Using GLUT meshes without GLUT window

Alright, so I’m trying to build a GLSL shader testing engine in OpenGL on Windows. I want more control than GLUT allows for, so I’ve slowly been removing GLUT functionality. However, I want to keep the ability to simply create complex objects like glutSolidTeapot, without having to build my own model importer (that’s coming later). So, basically, I want to use GLUT for nothing but its object generation, not for its user interface and window creation. What do you recommend? Certainly, if there’s a way to very simply import common 3D formats into OpenGL, I won’t need GLUT at all.

My code uses GLee to setup GLSL. I used a tutorial like this one:
http://www.nullterminator.net/opengl32.html
to run OpenGL on Windows without GLUT.

I can post my entire Visual Studio 2005 project, if that will help.

You can keep using the GLUT geometry until your geometry importer is ready. There is no problem with using GLUT in this limited way.

There is one thing to consider here: The GLUT specification is very explicit about the fact that it is invalid to call any GLUT function without a “glutInit” prefix before glutInit has been called (see http://www.opengl.org/documentation/specs/glut/spec3/node9.html)..) The original GLUT does not check for this, but e.g. freeglut does.