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OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook, Second Edition

OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook, Second Edition - Second Edition

By : Wolff, David A Wolff
3.6 (9)
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OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook, Second Edition

OpenGL 4 Shading Language Cookbook, Second Edition

3.6 (9)
By: Wolff, David A Wolff

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.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)
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Preface

The OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) is now a fundamental and critical part of programming with OpenGL. It provides us with unprecedented flexibility and power by making the formerly fixed-function graphics pipeline programmable. With GLSL, we can leverage the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to implement advanced and sophisticated rendering techniques and even do arbitrary computation. With GLSL 4.x, programmers can do more with the GPU than ever before thanks to new shader stages such as tessellation shaders and compute shaders.

In this book, we cover the full spectrum of GLSL programming. Starting with the basics of shading with the vertex and fragment shaders, we take you from simple to advanced techniques. From textures, shadows, and image processing, to noise and particle systems, we cover practical examples to give you the tools you need to leverage GLSL in your projects. We also cover how to use geometry shaders, tessellation shaders, and the very recent addition to GLSL: compute shaders. With these, you can make use of the GPU for a variety of tasks that go beyond just shading. With geometry and tessellation shaders, we can create additional geometry or modify geometry, and with compute shaders we can do arbitrary computation on the GPU.

For those new to GLSL, it's best to read this book in order, starting with Chapter 1. The recipes will walk you through from basic through to advanced techniques. For someone who is more experienced with GLSL, you might find it better to pick out specific recipes and jump directly there. Most recipes are self-contained, but some may refer to other recipes. The introduction to each chapter provides important general information about the topic, so you might want to read through that as well.

GLSL 4.x makes programming with OpenGL even more rewarding and fun. I sincerely hope that you find this book to be useful and that you use these recipes as a starting point in your own projects. I hope that you find programming in OpenGL and GLSL as enjoyable as I do, and that these techniques inspire you to create beautiful graphics.

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