Homework 0: Not to be submitted (in class discussion next week)

This project guides you through steps you can take to test your hardware to see if your machine (or any machine) is capable of running OpenGL shaders written in the GL Shading Language (GLSL).

Homework Specifics

The very first thing you need to do is determine if your video card can support GPU programming. Specifically, you are looking to see if your graphic card supports OpenGL version 3.0 or later. Alternatively, you are looking for support for the following two hardware extensions ARB_vertex_shader & ARB_fragment_shader. To determine your card's capabilities for you, try the Glinfo application located here: (GLinfo2.exe). This application will give a list of extensions your card supports. Run the GLinfo2 application, click on "Extension lists" on the left sidebar and check to see if the ARB_vertex_shader & ARB_fragment_shader are listed (supported by your card).

If your machine supports shaders, try downloading the following full blown application that uses shaders and playing with it. The rendering application to test your machine's shader abilities is located here GLSLDemo.zip. Unzip the application to a computer with a programmable GPU. The executable file is located in the "bin" directory of the demo application. Try playing with it by changing the shape rendered, the textures used and other rendering modes.

Campus Labs for Running GLSL Demo

GLSLDemo is a Win32-only application. Although the source code is provided on the authors Website, it will only work on machines that support OpenGL shaders. Many CCC Windows machines should work including those in the WPI library and in in Higgins Labs building, RM 230.

mailto:emmanuel@cs.wpi.edu