Hi guys and girls, its been quite a while since I posted but I've been a bit busy. So, I'm trying to take a big step now, and go ahead and learn 3D OpenGL. I've already fiddled with 2d graphics for a while but now I want to start a really big project with a friend and I'm going to need 3D. What is the best text OpenGL 3D tutorial? I really prefer text tutorials over youtube videos. I wanted to check the archsyntesis tutorial but it wasnt working so I searched around and it seems the domain expired 3 or 4 months ago and there aren't a lot of hopes about it coming back. So yeah, if anyone could point out a really good OpenGL tutorial or book, I would really appreciate it.

Lots of thanks :)

(Should I move this to General?)

The first tutorial I used was this one, which might as of now be slightly dated, but still relevant. It's nice because you can download the source code (which I recommend you do and observe the code in an editor while you read through the tutorial).

http://www.opengl-tutorial.org/

As far as being up-to-date, the site htirwin posted is great. I would try to just look around and find as many sources as you can to get different views of how a certain feature might be implemented.

One of the books I partly learned from was Edward Angel's Computer Graphics: A Top-Down Approach with Shader-Based OpenGL. Although it was quite hard to follow at times, and there are some errata in it that has fixes online, during which I turned to the opengl-tutorial.org website, and I'm still learning things from that and stackoverflow and stuff.

I know you said you didn't want youtube videos, but I think this guy is great, I learned a lot from him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c1QYZAEP2M&list=PLRwVmtr-pp06qT6ckboaOhnm9FxmzHpbY although I don't think he uses VAOs, but I could be wrong.

In general, if you want to learn modern OpenGL, avoid code that has "glBeing();" or "glEnd(); in it, as well as other "push" and "pop" functions.

OpenGL 4.0 Shading Language Cookbook shows the basics of how to make shaders and work with the opengl pipeline, and has some great examples of shaders once you get more comfortable with OpenGL itself.

Thank you both, I already download opengl-tutorial.org source code and I'm hoping to be able to get started on it tomorrow. I want to go for Modern OpenGL, there is no use in learning outdated tech. If I find out I want some other source of information I'll check out the book.

Here's another great resource -> http://learnopengl.com/

Here's another great resource -> http://learnopengl.com/

I 've never seen this one before, but after browsing through it, I think it looks to be pretty awesome.

Neither had I, love the navigation.

I know you don't prefer youtube videos but here's a 3 hour lecture introduction to opengl. I haven't watched it all myself but from what I've seen there is some good info in there for absolute beginners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-9XFm7XAT8

I will also check out that website as soon as i have the chance, and knn9, I will try to watch it I have the time, but I will hardly find time for a 3 hour lecture

Is there a reason why http://web.archive.org/web/20140209181347/http://www.arcsynthesis.org/gltut/ wasn't mentioned already? :o

Yeah, I've been there already, and it's painfully slow. But I'm really liking learnopengl.com so I think I'll go down that path. Thank you all, I will return if I need help.

knn9 (166)
I know you don't prefer youtube videos but here's a 3 hour lecture introduction to opengl. I haven't watched it all myself but from what I've seen there is some good info in there for absolute beginners.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-9XFm7XAT8


As a somewhat wet-behind-the-ears-n00b I found this video pretty awesome. Just thought I'd let you know as you said you hadn't seen it all. I just watched it all in one sitting.

Although not as nice as learnopengl.com, I think this basic site is a big help. Easy to read too: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL, Version 1.1 -

http://www.glprogramming.com/red/

Learning OpenGL, Version 1.1

OpenGL 1.1 is 18 years old. That's ancient in technology time. That iteration of OpenGL isn't even used anymore in any moderately graphically intensive software.

I would pick something modern. I feel that OpenGL 3.x is the minimum you should be using in 2015.

General tip: If you see glBegin and friends, run.

I would pick something modern. I feel that OpenGL 3.x is the minimum you should be using in 2015. General tip: If you see glBegin and friends, run.

Haha, totally agree.

Just started reading through learnopengl.com and I must say, it is quite awesome. It walks you through entire processes step by step, explaining each function and the underlying theory in an easy to understand way, and everything is intuitively ordered. Definitely a good thing to follow along to get the hang of opengl, although I'm not sure how good of a reference it would make if you just need to search one thing. You will understand everything you need to know though, and will know all the terminology and ideas so if you need to do more research you have an immediate starting point.

OpenGL 1.1 is 18 years old.

woopsy ! I said my ears are wet :)