This thread was raised before but unfortunately did not help much. I would like to know how to use the alpha value of glClearColor(). i am doing womething like this // in init glEnable(GL_BLEND); glBlendFunc(GL_DST_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_ALPHA); glClearColor(0,0,0,0); glDisable(GL_BLEND); but it does not give anyeffect. I want to superimpose opengl 3d objects on a bitmap on the background. so i want to make the black background transparent. cheers AF

The clear colour you set is only used when you do a glClear(). So...

glClearColor(0,0,0,0);

Sets a black background with alpha of zero but doesn't actually change your framebuffer. Then you do

glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

which actaully clears the screen. *Then* if you enable blending and set it up

glEnable(GL_BLEND);
glBlendFunc(GL_DST_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_ALPHA);

and do your drawing now the alpha in your framebuffer will get used. Thing is though is that in your example you set your background to alpha zero then use a blend funtion that assigns your dest alpha (zero) to your source and then 1-dest_alpha (one) to your destination..... so you don't draw anything.

I think what you want to do is to draw a big textured quad first with your background bitmap and then draw your 3d objects. You don;t need to use blending unless you want the edges of you 3d objects blended into your background somehow.

Hope that helps.

Thanx coordz

actually i did not make myself clear. I undestand the solution you gave me but that is not the effect i am after. I want to add 3D effect on an image. I want the user to apply the effects he likes, something like image processing but adding 3D effects rather than 2d. So, i want to have in the background the image (instead of the black!!) then start manipulating 3d objects on top of it.
is that possible to do?

What i was trying to achieve with alpha value in glClearColor is to set the background into total transparent :D but it seems that was too much of creativity :p

cheers
AF

for(each frame){  glClear(GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);  glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);  draw a screen-filling textured quad; that's your background    glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);  draw the foreground stuff}

Of course, if the foreground stuff doesn't need depth testing, you can throw those lines out.

thanx Sharlin for teh suggestion. i think this could be a solution actually.
I did not think about it that way :D

cheers
AF