Hello, I'm new to OpenGL

OpenGL OpenGL: Basic Coding
1

Hello, I’m new here, I’m a student and I’ve just getting started with C++. I’m very interested in game development, and I will take this very seriously if needed; OpenGL is already installed on my GPU (Sapphire ATI X1550) under the 2.1 version and it’s easy to start a blank project in CodeBlocks. I’ve seen that users on this forum are very serious, professional and active; I usually introduce myself by posting on each forum I’m signed up to, and, please don’t take this as a sign of immaturity.
OpenGL is affirmed by Valve to be faster than DX, and it’s cross-platform, so Windows games can be compiled on Linux, Mac and for PlayStation too.
I’ve some question about this library and I hope you will help me to get started:

  • OpenGL is a rendering API. Can I use OpenGL for GUI, text rendering, and do “level editing” via C++ without a visual level editor?
    Or, is OpenGL a tool that you can only use to create a game engine, which is a different thing?
  • Is it backward compatible?
  • OpenGL is developed by Khronos, a non profit company: should I donate? I know that game development is a business that touchs billions of dollars; and I don’t know if this company if founded, if not, I would like to give my part as sign of thanksgiving.
    Thank you for your answers.
    Sabino.
2

OpenGL is affirmed by Valve to be faster than DX, and it’s cross-platform, so Windows games can be compiled on Linux, Mac and for PlayStation too.

OpenGL is not available for PlayStation. At best, an implementation of OpenGL ES is available, but pretty much nobody uses it.

I’ve some question about this library

It’s not a library.

I hope you will help me to get started

See that button in the top row that says “OpenGL: Getting Stated”? You press that to get started.

  • Is it backward compatible?

With what?

  • OpenGL is developed by Khronos, a non profit company: should I donate?

No; they’re doing fine financially thanks to their membership fees.

3

Okay. Sorry.

Can games written by using version 2.1 ran on a modern GPU?

Anyway, can I directly use OpenGL code as a part of my game code, or does OpenGL is designed to be implemented in a game engine?

4

Yes.

I’m not sure what you’re asking here, since the two parts of your question don’t match up. Can you use OpenGL in whatever application you want? Yes. Is OpenGL designed to be used in game engines? Yes. But it’s designed to be used in many things. It has features that are useful for game engines, but it also has other features that are useful at other tasks.

5

Hello and welcome. It’s a good forum as far as i see but, as most programming boards, with a impersonal atmosphere.

There are indeed GUI and Font libraries written in OpenGL. Out of the box OpenGL does not have any particular support for GUI controls. It’s just a general purpose low level API for 2D and 3D rendering. So nothing hinders you from drawing typical GUI controls, but it’s a lot of work to develop a useful library

Again, you can render whatever you want.

There are two profiles: Compatibility profile and Core profile. Compatibility is backwards compatible to the very first OpenGL version, Core does only support the latest GL specification. Most (nearly all i guess) drivers are backward compatible but it’s popular belief it’s better to learn modern OpenGL, if possible.

[QUOTE=Sabino;1264701]

  • OpenGL is developed by Khronos, a non profit company: should I donate?[/QUOTE]
    Look at the members of Khronos. Nearly every major player in IT is a member and they probably could buy a small country :wink: So no, you don’t have to donate.