Hello, I’d like to start writing OpenGL applications, but I’m struggling to find a good source to learn from. I know that there are a lot of tutorials on the internet, however many of these are targeted specificly at C++ programmers, discuss other libraries and/or spend a long time talking about maths and other concepts that I already have a decent knowledge of. What I’m looking for is a more abstract guide which purely discusses OpenGL concepts and structure from the ground up and assumes the reader is already reasonably familiar with the maths required. Basically more than just a reference but less than a full-blown tutorial with all the trimmings.
If anybody could refer me to something I’d be very grateful.
I rather doubt such a thing exists. Introductory materials with no source code and no math is a pretty special-case need.
The closest things to your needs are the following:
The OpenGL Programming Guide, 8th edition: It’s about as scant on source code as introductory material gets, and it only talks about the math that’s relevant to OpenGL itself (viewport transforms, etc). It doesn’t have a “my first vector math” or “this is what sin does” section or anything.
The OpenGL Wiki: Source code is pretty much nil; there is some, but it’s fairly rare. The wiki is pretty detailed and mostly comprehensive. However, it is not organized in a fashion that makes it easy to learn. If you want to look up what Vertex Shaders do, it’s a good resource. If you just want to flip forward along a linear progression, where each lesson builds on the previous ones, the Wiki’s not so good for that kind of learning.
Oh, and don’t knock the power of reviewing material you think you already know. You never know when someone’s explanation of a math concept you think you know well helps you understand it better.