just dont want to work with trig)

-this will be a circle in the x-y-plane:
-first you have to move your axes without rotating them to the spot where the center of you circle will be, then:

int points=3600;  // 3600  is the number of points your circle will consist of
for (int n=0;n<points;i++)
{
  glRotatef(360*n/points,0.0f,0.0f,1.0f);
  glBegin(GL_POINTS); //some of you might now scream in pain, i know
    glVertex3f(radius,0.0f,0.0f);
  glEnd();
}

hellrage,
I just found out something.

On the arc if you use

glBegin GL_LINE_STRIP

instead of

glBegin GL_LINE

you don’t need the second glvertex code.

Sorry I’m still new at this.

HI,
Thanx’s everyone for posting the message. I’ll try code now, hope it works. See ya