Advanced OpenGL in Processing 2.x

This page is about Processing 2, which is no longer supported or developed. Please see this page for an up-to-date version of this page that applies to Processing 3.

The OpenGL renderer in Processing 2 uses JOGL 2, which introduced the concept of profiles to access different versions of the GL API. The GL2 profile is probably the one you want to use if you were working with low-level GL in Processing 1.x, since it offers backwards compatibility with Open GL 1.x (i.e.: fixed function pipeline), while supporting shaders and other more recent functionality.

Advanced Example

To access the GL2 profile, you would do:

PGraphicsOpenGL pg = (PGraphicsOpenGL)g;
PGL pgl = beginPGL();  
gl2 = ((PJOGL)pgl).gl.getGL2();

You need to enclose the GL calls between beginPGL() and endPGL():

import com.jogamp.opengl.GL2;  // Processing 3
//import javax.media.opengl.GL2;  // Processing 2
 
float a;

PGraphicsOpenGL pg; 
PGL pgl;
GL2 gl;

float[] projMatrix;
float[] mvMatrix;
 
void setup() {
  size(800, 600, P3D);
  projMatrix = new float[16];
  mvMatrix = new float[16]; 
}
 
void draw() {
  background(255);
 
  pg = (PGraphicsOpenGL) g;
  pgl = beginPGL();  
  gl = ((PJOGL) pgl).gl.getGL2();
  
  copyMatrices();  
  // Do some things with gl.xxx functions here.
  // For example, the program above is translated into:
  gl.glColor4f(0.7, 0.7, 0.7, 0.8);
  gl.glTranslatef(width/2, height/2, 0);
  gl.glRotatef(a, 1, 0, 0);
  gl.glRotatef(a*2, 0, 1, 0);
  gl.glRectf(-200, -200, 200, 200);
  gl.glRotatef(90, 1, 0, 0);
  gl.glRectf(-200, -200, 200, 200);
 
  endPGL();
 
  a += 0.5;
}

// Copies the current projection and modelview matrices from Processing to OpenGL.
// It needs to be done explicitly, otherwise GL will use identity matrices by default!
void copyMatrices() {
  PGraphicsOpenGL pg = (PGraphicsOpenGL) g;
 
  gl.glMatrixMode(GL2.GL_PROJECTION);
  projMatrix[0] = pg.projection.m00;
  projMatrix[1] = pg.projection.m10;
  projMatrix[2] = pg.projection.m20;
  projMatrix[3] = pg.projection.m30;
 
  projMatrix[4] = pg.projection.m01;
  projMatrix[5] = pg.projection.m11;
  projMatrix[6] = pg.projection.m21;
  projMatrix[7] = pg.projection.m31;
 
  projMatrix[8] = pg.projection.m02;
  projMatrix[9] = pg.projection.m12;
  projMatrix[10] = pg.projection.m22;
  projMatrix[11] = pg.projection.m32;
 
  projMatrix[12] = pg.projection.m03;
  projMatrix[13] = pg.projection.m13;
  projMatrix[14] = pg.projection.m23;
  projMatrix[15] = pg.projection.m33;
 
  gl.glLoadMatrixf(projMatrix, 0);
 
  gl.glMatrixMode(GL2.GL_MODELVIEW);
  mvMatrix[0] = pg.modelview.m00;
  mvMatrix[1] = pg.modelview.m10;
  mvMatrix[2] = pg.modelview.m20;
  mvMatrix[3] = pg.modelview.m30;
 
  mvMatrix[4] = pg.modelview.m01;
  mvMatrix[5] = pg.modelview.m11;
  mvMatrix[6] = pg.modelview.m21;
  mvMatrix[7] = pg.modelview.m31;
 
  mvMatrix[8] = pg.modelview.m02;
  mvMatrix[9] = pg.modelview.m12;
  mvMatrix[10] = pg.modelview.m22;
  mvMatrix[11] = pg.modelview.m32;
 
  mvMatrix[12] = pg.modelview.m03;
  mvMatrix[13] = pg.modelview.m13;
  mvMatrix[14] = pg.modelview.m23;
  mvMatrix[15] = pg.modelview.m33;
  gl.glLoadMatrixf(mvMatrix, 0);
}

Render a Million Points

Below you have a slightly more advanced example to render 1,000,000 points using Vertex Arrays.

import com.jogamp.opengl.GL2;  // Processing 3
//import javax.media.opengl.GL2;  // Processing 2
import java.nio.*;
 
// let's try 1,000,000 points
int numPoints = 1000000;
 
// pan, zoom and rotate
float tx = 0, ty = 0;
float sc = 1;
float a = 0.0;
 
