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awesome-opengl

A curated list of awesome OpenGL libraries, debuggers and resources.

2.4k stars185 forks77 entriesLast push Jan 9, 2026 (8 months ago)License none

This page lists names, links and short descriptions. The original list on GitHub is the source and belongs to its authors.

Articles

(2014) Ray tracing with OpenGL Compute Shaders

by Kai Burjack - Detailed tutorial series about ray tracing using OpenGL (LWJGL).

In 2 lists

(2014) Things that drive me nuts about OpenGL

by Rich Geldreich - Constructive (or not) criticism of GL API.

(2011) A trip through the graphics pipeline

by Fabian Giesen - Comprehensive and rich series about the D3D/OpenGL graphics pipeline.

In 4 lists

(2010) What is OpenGL?

by Joe Groff - Brief introduction to the building blocks of OpenGL.

Books

A Trip Down the Graphics Pipeline

by Jim Blinn - Popular book that contains wealth information about the graphics pipeline, and of the best sources to learn the core concepts of Computer Graphics.

Computer Graphics

by John F. Hughes, et al. - Computer Graphics is indeed a must for anyone being involved in the design and implementation of Computer Graphics algorithms. However, this is not a OpenGL focused book, but contains valuable demonstrations of the technology.

Interactive Computer Graphics

by Edward Angel and Dave Shreiner - It provides several examples using OpenGL and it covers several aspects at once, but if you are trying to learn OpenGL on your own you might not find this helpful.

OpenGL ES 3.0 Programming Guide

by Dan Ginsburg, et al. - It presents all the necessary information to use the OpenGL ES 3.0 API in a clear manner.

OpenGL Insights

by Patrick Cozzi, Christophe Riccio - Rich and comprehensive resource to learn techniques and tips, covering several advanced topics of OpenGL.

OpenGL Programming Guide

by Dave Shreiner, et al. - It does a good job covering the basics and providing clear reference of the API.

OpenGL Shading Language

by Randi J. Rost, et al. - Very clear and well written book about Shading Language. Also, it provides several explanations of writing shaders.

OpenGL SuperBible

by Richard S. Wright, et al. - It covers the basic concepts of computer graphics and provides clear examples using OpenGL. Definitely, it is a must for beginners.

Real-Time Rendering

by Tomas Akenine-Moller, Eric Haines and Naty Hoffman - It does a good job at explaining concepts for game engine, basis for game client programming as well as the necessary knowledge for understanding DirectX and OpenGL.

Debug

apitrace

Tools for tracing OpenGL, Direct3D, and other graphics APIs.

In 2 lists

CodeXL

AMD's tool suite that includes debugger, profiler and frame/shader analysis.

In 3 lists

GL-SL Debugger

Tool for debugging OpenGL programs.

GLIntercept

OpenGL function call interceptor for Windows.

Intel-GPA

Intel's OpenGL Graphics Performance Analyzer.

NVIDIA® Nsight™

Development platform for graphics applications.

In 3 lists

RenderDoc

RenderDoc is a stand-alone graphics debugging tool.

In 4 lists

tracy

A real time remote telemetry frame profiler for games and other applications.

In 7 listsDetails

vogl

OpenGL capture and playback debugger developed by Valve.

GLSL Editors

GLSL Sandbox

Online live editor for fragment shaders.

In 4 lists

GLSLbin

Fragment shader sandbox supporting glslify.

In 3 lists

SHDR Editor

Live GLSL shader editor, viewer and validator.

In 3 lists

Shader Toy

Most popular live editor for fragment shaders.

In 5 listsDetails

ShaderFrog

WebGL Shader Editor and Composer

Libraries

assimp

Portable library to import 3D models in a uniform manner.

In 5 listsDetails

Bullet

It provides state of the art collision detection, soft body and rigid body dynamics.

In 3 lists

fltk

C++ Toolkit to generate UI widgets portably. LGPLv2

In 2 lists

freeGLUT

Mature library that allows to create/manage windows containing OpenGL contexts.

In 2 lists

GLFW

Modern library for creating/interact windows with OpenGL contexts.

In 2 lists

GLFM

Supplies an OpenGL ES context and input events for mobile devices and the web.

In 2 lists

glm

Mathematics library for graphics software based on the GLSL specifications.

Magnum

It is a 2D/3D graphics engine for modern OpenGL.

In 6 listsDetails

MathFu

C++ math library developed primarily for games focused on simplicity and efficiency.

Newton

It is a cross-platform life-like physics.

OGLplus

Collection of libraries which implement an object-oriented facade over OpenGL.

SDL

Designed to provide low level access to multimedia and graphics hardware.

In 3 lists

SFML

Simple interface to ease the development of games and multimedia applications.

In 2 lists

SOIL

Tiny C library used primarily for uploading textures into OpenGL. (see SOIL2)

Pangolin

Lightweight portable rapid development library for managing OpenGL display / interaction and abstracting video input.

In 3 lists

morphologica

OpenGL graphics engine for data visualization, especially of numerical simulations.

In 3 lists

raylib

A simple and easy-to-use library to enjoy videogames programming.

In 6 listsDetails

Profile Loaders

gl3w

Simple OpenGL core profile loader.

glad

Multi profile loader-generator based on the official specs.

In 3 lists

glbindify

Command line tool to generate C bindings for OpenGL, wgl, and glX.

glbinding

Profile loader leveraging C++11 features to provide type safety.

GLEW

Mature cross-platform library to load OpenGL extensions.

References

docs.GL

It is an alternative documentation for OpenGL.

OpenGL API Tables

Quick reference of API's for several OpenGL and GLSL versions.

OpenGL Cheat Sheet

Quick reference card of OpenGL 4.3 commands and syntax.

OpenGL Docs

Official documentation website.

OpenGL Wiki

Official OpenGL wiki.

Talks

Approaching Zero Driver Overhead in OpenGL

Slides - AMA Reddit by Cass Everitt, Tim Foley, John McDonald, Graham Sellers [1:15:54]

How Modern OpenGL Can Radically Reduce Driver Overhead

by Cass Everitt, John McDonald [51:13]

Moving Your Games to OpenGL

by Rich Geldreich, Dan Ginsburg, Peter Lohrmann, Jason Mitchell [54:45]

Videos

Jamie King

Comprehensive tutorials about modern OpenGL and Qt.

MakingGamesWithBen

Video tutorials (step-by-step) about OpenGL and game development.

SIGGRAPH

Popular conference about computer graphics.

TheChernoProject

Introduction to OpenGL in C++

thebennybox

Videos tutorials about OpenGL and game development.

ThinMatrix

Video tutorials about OpenGL and game development using Java.

sentdex

Videos tutorials about OpenGL (immediate mode) using Python.

Sonar Systems

Learn about the new and modern OpenGL 3.0+.

Introduction to OpenGL

Video tutorials about OpenGL in C++ by Mike Shah.

Websites

3D Game Shaders For Beginners

by David Lettier

In 8 listsDetails

Learn OpenGL

by Joey de Vries

In 4 lists

Learning Modern 3D Graphics Programming

by Jason L. McKesson

Light House 3D

by Light House 3D

In 2 lists

Modern OpenGL

by Tom Dalling

OpenGL Examples

by Norbert Nopper

In 3 lists

OpenGL Step by Step

by Etay Meiri

In 2 lists

OpenGL Tutorial

by Alexander Overvoorde

OpenGL Tutorial

by Anton Gerdelan

OpenGL Tutorial

by Bonder Wu

In 2 lists

OpenGL Tutorial

by Song Ho Ahn

See category
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A curated list of free/libre plugins, scripts and add-ons for Godot

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