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Multisampling – Hacking FreeGLUT’s default sample count

Nov 232012

Both FreeGLUT and GLUT allow us to define an OpenGL context with multisampling. However the number of samples is fixed (4) and I’ve not found a way to change it using the API.

In here we’re going to see how to hack FreeGLUT so that we can change the default number of samples. This can be achieved either by changing the default value, or by adding a new function to set this value.

Note: This hack should be used only for testing purposes, not for redistribution, as FreeGLUT has a large base of users which already have the official version installed.

Importing 3D Models with Assimp

Apps & Demos, Programming No Responses »

Apr 152011

This is an OpenGL 3.3 + GLSL 3.3 sample that loads and displays a 3D model with Assimp. It also uses DevIL in case the model has textures. It was based on Assimps OpenGL demo and it extends it to support OpenGL 3.3

The sample uses Texturing, Vertex Array Objects, and Uniform Blocks. Camera can move around the object using the mouse, and the mousewheel can be used to zoom on the model, courtesy of freeglut.

GLUT and FreeGLUT

Programming, Tutorials No Responses »

Apr 112011

GLUT was conceived by Mark Kilgard with the goal of providing a simple, yet powerful enough, toolkit to deal with the intricacies of the windowing system when building OpenGL applications. In my opinion GLUT was a very effective solution and completely fits the bill. As far as I know, GLUT is still the simplest toolkit around and yet it does most of what is needed for simple prototypes.

GLUT however is not free of criticism. Complaints about the lack of control on the event loop are abundant on the web and some extra functionality, context creation and multisampling, would be most welcome.

GLUT is not open source hence it could not be modified, so GLUT clones have appeared. These kept the API (all gluts functions are usually implemented exactly with the same name) but improved and extended it to address the above mentioned issues.

There are open source versions of GLUT, such as freeGLUT and OpenGLUT. They all kept the API so 99.9% of what will be presented in this tutorial is still valid. Nonetheless these new versions do have some extensions that make it worth a try. Check out the extensions in freeGLUT here.