How do I use OpenGL for GUI development? I am running Debian OS using GNU compiler. Thanks!

Question

anonymous · Answer

OpenGL in C++?

shadowfiend · Answer

What do you mean by using it for GUI development? Using OpenGL to build a GUI, or using OpenGL in a GUI? Look at Qt for a toolkit that provides ways to embed OpenGL in a GUI, as well as a GUI toolkit that can generally be accelerated using OpenGL when you need it to be.

anonymous · Answer

OpenGL is mostly used for graphic animations and games, not exactly for GUI. Qt is a C++ library with a lot of widgets to build applications and widget that can run in different platforms such as Linux, Mac, Window and Symbian.

Choose OpenGL or Qt depends on your application features and requirements.

shadowfiend · Answer

Well, that's not really 100% true. You can “accelerate” a GUI using OpenGL, meaning code it so that it operates in OpenGL-land. The Mac OS X UI, for example, is mostly drawn using OpenGL (though you don't necessarily have access to how). That said, OpenGL as a tool for a developer is indeed something that's generally used more for composited 2d and 3d graphics than necessarily for UIs.