OpenGL Introductory Tutorial Changing Color Triangles

1. Knowledge points

(1) shader

 Shaders are small programs that run on the GPU . These applets run for a specific part of the graphics rendering pipeline . In a basic sense, a shader is just a program that converts input into output . Shaders are also a very separate program since they cannot communicate with each other . The only communication between them is through input and output .
 Shaders are written in a C-like language called GLSL . GLSL is tailored for graphics computing and includes some useful features for vector and matrix operations .

 A shader always starts with a version declaration, followed by input and output variables, uniform and main function. The entry point of every shader is the main function, in this function we process all input variables and output the results into output variables .
 A typical shader has the following structure:

#version version_number

in type in_variable_name;
in type in_variable_name;

out type out_variable_name;

uniform type uniform_name;

int main()
{
    
    
  // 处理输入并进行一些图形操作
  ...
  // 输出处理过的结果到输出变量
  out_variable_name = weird_stuff_we_processed;
}

 
 When we talk specifically about vertex shaders, each input variable is also called a Vertex Attribute . There is an upper limit to the vertex attributes we can declare, which is generally determined by the hardware . OpenGL ensures that at least 16 vertex attributes with 4 components are available, but some hardware may allow more vertex attributes, you can query GL_MAX_VERTEX_ATTRIBS to get the specific upper limit:

GLint nrAttributes;
glGetIntegerv(GL_MAX_VERTEX_ATTRIBS, &nrAttributes);
std::cout << "Maximum nr of vertex attributes supported: " << nrAttributes << std::endl;

 Usually it will return at least 16, which is enough in most cases.

(2) vector

 Learn about GLSL vectors, and reorganization of vectors .

(3) Input and output

 Learn about the definition of shader input and output. Note that if two adjacent shaders define inputs and outputs of the same type and name (one defines input, the next defines output), the output of the previous shader is assigned to the corresponding input of the next shader. The vertex shader can pass input to the fragment shader .

 Vertex shader:

#version 330 core
layout (location = 0) in vec3 position; // position变量的属性位置值为0

out vec4 vertexColor; // 为片段着色器指定一个颜色输出

void main()
{
    
    
    gl_Position = vec4(position, 1.0); // 注意我们如何把一个vec3作为vec4的构造器的参数
    vertexColor = vec4(0.5f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // 把输出变量设置为暗红色
}

 Fragment shader:

#version 330 core
in vec4 vertexColor; // 从顶点着色器传来的输入变量（名称相同、类型相同）

out vec4 color; // 片段着色器输出的变量名可以任意命名，类型必须是vec4

void main()
{
    
    
    color = vertexColor;
}

（4）Uniform

 Understand Unifrom, use Uniform to send data from memory to video memory .

#version 330 core
out vec4 color;

uniform vec4 ourColor; // 在OpenGL程序代码中设定这个变量

void main()
{
    
    
    color = ourColor;
}  

GLfloat timeValue = glfwGetTime();
GLfloat greenValue = (sin(timeValue) / 2) + 0.5;
GLint vertexColorLocation = glGetUniformLocation(shaderProgram, "ourColor");
glUseProgram(shaderProgram);
glUniform4f(vertexColorLocation, 0.0f, greenValue, 0.0f, 1.0f);

2. Triangles that change color

(1) Core code:

while(!glfwWindowShouldClose(window))
{
    
    
    // 检测并调用事件
    glfwPollEvents();

    // 渲染
    // 清空颜色缓冲
    glClearColor(0.2f, 0.3f, 0.3f, 1.0f);
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

    // 记得激活着色器
    glUseProgram(shaderProgram);

    // 更新uniform颜色
    GLfloat timeValue = glfwGetTime();
    GLfloat greenValue = (sin(timeValue) / 2) + 0.5;
    GLint vertexColorLocation = glGetUniformLocation(shaderProgram, "ourColor");
    glUniform4f(vertexColorLocation, 0.0f, greenValue, 0.0f, 1.0f);

    // 绘制三角形
    glBindVertexArray(VAO);
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 3);
    glBindVertexArray(0);
}

(2) Complete code

#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>

// GLEW
#define GLEW_STATIC
#include <GL/glew.h>

// GLFW
#include <GLFW/glfw3.h>


// Function prototypes
void key_callback(GLFWwindow* window, int key, int scancode, int action, int mode);

