glVertex Framework
Getting the Package
The glVertex framework is used for the CG exercises.
As a development platform Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is recommended!
Windows and Mac are also supported!
The actual framework can be downloaded from here:
This framework has been tested with the following platforms:
- Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04, 24.04, 26.04
- Debian 8, 10, 11, 13
- Linux Mint 18, 21, 22
- openSUSE Leap 15
- MacOS X, 11–15, 26–27
- Windows 10–11
Installation on Linux
On Linux resp. Ubuntu you can run the installer script in the uncompressed download folder by right-clicking on installer.sh and running it as a program.
As an alternative, we can start the installation on the terminal as follows:
unzip glvertex*.zipcd glvertex*/./installer.sh
This unzips and runs the installer script, which automagically downloads and installs the glvertex framework plus the QtCreator IDE including all required tools like the C++ compiler, build systems, libraries etc. pp.
To check whether or not the entire installation finished successfully, please type the following one-liner on the command line:
svn export --force $url installer.sh >/dev/null && ./installer.sh && echo -e "\nSUCCESS"
If it outputs “SUCCESS”, everything is fine.
Installation on Mac
Same as above except that a working installation of XCode and its command line tools is required as prerequisite. As a workaround it is recommended to install Ubuntu in a virtual machine on your Mac.
As with Linux, the installer script downloads the required tools and libraries with the following caveats:
- you have to read the installation instructions beforehand
- you have to install the XCode compiler command line tools manually beforehand
- you need to install homebrew manually beforehand
- you need to install subversion via homebrew manually beforehand:
brew install subversion- then run the automatic installer script
./installer.sh- the automatic installation may take up to an hour to finish
- you have to download QtCreator manually
- you may have to select a proper development kit manually in QtCreator
- you may completely screw up your system, if you had any of the above installed previously instead of a clean system, so be careful!
Installation on Windows
For Windows the framework and all the required tools such as the compilers, libraries etc. need to be installed manually. As a workaround it is recommended to install Ubuntu in a virtual machine on your Windows computer.
The installation on Windows comes with the following caveats:
- you have to read the installation instructions beforehand
- you have to download the Qt online installer and register a Qt user account
- you have to install the MinGW or MSVC compiler manually beforehand (e.g. with the Qt online installer)
- you have to install CMake manually beforehand (e.g. with the Qt online installer)
- you have to install TortoiseSVN manually beforehand
- you have to install Qt manually (e.g. via the Qt online installer)
- you have to install QtCreator manually (e.g. via the Qt online installer)
- you have to run the installer.bat script
.\installer.bat- you may completely screw up your system, if you had any of the above installed previously instead of a clean system, so be careful!
Documentation
The above framework implements and extends the OpenGL 1.2 specification. After successful installation the class documentation is avaiable in the docs/html folder. You can open the “index.html” file in the folder with a browser like Firefox and browse the API via the documentation of the file “glvertex_api.h”.
The complete documentation is available here:
http://sourceforge.net/p/glvertex/wiki/Documentation
A brief documentation is also available as a cheat sheet:
The official documentation for OpenGL is the so called Red Book or the “OpenGL Programming Guide”. The Programming Guide for OpenGL v1.1 can be downloaded from here:
This is basically the documentation of OpenGL v1.2 as of 1998, which is still the principle foundation of all later versions.