FloatBuffer vbuffer;
FloatBuffer cbuffer;
float[] projMatrix;
float[] mvMatrix;
 
PGraphicsOpenGL pg; 
PGL pgl;
GL2 gl2;

void setup() {
  size(displayWidth/2, displayHeight/2, P3D); 
 
  pg = (PGraphicsOpenGL)g;
  pgl = beginPGL();  
  gl2 = ((PJOGL)pgl).gl.getGL2();
 
  int vSize = (numPoints * 2);
  int cSize = (numPoints * 3);
  vSize = vSize << 2;
  cSize = cSize << 2;
 
  vbuffer = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(vSize).order(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()).asFloatBuffer();
  cbuffer = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(cSize).order(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()).asFloatBuffer();
  for (int i = 0; i < numPoints; i++) {
    // random x,y
    vbuffer.put(random(width));
    vbuffer.put(random(height));
    // random r,g,b
    cbuffer.put(random(1.0));
    cbuffer.put(random(1.0));
    cbuffer.put(random(1.0));
  }
  vbuffer.rewind();
  cbuffer.rewind();
 
  gl2.glEnableClientState(GL2.GL_VERTEX_ARRAY);
  gl2.glVertexPointer(2, GL2.GL_FLOAT, 0, vbuffer);
 
  gl2.glEnableClientState(GL2.GL_COLOR_ARRAY);
  gl2.glColorPointer(3, GL2.GL_FLOAT, 0, cbuffer);
 
  pg.endPGL();
 
  projMatrix = new float[16];
  mvMatrix = new float[16]; 
}
 
void draw() {
  background(0);
 
  pgl = beginPGL();  
  gl2 = ((PJOGL)pgl).gl.getGL2();
 
  copyMatrices();
 
  gl2.glPushMatrix();
  gl2.glTranslatef(width/2, height/2, 0);
  gl2.glScalef(sc,sc,sc);
  gl2.glRotatef(a, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
  gl2.glTranslatef(-width/2, -height/2, 0);
  gl2.glTranslatef(tx,ty, 0);
 
  gl2.glPointSize(2.0);
 
  gl2.glDrawArrays(GL2.GL_POINTS, 0, numPoints);
 
  gl2.glPopMatrix();
 
  endPGL();
}
 
void mouseDragged() {
  float dx = (mouseX - pmouseX) / sc;
  float dy = (mouseY - pmouseY) / sc;
  float angle = radians(-a);
  float rx = cos(angle)*dx - sin(angle)*dy;
  float ry = sin(angle)*dx + cos(angle)*dy;
  tx += rx;
  ty += ry;
}

void copyMatrices() {
  gl2.glMatrixMode(GL2.GL_PROJECTION);
  
  projMatrix[0] = pg.projection.m00;
  projMatrix[1] = pg.projection.m10;
  projMatrix[2] = pg.projection.m20;
  projMatrix[3] = pg.projection.m30;
 
  projMatrix[4] = pg.projection.m01;
  projMatrix[5] = pg.projection.m11;
  projMatrix[6] = pg.projection.m21;
  projMatrix[7] = pg.projection.m31;
 
  projMatrix[8] = pg.projection.m02;
  projMatrix[9] = pg.projection.m12;
  projMatrix[10] = pg.projection.m22;
  projMatrix[11] = pg.projection.m32;
 
  projMatrix[12] = pg.projection.m03;
  projMatrix[13] = pg.projection.m13;
  projMatrix[14] = pg.projection.m23;
  projMatrix[15] = pg.projection.m33;
 
  gl2.glLoadMatrixf(projMatrix, 0);
 
  gl2.glMatrixMode(GL2.GL_MODELVIEW);
  mvMatrix[0] = pg.modelview.m00;
  mvMatrix[1] = pg.modelview.m10;
  mvMatrix[2] = pg.modelview.m20;
  mvMatrix[3] = pg.modelview.m30;
 
  mvMatrix[4] = pg.modelview.m01;
  mvMatrix[5] = pg.modelview.m11;
  mvMatrix[6] = pg.modelview.m21;
  mvMatrix[7] = pg.modelview.m31;
 
  mvMatrix[8] = pg.modelview.m02;
  mvMatrix[9] = pg.modelview.m12;
  mvMatrix[10] = pg.modelview.m22;
  mvMatrix[11] = pg.modelview.m32;
 
  mvMatrix[12] = pg.modelview.m03;
  mvMatrix[13] = pg.modelview.m13;
  mvMatrix[14] = pg.modelview.m23;
  mvMatrix[15] = pg.modelview.m33;
  gl2.glLoadMatrixf(mvMatrix, 0);
}