11 replies to this topic

[MzDay]

im searching for good books to learn OpenGL from the start to the point that i can develop my own 2D and 3D games.

I saw some books but I dont know if they are good and if i should buy them...

If someone can give me a link to Amazon to order a good book for that that would be great

thanks !

 

edit: if I need more than 1 book that's ok

Edited by MzDay, 28 December 2012 - 03:32 AM.

[santa01]

I haven't found any OpenGL gamedev books for OpenGL3 or higher. I guess its worth sticking to OpenGL3/4 tutorials over the net + look throught some `generic gamedev books' which would give you an insight into the basic math.

[MzDay]

Is there other books that could help me out with programming with OpenGL?

thanks a lot!
 

what do you say about:
http://www.zeuscmd.com/tutorials/opengl/

http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~unreal/theredbook/

 

If there is some books that you find it really be great if you give me it's name

[J. Evola's Apprentice]

The only book you need is GL 4.3 specification, http://www.opengl.org/registry/doc/glspec43.core.20120806.pdf from http://www.opengl.org/registry/

[Aks9]

Is there other books that could help me out with programming with OpenGL?

thanks a lot!
 

what do you say about:
http://www.zeuscmd.com/tutorials/opengl/

http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~unreal/theredbook/

 

If there is some books that you find it really be great if you give me it's name

 

Those links are awfully old. For absolute beginning, they can serve the purpose, but they are all about legacy OpenGL.

I could recommend the following books:

 

- OpenGL Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL, Version 4.3 (8th Edition) by Dave Shreiner, Graham Sellers, John M. Kessenich and Bill M. Licea-Kane (Apr 1, 2013)

- OpenGL 4.0 Shading Language Cookbook by David Wolff (Jul 26, 2011)

- OpenGL SuperBible: Comprehensive Tutorial and Reference (5th Edition) by Richard S. Wright, Nicholas Haemel, Graham Sellers and Benjamin Lipchak (Aug 2, 2010)

- OpenGL ES 2.0 Programming Guide by Aaftab Munshi, Dan Ginsburg and Dave Shreiner (Aug 3, 2008)

- OpenGL Shading Language (3rd Edition) by Randi J. Rost, Bill M. Licea-Kane, Dan Ginsburg and John M. Kessenich (Jul 30, 2009)

- OpenGL Insights by Patrick Cozzi and Christophe Riccio (Jul 23, 2012) 

 

The first book in the list is not released as a hard-copy, but can be bought as "rough cuts" on various sites.

 

The only book you need is GL 4.3 specification, http://www.opengl.org/registry/doc/glspec43.core.20120806.pdf from http://www.opengl.org/registry/

 

The specification is not a book, and should not be recommended for learning OpenGL!

[TheChubu]

Weird that no one linked Arcsynthesis

 

http://www.arcsynthesis.org/gltut/

 

Its a free online book, [cheaptactic]endorsed by John Carmack himself[/cheaptactic]. Deals with OpenGL 3.3.

[Aks9]

Weird that no one linked Arcsynthesis

http://www.arcsynthesis.org/gltut/

Its a free online book, [cheaptactic]endorsed by John Carmack himself[/cheaptactic]. Deals with OpenGL 3.3.

Yes, this is a nice and comprehensive tutorial, but without offense, each of the listed books is much better resource for learning OpenGL.
Regards for McKesson. He really did a great job.

Edited by Aks9, 28 December 2012 - 08:35 AM.

[MzDay]

Which one of the books above should I order?

The first one will be released in April 2013 and i dont want to wait untill then..

Thanks a lot!!

[Aks9]

Which one of the books above should I order?

The first one will be released in April 2013 and i dont want to wait untill then..

Thanks a lot!!

 

Take a look at this link:

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/programming/opengl/9780132748445

 

OpenGL Programming Guide (The Redbook) is generally the best book to start with. But all previous versions (7th ed., for example) heavily rely on the legacy stuff.

 

OpenGL SuperBible is nice to start with, but imposes its libraries and there are some inconsistencies (or maybe I prefer a Redbook ) .

 

OpenGL 4.0 Shading Language Cookbook is great for quick getting effects using GLSL 4.0. It is a really good book for GLSL, but you need some background with 3D graphics and OpenGL (Redbook for example).

 

OpenGL Shading Language (3rd Edition) is more comprehensive GLSL book, but a little old at the moment (presents just vertex and fragmet shaders).

 

OpenGL ES 2.0 Programming Guide is maybe the best for getting overall view on OpenGL. It is for OpenGL ES, but it covers all major concepts on a very convenient way.

[J. Evola's Apprentice]

The specification is not a book, and should not be recommended for learning OpenGL!

O, rly? I learned OpenGL 4.3 entirely from specification.

[Aks9]

O, rly? I learned OpenGL 4.3 entirely from specification.

 

Lucky you!

 

Although it is totally impossible for someone who don't have a prior knowledge about the matter.

Specification, as its name implies, is not a programmers guide. It just specifies functions and parameters.

[mattdesl]

I'm writing a tutorial series aimed at beginners wanting to learn the programmable pipeline and GLSL shaders, check it out here:

https://github.com/mattdesl/lwjgl-basics/wiki