OpenGL® Reference Manual: The Official Reference Document to OpenGL, Version 1.4 (4th Edition) [Paperback]

OpenGL Architecture Review Board (Author), Dave Shreiner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 032117383X | ISBN-13: 978-0321173836 | Publication Date: March 26, 2004 | Edition: 4

The Official Reference Document to OpenGL, Version 1.4

OpenGL is a powerful software interface used to produce high-quality computer-generated images and interactive graphics applications by rendering 2D and 3D geometric objects, bitmaps, and color images.

Officially sanctioned by the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB), The OpenGL® Reference Manual, Fourth Edition, is the comprehensive and definitive documentation of all core OpenGL functions. This fourth edition has been completely revised and updated for OpenGL Versions 1.3 and 1.4.

It features coverage of cube-mapped textures, multisampling, depth textures and shadowing, multitexturing, and register combiners. In addition, this book documents all OpenGL Utility Library functions (GLU 1.3) and the OpenGL extension to the X Window System (GLX 1.3).

A comprehensive reference section documents each set of related OpenGL commands. Each reference page contains:

• A description of the command's parameters
• The command's effect on rendering and how OpenGL's state is modified
• Examples
• References to related functions
• Errors generated by each function

This book also includes a conceptual overview of OpenGL, a summary of commands and routines, a chapter on defined constants and associated commands, and descriptions of the multitexturing and imaging subset ARB extensions.

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 Architecture Review Board (ARB), an industry consortium responsible for guiding the evolution of OpenGL and related technologies. The OpenGL ARB is composed of leaders in the computer graphics industry: 3Dlabs, Apple, ATI, Dell, Evans & Sutherland, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Matrox, NVIDIA, SGI, and Sun Microsystems.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Official Reference Document to OpenGL, Version 1.4

OpenGL is a powerful software interface used to produce high-quality computer-generated images and interactive graphics applications by rendering 2D and 3D geometric objects, bitmaps, and color images.

Officially sanctioned by the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB), The OpenGL® Reference Manual, Fourth Edition, is the comprehensive and definitive documentation of all core OpenGL functions. This fourth edition has been completely revised and updated for OpenGL Versions 1.3 and 1.4.

It features coverage of cube-mapped textures, multisampling, depth textures and shadowing, multitexturing, and register combiners. In addition, this book documents all OpenGL Utility Library functions (GLU 1.3) and the OpenGL extension to the X Window System (GLX 1.3).

A comprehensive reference section documents each set of related OpenGL commands. Each reference page contains:

• A description of the command's parameters
• The command's effect on rendering and how OpenGL's state is modified
• Examples
• References to related functions
• Errors generated by each function

This book also includes a conceptual overview of OpenGL, a summary of commands and routines, a chapter on defined constants and associated commands, and descriptions of the multitexturing and imaging subset ARB extensions.

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 Architecture Review Board (ARB), an industry consortium responsible for guiding the evolution of OpenGL and related technologies. The OpenGL ARB is composed of leaders in the computer graphics industry: 3Dlabs, Apple, ATI, Dell, Evans & Sutherland, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Matrox, NVIDIA, SGI, and Sun Microsystems.

About the Author

Dave Shreiner, a leading OpenGL consultant, was a longtime member of the core OpenGL team at SGI. He authored the first commercial OpenGL training course, and has been developing computer graphics applications for more than two decades.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 4 edition (March 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 032117383X
• ISBN-13: 978-0321173836
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia > OpenGL

More About the Author

Dave Shreiner started his graphics career hacking on a Commodore 64 back in 1981 (a mere 15 years after his birth [yes, late by today's standards], but computers weren't prevalent in Etters, Pennsylvania at that time). Things started to get interesting at the University of Delaware in 1988, where he got to work on his (well, his employer's) first Silicon Graphics Computer Systems ("SGI" to those how know and loved them) machine (a 4D/220GTX running at 25MHz). Combining his love of science, mathematics, and video games, his first graphics programs were for visualizing molecules.

After a somewhat tumultuous college career, Dave went on to do more work on SGI machines doing flight simulation and user-interface design. As that work dried up, he joined SGI in 1991 helping graphics programmers work with Iris GL (OpenGL's predecessor). His career continued as he began teaching classes on Iris GL, user-interface design, and parallel and real-time programming, all the while being mentored by Mason Woo. Around the same time, he was introduced to the fledgling OpenGL API being developed, and asked to author an introductory course on the subject.

Around the same time, he met Vicki - his future wife - eventually mentoring her in OpenGL programming. Not long after, they wed, and formed a family mostly composed of felines.

In 1997, Dave joined forces with Mason in his first writing activity as they updated the "OpenGL Programming Guide" (the "Red Book") to its third edition. At the same time, Mason and co-presenter Ed Angel (author of "Interactive Computer Graphics: A top-down approach using OpenGL") added Dave into their SIGGRAPH (the annual computer graphics conference) course team, and so the mayhem began.

