OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook

OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook - Second Edition

By : David Wolff, David A Wolff

Buy this Book

OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook - Second Edition

By: David Wolff, David A Wolff

Buy this Book

Overview of this book

OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) is a programming language used for customizing parts of the OpenGL graphics pipeline that were formerly fixed-function, and are executed directly on the GPU. It provides programmers with unprecedented flexibility for implementing effects and optimizations utilizing the power of modern GPUs. With Version 4, the language has been further refined to provide programmers with greater power and flexibility, with new stages such as tessellation and compute. OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook provides easy-to-follow examples that first walk you through the theory and background behind each technique, and then go on to provide and explain the GLSL and OpenGL code needed to implement it. Beginner level through to advanced techniques are presented including topics such as texturing, screen-space techniques, lighting, shading, tessellation shaders, geometry shaders, compute shaders, and shadows. OpenGL Shading Language 4 Cookbook is a practical guide that takes you from the fundamentals of programming with modern GLSL and OpenGL, through to advanced techniques. The recipes build upon each other and take you quickly from novice to advanced level code. You'll see essential lighting and shading techniques; examples that demonstrate how to make use of textures for a wide variety of effects and as part of other techniques; examples of screen-space techniques including HDR rendering, bloom, and blur; shadowing techniques; tessellation, geometry, and compute shaders; how to use noise effectively; and animation with particle systems. OpenGL Shading Language 4 Cookbook provides examples of modern shading techniques that can be used as a starting point for programmers to expand upon to produce modern, interactive, 3D computer graphics applications.

OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook Second Edition

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Preface

Free Chapter

Getting Started with GLSL

Introduction

Using a function loader to access the latest OpenGL functionality

Using GLM for mathematics

Determining the GLSL and OpenGL version

Compiling a shader

Linking a shader program

Sending data to a shader using vertex attributes and vertex buffer objects

Getting a list of active vertex input attributes and locations

Sending data to a shader using uniform variables

Getting a list of active uniform variables

Using uniform blocks and uniform buffer objects

Getting debug messages

Building a C++ shader program class

The Basics of GLSL Shaders

Introduction

Implementing diffuse, per-vertex shading with a single point light source

Implementing per-vertex ambient, diffuse, and specular (ADS) shading

Using functions in shaders

Implementing two-sided shading

Implementing flat shading

Using subroutines to select shader functionality

Discarding fragments to create a perforated look

Lighting, Shading, and Optimization

Introduction

Shading with multiple positional lights

Shading with a directional light source

Using per-fragment shading for improved realism

Using the halfway vector for improved performance

Simulating a spotlight

Creating a cartoon shading effect

Simulating fog

Configuring the depth test

Using Textures

Introduction

Applying a 2D texture

Applying multiple textures

Using alpha maps to discard pixels

Using normal maps

Simulating reflection with cube maps

Simulating refraction with cube maps

Applying a projected texture

Rendering to a texture

Using sampler objects

Image Processing and Screen Space Techniques

Introduction

Applying an edge detection filter

Applying a Gaussian blur filter

Implementing HDR lighting with tone mapping

Creating a bloom effect

Using gamma correction to improve image quality

Using multisample anti-aliasing

Using deferred shading

Implementing order-independent transparency

Using Geometry and Tessellation Shaders

Introduction

Point sprites with the geometry shader

Drawing a wireframe on top of a shaded mesh

Drawing silhouette lines using the geometry shader

Tessellating a curve

Tessellating a 2D quad

Tessellating a 3D surface

Tessellating based on depth

Shadows

Introduction

Rendering shadows with shadow maps

Anti-aliasing shadow edges with PCF

Creating soft shadow edges with random sampling

Creating shadows using shadow volumes and the geometry shader

Using Noise in Shaders

Introduction

Creating a noise texture using GLM

Creating a seamless noise texture

Creating a cloud-like effect

Creating a wood-grain effect

Creating a disintegration effect

Creating a paint-spatter effect

Creating a night-vision effect

Particle Systems and Animation

Introduction

Animating a surface with vertex displacement

Creating a particle fountain

Creating a particle system using transform feedback

Creating a particle system using instanced particles

Simulating fire with particles

Simulating smoke with particles

Using Compute Shaders

Introduction

Implementing a particle simulation with the compute shader

Using the compute shader for cloth simulation

Implementing an edge detection filter with the compute shader

Creating a fractal texture using the compute shader

Index

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Using alpha maps to discard pixels

To create the effect of an object that has holes, we could use a texture with an appropriate alpha channel that contains information about the transparent parts of the object. However, that requires us to make sure to make the depth buffer read-only, and render all of our polygons from back to front in order to avoid blending problems. We would need to sort our polygons based on the camera position and then render them in the correct order. What a pain!

With GLSL shaders, we can avoid all of this by using the discard keyword to completely discard fragments when the alpha value of the texture map is below a certain value. By completely discarding the fragments, there's no need to modify the depth buffer because when discarded, they aren't evaluated against the depth buffer at all. We don't need to depth-sort our polygons because there is no blending.

The following image on the right shows the teapot with fragments discarded based upon the texture on the left...

OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook - Second Edition

By : David Wolff, David A Wolff

OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook - Second Edition

By: David Wolff, David A Wolff

Overview of this book

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OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook - Second Edition

Using alpha maps to discard pixels