// Window dimensions
const GLuint WIDTH = 800, HEIGHT = 600;

// Shaders
const GLchar* vertexShaderSource = "#version 330 core\n"
    "layout (location = 0) in vec3 position;\n"
    "layout (location = 1) in vec3 color;\n"
    "out vec3 ourColor;\n"
    "void main()\n"
    "{\n"
    "gl_Position = vec4(position, 1.0);\n"
    "ourColor = color;\n"
    "}\0";
const GLchar* fragmentShaderSource = "#version 330 core\n"
    "out vec4 color;\n"
    "uniform vec4 ourColor;\n"
    "void main()\n"
    "{\n"
    "color = ourColor;\n"
    "}\n\0";

// The MAIN function, from here we start the application and run the game loop
int main()
{
    
    
    // Init GLFW
    glfwInit();
    // Set all the required options for GLFW
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MAJOR, 3);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MINOR, 3);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_PROFILE, GLFW_OPENGL_CORE_PROFILE);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_RESIZABLE, GL_FALSE);

    // Create a GLFWwindow object that we can use for GLFW's functions
    GLFWwindow* window = glfwCreateWindow(WIDTH, HEIGHT, "LearnOpenGL", nullptr, nullptr);
    glfwMakeContextCurrent(window);

    // Set the required callback functions
    glfwSetKeyCallback(window, key_callback);

    // Set this to true so GLEW knows to use a modern approach to retrieving function pointers and extensions
    glewExperimental = GL_TRUE;
    // Initialize GLEW to setup the OpenGL Function pointers
    glewInit();

    // Define the viewport dimensions
    glViewport(0, 0, WIDTH, HEIGHT);


    // Build and compile our shader program
    // Vertex shader
    GLuint vertexShader = glCreateShader(GL_VERTEX_SHADER);
    glShaderSource(vertexShader, 1, &vertexShaderSource, NULL);
    glCompileShader(vertexShader);
    // Check for compile time errors
    GLint success;
    GLchar infoLog[512];
    glGetShaderiv(vertexShader, GL_COMPILE_STATUS, &success);
    if (!success)
    {
    
    
        glGetShaderInfoLog(vertexShader, 512, NULL, infoLog);
        std::cout << "ERROR::SHADER::VERTEX::COMPILATION_FAILED\n" << infoLog << std::endl;
    }
    // Fragment shader
    GLuint fragmentShader = glCreateShader(GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER);
    glShaderSource(fragmentShader, 1, &fragmentShaderSource, NULL);
    glCompileShader(fragmentShader);
    // Check for compile time errors
    glGetShaderiv(fragmentShader, GL_COMPILE_STATUS, &success);
    if (!success)
    {
    
    
        glGetShaderInfoLog(fragmentShader, 512, NULL, infoLog);
        std::cout << "ERROR::SHADER::FRAGMENT::COMPILATION_FAILED\n" << infoLog << std::endl;
    }
    // Link shaders
    GLuint shaderProgram = glCreateProgram();
    glAttachShader(shaderProgram, vertexShader);
    glAttachShader(shaderProgram, fragmentShader);
    glLinkProgram(shaderProgram);
    // Check for linking errors
    glGetProgramiv(shaderProgram, GL_LINK_STATUS, &success);
    if (!success) {
    
    
        glGetProgramInfoLog(shaderProgram, 512, NULL, infoLog);
        std::cout << "ERROR::SHADER::PROGRAM::LINKING_FAILED\n" << infoLog << std::endl;
    }
    glDeleteShader(vertexShader);
    glDeleteShader(fragmentShader);


    // Set up vertex data (and buffer(s)) and attribute pointers
    GLfloat vertices[] = {
    
    
        // Positions        
         0.5f, -0.5f, 0.0f,  // Bottom Right
        -0.5f, -0.5f, 0.0f,  // Bottom Left
         0.0f,  0.5f, 0.0f   // Top 
    };
    GLuint VBO, VAO;
    glGenVertexArrays(1, &VAO);
    glGenBuffers(1, &VBO);
    // Bind the Vertex Array Object first, then bind and set vertex buffer(s) and attribute pointer(s).
    glBindVertexArray(VAO);

