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Can you use SFML as an environment for OpenGL?
This tutorial is not about OpenGL itself, but rather how to use SFML as an environment for OpenGL, and how to mix them together. As you know, one of the most important features of OpenGL is portability. But OpenGL alone won’t be enough to create complete programs: you need a window, a rendering context, user input, etc.
Can you create a vertex buffer in OpenGL?
This means that you can create a texture or vertex buffer with any context active, and use it with any other. This also means that you don’t have to reload all your OpenGL resources when you recreate your window. Only shareable OpenGL resources can be shared among contexts.
Do you need to deactivate a window in OpenGL?
Only one context (window) can be active in a thread, so you don’t need to deactivate a window before activating another one, it is deactivated automatically. This is how OpenGL works. Another thing to know is that all the OpenGL contexts created by SFML share their resources.
Is the OpenGL header the same on every OS?
OpenGL headers are not the same on every OS. Therefore, SFML provides an “abstract” header that takes care of including the right file for you. This header includes OpenGL functions, and nothing else.
Do you need to manage multiple OpenGL Windows?
Managing multiple OpenGL windows is not more complicated than managing one, there are just a few things to keep in mind. OpenGL calls are made on the active context (thus the active window). Therefore if you want to draw to two different windows within the same program, you have to select which window is active before drawing something.
What happens if the graphics card does not support SFML?
If any of these settings is not supported by the graphics card, SFML tries to find the closest valid match. For example, if 4x anti-aliasing is too high, it tries 2x and then falls back to 0.