Two more libs are available in the VS*L framework. With these new additions it is possible to use Assimp to load 3D models, and render them with core OpenGL. The libs store the meshes in VAOs, and use VSShaderLib and VSMathLib to simplify the rendering with shaders with almost any uniform variable configuration.
Jason L. McKesson has completed a new section on his online book. This section covers Texturing.
In March, 2010, the Khronos group approved an extension to add timers to OpenGL. The version was 3.2. As of OpenGL 3.3 this functionality has become part of the specification.
As mention in the Very Simple Profile Library page, profiling is an essential technique to truly understand how to improve the performance of an application. Being able to get time measurements is important both in the development stage as well as during run-time after the application has been released. OpenGL Timer Queries allows us to profile the GPU. i.e. to determine the amount of time it takes to execute a command, or sequence of commands in the GPU.
A tutorial is available in here describing the OpenGL timer functions, showing how to use them, and describing a double buffer approach to prevent the application from being stalled while waiting for query results.
Direct3D ShaderX: Vertex and Pixel Shader Tips and Tricks (2002)
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ShaderX2: Introductions and Tutorials with DirectX 9.0 (2003)
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ShaderX2: Shader Programming Tips and Tricks with DirectX 9.0 (2003)
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ShaderX3: Advanced Rendering with DirectX and OpenGL (2004)
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ShaderX4: Advanced Rendering Techniques (Jan. 2006)
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ShaderX5: Advanced Rendering Techniques (Dec. 2006)
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ShaderX6: Advanced Rendering Techniques (2008)
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ShaderX7 (2009)
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Series edited by Wolfgang Engel
The first three volumes are available in PDF from here.
Items were grouped by section, and ordered alphabetically (volumes are displayed in parenthesis) Continue reading »
Optimization is a must in computer graphics applications, mainly in those devoted to real-time interaction, such as visualization and games. One possibility is to optimise everything that can be optimised, but this is in most cases a waste of time. There are segments in our applications that when optimised bring an overall gain in efficiency to our application, but this is not true for all segments.
VSPL, a component of the Very Simple * Libraries, brings a profiler which you can display on top of your application using OpenGL. There are no dependencies whatsoever, and the only requirement to display the profile report on top of the application is a function to display a string. In OpenGL you can use VSFL, another component of the Very Simple * Libraries.
Patrick Cozzi and Christophe Riccio are calling for proposals for a new book, Game Programming Gems style, but dedicated to OpenGL, GL ES, and Web GL, i.e. to the GL world. The site for the CFP contains a list of possible themes for contributions. The deadline for proposals is the 15th of August.
VSFL has suffered a minor update to be able to render fixed size fonts such as Courier New. Previously all chars would have the optimal length, but this makes formatted printing difficult in some circumstances. A new parameter has been added to the loadFont method to specify if the font is to be rendered with fixed size chars, or not (the default setting). Also a new font has been added to the package, Courier New, which can take advantage of this feature.
G-Truc Creation has been building a samples pack for OpenGL that covers versions from 2.1 up to 4.1 This latest release has reached the 100 samples mark. An invaluable source of code for the newest versions.