    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, VBO);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(vertices), vertices, GL_STATIC_DRAW);

    // Position attribute
    glVertexAttribPointer(0, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, 3 * sizeof(GLfloat), (GLvoid*)0);
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(0);

    glBindVertexArray(0); // Unbind VAO


    // Game loop
    while (!glfwWindowShouldClose(window))
    {
    
    
        // Check if any events have been activiated (key pressed, mouse moved etc.) and call corresponding response functions
        glfwPollEvents();

        // Render
        // Clear the colorbuffer
        glClearColor(0.2f, 0.3f, 0.3f, 1.0f);
        glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

        // Be sure to activate the shader
        glUseProgram(shaderProgram);

        // Update the uniform color
        GLfloat timeValue = glfwGetTime();
        GLfloat greenValue = (sin(timeValue) / 2) + 0.5;
        GLint vertexColorLocation = glGetUniformLocation(shaderProgram, "ourColor");
        glUniform4f(vertexColorLocation, 0.0f, greenValue, 0.0f, 1.0f);

        // Draw the triangle
        glBindVertexArray(VAO);
        glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 3);
        glBindVertexArray(0);

        // Swap the screen buffers
        glfwSwapBuffers(window);
    }
    // Properly de-allocate all resources once they've outlived their purpose
    glDeleteVertexArrays(1, &VAO);
    glDeleteBuffers(1, &VBO);
    // Terminate GLFW, clearing any resources allocated by GLFW.
    glfwTerminate();
    return 0;
}

3. Palette triangle

Effect display and analysis

 This image might not be what you're expecting, as we're only offering 3 colors instead of the big palette we're seeing now. This is the result of so-called Fragment Interpolation in the fragment shader . When rendering a triangle, the rasterization stage usually results in more fragments than originally assigned vertices. The raster positions each fragment based on its relative position on the triangle shape .
Based on these positions, it will interpolate all fragment shader input variables . Let's say we have a line segment whose top endpoints are green and bottom endpoints are blue. If a fragment shader runs at 70% of a line segment, its color input attribute will be a linear combination of green and blue; more precisely 30% blue + 70% green.
 That's exactly what's happening in this triangle. We have 3 vertices, and corresponding 3 colors, from the pixel of this triangle it may contain about 50000 fragments, the fragment shader interpolates the color for these pixels . If you look closely at the colors it should be clear: red first changes to purple and then to blue. Fragment interpolation is applied to all input attributes of the fragment shader .

full code

#include <iostream>

// GLEW
#define GLEW_STATIC
#include <GL/glew.h>

// GLFW
#include <GLFW/glfw3.h>


// Function prototypes
void key_callback(GLFWwindow* window, int key, int scancode, int action, int mode);

// Window dimensions
const GLuint WIDTH = 800, HEIGHT = 600;

// Shaders
const GLchar* vertexShaderSource = "#version 330 core\n"
    "layout (location = 0) in vec3 position;\n"
    "layout (location = 1) in vec3 color;\n"
    "out vec3 ourColor;\n"
    "void main()\n"
    "{\n"
    "gl_Position = vec4(position, 1.0);\n"
    "ourColor = color;\n"
    "}\0";
const GLchar* fragmentShaderSource = "#version 330 core\n"
    "in vec3 ourColor;\n"
    "out vec4 color;\n"
    "void main()\n"
    "{\n"
    "color = vec4(ourColor, 1.0f);\n"
    "}\n\0";

// The MAIN function, from here we start the application and run the game loop
int main()
{
    
    
    // Init GLFW
    glfwInit();
    // Set all the required options for GLFW
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MAJOR, 3);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MINOR, 3);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_PROFILE, GLFW_OPENGL_CORE_PROFILE);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_RESIZABLE, GL_FALSE);

    // Create a GLFWwindow object that we can use for GLFW's functions
    GLFWwindow* window = glfwCreateWindow(WIDTH, HEIGHT, "LearnOpenGL", nullptr, nullptr);
    glfwMakeContextCurrent(window);

    // Set the required callback functions
    glfwSetKeyCallback(window, key_callback);

    // Set this to true so GLEW knows to use a modern approach to retrieving function pointers and extensions
    glewExperimental = GL_TRUE;
    // Initialize GLEW to setup the OpenGL Function pointers
    glewInit();