Over the next decade, Dave continued to work at SGI in various roles, including OpenGL driver development for many of their products. He also updated the "OpenGL Programming Guide" three more times, and was involved in presenting another 13 SIGGRAPH courses on OpenGL (and countless others at other conferences). Also during this time, Addison-Wesley - the publisher of the "OpenGL Programming Guide" and numerous other books related to OpenGL - made him series editor for their OpenGL library, allowing him to provide direction and input into their books relating to OpenGL.

In 2006, Dave's career steered to a new vector, as he went off to do work on GPU computing. At the same time, he also worked as chair of SIGGRAPH's courses program (as well as once again presenting a course).

While GPU computing was increasing in relevance, Dave felt that mobile computer graphics was on the cusp of becoming an even bigger thing, and joined ARM's (the embedded CPU company) graphics group to directly contribute to the fray. Soon after, he became involved with OpenGL ES, the embedded version of OpenGL. At the same time, he contributed to the "OpenGL ES 2.0 Programming Guide", and began presenting courses on OpenGL's embedded version.

Most recently, Dave joined long-time collaborator and fellow author, Ed Angel, in updating his textbook - "Interactive Computer Graphics" - to a new shader-only format, and is currently working on revising the "OpenGL Programming Guide" to reflect the most recent changes in OpenGL.

Dave lives with Vicki and their cat Phantom, splitting their time between their home in Mountain View and Sonoma County in California's wine country.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and clear. A must to have on your bookshelf, May 9, 2007

By 

Gabriel Guerrero (MADRID, SPAIN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: OpenGL® Reference Manual: The Official Reference Document to OpenGL, Version 1.4 (4th Edition) (Paperback)

When we migrated from DirectX to OpenGL and from Microsoft to Linux this book was a constant reference during those weeks of hard work. It is concise, clear and documents well OpenGL. You have to know what you are looking for, but... that's the purpose of a reference guide, right?.
Great job on compiling the material !!!!
Gabriel

9 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An OpenGL Companion, April 10, 2004

By 

Tasha Jessup (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: OpenGL® Reference Manual: The Official Reference Document to OpenGL, Version 1.4 (4th Edition) (Paperback)

The fourth edition of "OpenGL Reference Manual" edited by Dave Shreiner provides an official command reference for the OpenGL graphics library version 1.4. Published by Addison Wesley (ISBN 0-321-17383-X) the text is approximately 760 pages and has a suggested retail price of $59.99.

First introduced in 1992, OpenGL is an industry standard graphical application programming interface (API) that supports 2D and 3D rendering across a host of platforms. The Architectural Review Board (ARB) governs the OpenGL API and oversees the adoption of new interface functions. Functions (or commands) within the API are usually simple and discrete. A developer calls a series of these small functions in sequence to specify rendering operations. To help utilize the library, the "OpenGL Reference Manual" supplies key functional documentation in a uniform manner.

The first two chapters provide an introduction to OpenGL, and an overview of the OpenGL architecture. The provided information is largely for reference rather than instruction. Generally, it is assumed the reader has a working knowledge of the pipeline already.

The third and fourth chapters list different groupings of the functional commands to provide the reader with several methods to index and reference functions. The third chapter details all each official OpenGL command categorized by functionality. The fourth chapter lists the various OpenGL constants that are compatible with each command.

Beginning with the fifth chapter, 160 official OpenGL commands are described. Listed alphabetically, every command has the following sections: Name, Function Prototype, Parameters, Description, Notes, Errors, See Also, and (sometimes when appropriate) Associated Gets. The coverage of each command spans an average of 3 pages.

The last two chapters describe fifty-two of the OpenGL Utility Library (GLU) and thirty-five OpenGL X-Windows extension commands. The reference format is identical but slightly shorter (averaging about 2 pages per command).

Overall, the organization and consistency is excellent. Often, material is duplicated per command to save the reader cross-referencing other sections of the book. Throughout the text, the wording is clear and unambiguous (if a bit dry) - exactly what you'd expect from a reference book of this nature.

The book does have a few shortcomings, however. There is only a small trace of sample source code. While the commands are presented alphabetically by class, the book contained no overall index. OpenGL Extensions (pixel and vertex shader commands, etc.) are not provided since they're not officially part of the Standard. Finally, having an electronic version of the text would have been a nice touch - especially one that integrated with the common development environments to provide context sensitive help or electronic searching.

The latest edition of the "OpenGL Reference Manual" is a great companion for OpenGL developers. To get the most from this book, readers unfamiliar or interested in learning the API should first read the "OpenGL Programming Guide, 4th Edition" (ISBN 0-3-211-73491) also published by Addison Wesley.