I''m trying to learn OpenGL, but I''m a little overwhelmed as to what I should be doing. I know C++ (I''m definitely not great at it, but I think I know most of the important stuff), and now I''m looking to learn OpenGL. I thought I would just dive right in and do NeHe''s tutorials, but then I realised that wasn''t the best idea. Should I read up on the OpenGL documentation (giving lists of functions and what they do), or check out the red/blue (?) books? I also have a graphics programming book but its just the concepts, not specific to OpenGL. I''m not sure if I should start with that, as it discusses matrix transformations, etc. I was wondering: When programming in OpenGL, do I need to create a vector and matrix class to do transformations and stuff, or is that already built into OpenGL? Also, whats with NeHe''s basecode? Is the basecode the same as the code in the first tutorial or what? --SK, confused as hell...

" I thought I would just dive right in and do NeHe''s tutorials, but then I realised that wasn''t the best idea. "

Do the #$(*ing tutorials.

Don''t complicate things.
Go through the 1st 7 or 8 tutorials and you''ll _know_ the questions to ask. OpenGL is a different process of programming and you need to just get comfortable with it.

ZoomBoy

Don''t be confused. NeHe''s base code is simply a Win32 application frame work for OpenGL. The base code for lesson 33 is different from the earlier lessons, but they basically do the same thing. If you''re confused about Windows programming you might want to look at a book on the subject, say by Petzold. The first chapter of the redbook has a good intro to OpenGL and is online someplace. Computer Graphics using OpenGL by Hill is a good book, if you want some graphics and OpenGL. But start with the NeHe''s tutorials first, before you start buying books. Be patient, start with the first lesson, read throughly and be sure to download, run, and examine the example.

Joel

There''s a link to the Red Book on the left-hand list on NeHe''s site.