    // Define the viewport dimensions
    glViewport(0, 0, WIDTH, HEIGHT);


    // Build and compile our shader program
    // Vertex shader
    GLuint vertexShader = glCreateShader(GL_VERTEX_SHADER);
    glShaderSource(vertexShader, 1, &vertexShaderSource, NULL);
    glCompileShader(vertexShader);
    // Check for compile time errors
    GLint success;
    GLchar infoLog[512];
    glGetShaderiv(vertexShader, GL_COMPILE_STATUS, &success);
    if (!success)
    {
    
    
        glGetShaderInfoLog(vertexShader, 512, NULL, infoLog);
        std::cout << "ERROR::SHADER::VERTEX::COMPILATION_FAILED\n" << infoLog << std::endl;
    }
    // Fragment shader
    GLuint fragmentShader = glCreateShader(GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER);
    glShaderSource(fragmentShader, 1, &fragmentShaderSource, NULL);
    glCompileShader(fragmentShader);
    // Check for compile time errors
    glGetShaderiv(fragmentShader, GL_COMPILE_STATUS, &success);
    if (!success)
    {
    
    
        glGetShaderInfoLog(fragmentShader, 512, NULL, infoLog);
        std::cout << "ERROR::SHADER::FRAGMENT::COMPILATION_FAILED\n" << infoLog << std::endl;
    }
    // Link shaders
    GLuint shaderProgram = glCreateProgram();
    glAttachShader(shaderProgram, vertexShader);
    glAttachShader(shaderProgram, fragmentShader);
    glLinkProgram(shaderProgram);
    // Check for linking errors
    glGetProgramiv(shaderProgram, GL_LINK_STATUS, &success);
    if (!success) {
    
    
        glGetProgramInfoLog(shaderProgram, 512, NULL, infoLog);
        std::cout << "ERROR::SHADER::PROGRAM::LINKING_FAILED\n" << infoLog << std::endl;
    }
    glDeleteShader(vertexShader);
    glDeleteShader(fragmentShader);


    // Set up vertex data (and buffer(s)) and attribute pointers
    GLfloat vertices[] = {
    
    
        // Positions         // Colors
         0.5f, -0.5f, 0.0f,  1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,  // Bottom Right
        -0.5f, -0.5f, 0.0f,  0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f,  // Bottom Left
         0.0f,  0.5f, 0.0f,  0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f   // Top 
    };
    GLuint VBO, VAO;
    glGenVertexArrays(1, &VAO);
    glGenBuffers(1, &VBO);
    // Bind the Vertex Array Object first, then bind and set vertex buffer(s) and attribute pointer(s).
    glBindVertexArray(VAO);

    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, VBO);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(vertices), vertices, GL_STATIC_DRAW);

    // Position attribute
    glVertexAttribPointer(0, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, 6 * sizeof(GLfloat), (GLvoid*)0);
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(0);
    // Color attribute
    glVertexAttribPointer(1, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, 6 * sizeof(GLfloat), (GLvoid*)(3 * sizeof(GLfloat)));
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(1);

    glBindVertexArray(0); // Unbind VAO


    // Game loop
    while (!glfwWindowShouldClose(window))
    {
    
    
        // Check if any events have been activiated (key pressed, mouse moved etc.) and call corresponding response functions
        glfwPollEvents();

        // Render
        // Clear the colorbuffer
        glClearColor(0.2f, 0.3f, 0.3f, 1.0f);
        glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

        // Draw the triangle
        glUseProgram(shaderProgram);
        glBindVertexArray(VAO);
        glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 3);
        glBindVertexArray(0);

        // Swap the screen buffers
        glfwSwapBuffers(window);
    }
    // Properly de-allocate all resources once they've outlived their purpose
    glDeleteVertexArrays(1, &VAO);
    glDeleteBuffers(1, &VBO);
    // Terminate GLFW, clearing any resources allocated by GLFW.
    glfwTerminate();
    return 0;
}

// Is called whenever a key is pressed/released via GLFW
void key_callback(GLFWwindow* window, int key, int scancode, int action, int mode)
{
    
    
    if (key == GLFW_KEY_ESCAPE && action == GLFW_PRESS)
        glfwSetWindowShouldClose(window, GL_TRUE);
}