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OpenGL ® SuperBible, Fourth Edition, begins by illuminating the core techniques of “classic” OpenGL graphics programming, from drawing in space to geometric transformations, from lighting to texture mapping. The authors cover newer OpenGL capabilities, including OpenGL 2.1’s powerful programmable pipeline, vertex and fragment shaders, and advanced buffers. They also present thorough, up-to-date introductions to OpenGL implementations on multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, UNIX, and embedded systems.

Coverage includes

· An entirely new chapter on OpenGL ES programming for handhelds

· Completely rewritten chapters on OpenGL for Mac OS X and GNU/Linux

· Up-to-the-minute coverage of OpenGL on Windows Vista

· New material on floating-point color buffers and off-screen rendering

· In-depth introductions to 3D modeling and object composition

· Expert techniques for utilizing OpenGL’s programmable shading language

· Thorough coverage of curves, surfaces, interactive graphics, textures, shadows, and much more

· A fully updated API reference, and an all-new section of full-color images

You’ll rely on this book constantly–whether you’re learning OpenGL for the first time, deepening your graphics programming expertise, upgrading from older versions of OpenGL, or porting applications from other environments.

Now part of the OpenGL Technical Library–The official knowledge resource for OpenGL developers

The OpenGL Technical Library provides tutorial and reference books for OpenGL. The Library enables programmers to gain a practical understanding of OpenGL and shows them how to unlock its full potential. Originally developed by SGI, the Library continues to evolve under the auspices of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB) Steering Group (now part of the Khronos Group), an industry consortium responsible for guiding the evolution of OpenGL and related technologies.

Contents

Preface xxvii

About the Authors xxxv

Introduction 1

Part I: The Old Testament

Chapter 1 Introduction to 3D Graphics and OpenGL 9

Chapter 2 Using OpenGL 33

Chapter 3 Drawing in Space: Geometric Primitives and Buffers 73

Chapter 4 Geometric Transformations: The Pipeline 127

Chapter 5 Color, Materials, and Lighting: The Basics 173

Chapter 6 More on Colors and Materials 229

Chapter 7 Imaging with OpenGL 251

Chapter 8 Texture Mapping: The Basics 303

Chapter 9 Texture Mapping: Beyond the Basics 341

Chapter 10 Curves and Surfaces 377

Chapter 11 It’s All About the Pipeline: Faster Geometry Throughput 421

Chapter 12 Interactive Graphics 457

Chapter 13 Occlusion Queries: Why Do More Work Than You Need To? 481

Chapter 14 Depth Textures and Shadows 495

Part II: The New Testament

Chapter 15 Programmable Pipeline: This Isn’t Your Father’s OpenGL 515

Chapter 16 Vertex Shading: Do-It-Yourself Transform, Lighting, and Texgen 547

Chapter 17 Fragment Shading: Empower Your Pixel Processing 567

Chapter 18 Advanced Buffers 601

Part III: The Apocrypha

Chapter 19 Wiggle: OpenGL on Windows 641

Chapter 20 OpenGL on Mac OS X 685

Chapter 21 OpenGL on Linux 713

Chapter 22 OpenGL ES — OpenGL on the Small 735

Appendix A Further Reading/References 773

Appendix B Glossary 777

Appendix C API Reference 783

Index 1141

Average Customer Rating:

This is a good book.

Customer Rating:

This book is helpful, only problem for me personally is that I program in C# while this book uses C++. This means that for instance this book uses Matrix functions which are available in the C++ library but which aren't available in C#. But other than that this book is really nice to have because you can learn a lot about OpenGL from this book, which is the purpose of this book. In three words: A Good Buy

Great Reference

Customer Rating:

The SuperBible is a great OpenGL reference. I work with OpenGL daily, and find myself turning to the SuperBible more than the RedBook most weeks. The SuperBible focuses less on the specific syntax and expands a little bit more on application, which is nice when trying to answer some higher-level questions, or at design-time. Let me put it this way: I was originally going to expense this purchase through work, but ended up keeping the book for my own personal collection instead.

Good primer, heavy on examples	Customer Rating:
Nice intro/refresher to OpenGL, the only bummer is that it's now become a bit dated by the recent release of OpenGL 3.0 and Apple's OpenCL.

Best OpenGL book out there for beginners and experienced alike

Customer Rating:

This book has three great uses: as a learning tool for beginners, as an update for intermediates, and as a reference for experts. All groups can be benefited from this book. With regards to the first, this book provides a much more natural progression between the topics when read front to back. Also, it does not assume a lot of mathematical knowledge, and it will provide some of it as it goes along. Also, for people who know OpenGL 1.x, this book will be a great way of being introduced to shader programming as part of OpenGL. Also, something I found invaluable in this book is the chapters in optimization (buffer objects, etc). It talks enough about optimizing OpenGL to high-performance applications without delving into 3D engine design (something that is out of the cope), but still filling a niche. Last, it talks about several things that are taken for granted by professionals but novices sometimes have a hard time accessing (post-processing, multiple passes, image processing, etc.) Even professionals will find the book useful for looking things up, or to use as a reference.

excellent book for OpenGL

Customer Rating:

This is an excellent book for OpenGL topic. I noticed it also includes the most recent works in the computer graphics field which makes it totally different from the free 1st edition bluebook on the internet. I read it everyday on the train to and back from the work. The words used in the book are easy to understand. The authors did a good job presenting the technical details. This is a must-have for all OpenGL software engineers. Would recommend to other people!