Hi, What books do you recommend for learning OpenGL? The book: OpenGL Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL, Version 1.2 Mason Woo, Jackie Neider, Tom Davis has been recommended. Its a bit pricy, anyone know if it''s worth it? Thanks, Vipa.

This is a good book. Its doesn''t really explain how to use different features of OpenGL in a game, especially what I found missing is what is fast and what is slow in term of performance. This book and the blue reference version are available free online - search for them. I bought a hard copy of this book - my copy is pretty worn and tattered, its in invaluable reference.

Also, OpenGL Game Programming is a good beginner book that discusses OpenGL with a view towards game programming.

After progressing through these 2 books, or books of a similar level, you''ll want to read the OpenGL extensions and specification at SGI''s website.

I second the recommendation on OpenGL Game Programming from gamedev.

Love means nothing to a tennis player

My nothing-to-write-home-about OpenGL webpage. (please pardon the popups!)

You should definitely have the OpenGL Programming Guide... It''s a great reference, and tells you everything you need to know about OpenGL, and more...

You should also get the OpenGL Game Programming book, by Kevin Hawkins, Dave Astle, and André LaMothe.. It''s great for people starting to learn OpenGL. It shows you how to put everything together.

My $0.02

Yup definately OpenGL Game Programming, it is great if you need an answer quickly. Also theres a lot to learn from the way they structure the game engine. The sections on 3D math are handy too. The website for the book is here.

Kazade.

Hyperdev

"To err is human, to really mess up requires a computer"

I bought openGL superbible second edition and the gamedev.net book about openGL development.
I think the superbible has the best quality/cost ratio. Gamedev.net''s book looked a little silly to me. I sometimes find me going back to the superbible while I almost always leave the other book in the dust.
The real problem of this book is that most of it it''s a collage from various internet sources. This makes the price way too high.
The chapter about directsound is simply cut''n''pasted from MSDN! Yep, there are some differences here and there but really nothing different.
The part about vertex array is good anyway - this was totally lacking on the superbible.

The final chapters, in which they explain to you what game are you going to write really annoy me. They does not put enough emphasis on the problems to solve to get some results...
Gamedev.net''s book also says you need COM to use directInput or DirectSound but I used it without using COM. This may be a problem of obsolescence but I fear it''s not... all in all, they are speaking about DX8.1.

Still, how much knowledge do you need to start off with the OGL programming one? I have basic knowledge of C++, that is loops, structs, classes, pointers...etc. Is that good to start?

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Original post by Krohm
Gamedev.net''s book also says you need COM to use directInput or DirectSound but I used it without using COM. This may be a problem of obsolescence but I fear it''s not... all in all, they are speaking about DX8.1.

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The book uses DirectMusic and, for that, there are no helper functions. You have to use COM. DirectInput does have helper functions, but you still have to CoInitialize/CoUninitialize the COM interface.

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Original post by Will J
Still, how much knowledge do you need to start off with the OGL programming one? I have basic knowledge of C++, that is loops, structs, classes, pointers...etc. Is that good to start?

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It''s all the start you need...

You should have tried to develop a few small console applications first, or something like that... What counts the most is experience ...

That''s good. Do you think NeHe''s tuts are enough, or do I really need a book?