Interactive Graphics Applications with OpenGL Shading Language and Qt

Abstract

Qt framework allows the easy development of professional cross-platform graphics applications using C++. Qt provides the QtOpenGL Module that makes easy the development of hardware-accelerated graphics applications using OpenGL and OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL). With Qt, matrices, vectors, vertex buffer objects, textures, shader programs and UI components are integrated by classes in the object-oriented paradigm and intercommunicate by the Qt mechanism of signals/slots. The goal of this survey is to detail the development of interactive graphics applications with OpenGL and Qt. Along with it, we compare features of QtOpenGL Module with those of GLU/GLUT libraries, as the latter is traditionally used in text books and computer graphics courses.