This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

OpenGL ES 2.0 is the industry’s leading software interface and graphics library for rendering sophisticated 3D graphics on handheld and embedded devices. With OpenGL ES 2.0, the full programmability of shaders is now available on small and portable devices—including cell phones, PDAs, consoles, appliances, and vehicles. However, OpenGL ES differs significantly from OpenGL. Graphics programmers and mobile developers have had very little information about it—until now.

In the OpenGL® ES 2.0 Programming Guide, three leading authorities on the Open GL ES 2.0 interface—including the specification’s editor—provide start-to-finish guidance for maximizing the interface’s value in a wide range of high-performance applications. The authors cover the entire API, including Khronos-ratified extensions. Using detailed C-based code examples, they demonstrate how to set up and program every aspect of the graphics pipeline. You’ll move from introductory techniques all the way to advanced per-pixel lighting, particle systems, and performance optimization. 

Coverage includes:

• Shaders in depth: creating shader objects, compiling shaders, checking for compile errors, attaching shader objects to program objects, and linking final program objects

• The OpenGL ES Shading Language: variables, types, constructors, structures, arrays, attributes, uniforms, varyings, precision qualifiers, and invariance

• Inputting geometry into the graphics pipeline, and assembling geometry into primitives

• Vertex shaders, their special variables, and their use in per-vertex lighting, skinning, and other applications

• Using fragment shaders—including examples of multitexturing, fog, alpha test, and user clip planes

• Fragment operations: scissor test, stencil test, depth test, multisampling, blending, and dithering

• Advanced rendering: per-pixel lighting with normal maps, environment mapping, particle systems, image post-processing, and projective texturing

• Real-world programming challenges: platform diversity, C++ portability, OpenKODE, and platform-specific shader binaries

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 4 Ratings

Not for iPhone - 2008-10-13
Reviewer Rating:
Don't make the same mistake I did! While this maybe a fine book, it cannot be used for iPhone development. OpenGL ES 2.0 is not backwards compatible with OpenGL ES 1.1 (which is what the iPhone uses). I knew ahead of time what version iPhone used but figured it would be backwards compatible so why bother buying an older book? If that's what you're after then get another book or just download the 1.1 spec from the web.

Information from the author - 2009-06-19
Reviewer Rating:
From reading the reviews, there seems to have been a bit of confusion about whether or not the iPhone supports OpenGL ES 2.0. I thought I would chime in to help clarify the issue for potential buyers of the book. The iPhone 3G S that was announced on June 8th, 2009 is the first version of the iPhone to support OpenGL ES 2.0. The previous generation iPhone only supports OpenGL ES 1.1, which OpenGL ES 2.0 is not backwards-compatible with (the reasons for this incompatibility are discussed in Chapter 1 of the book).

In order to help iPhone 3G S developers use this book, I have ported the C-based sample code to the iPhone SDK 3.0 and made it available for download from the book website at http://www.opengles-book.com. In addition, I wrote a brief e-Chapter discussing what was involved in porting the sample code to the iPhone 3G S. That chapter is available for download for free from the book website in PDF.

I hope this helps clarify the questions.

Lacks reference guide - 2009-01-19
Reviewer Rating:
This is another book calling it self a programmers guide, yet forgetting to put a complete reference guide for looking up functions.

I really dont understand while it would be so difficult to have a complete reference guide, as all programmers need to lookup the functions they need in order to use them.

This is not a book I will recommend as a programming guide.

IPhone works with ES 2.0 - 2008-11-24
Reviewer Rating:
I think previous review was correct at time for writing, but check http://gizmodo.com/383430/iphone-sdk-beta-4-now-available-comes-with-opengl-es-3d-graphics-support, but now Open GL ES 2.0 is also supported. I have not finished this book yet, but it seems good book. I will update my view after few days.

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