OpenGL – vertex normals in OBJ

by

normal/bump maps

Provide fine details without increasing complexity of geometry that means more details at very low performance cost. Normal/bump maps are optional of coarse.

normal shading (fragment shader)

Normal is vector perpendicular to fragment/face/primitive there are 2 use for it:

  1. dull surface illumination

lets have:

  • color – per fragment/face/primitive color (modulated with texture)
  • normal – per fragment/face/primitive 3D normal vector (pointing out of mesh)
  • lt_ambient,lt_direct – the lights color and strength
  • lt_direct_dir – directional light direction

then the output is easy:

  • fragment_color=(lt_ambient+(lt_direct*dot(lt_direct_dir,-normal))*color;

this is called normal shading

dot returns the cos(angle between light and normal) if you want to have booth sides geometries then use fabs(dot(...)). The light color and strength vectors summed together should not exceed 1.0 per channel otherwise clamping could cause color artifacts. Use for example:

  • lt_ambient=(0.2,0.2,0.2)
  • lt_direct =(0.8,0.8,0.8)

as lt_direct_dir you can use (fragment_xyz-Sun.xyz) and normalize to unit vector or use camera view direction. You need to have unit vector for dot product otherwise it will not work properly

  1. reflection

if you have any environment map (cube_map) then you can add reflections. You got the fragment (x,y,z) coordinates and normal so you can compute direction of reflected viewing direction and add the texel to which is it pointing to the result fragment_color.

There are more stuff like specular highlights and different light equations but I think you should start with normal shading first. When you got the basics then is no problem to understand the more advanced stuff just always remember what is behind …

[edit1] well as you are rookie then you obviously need complete example to start with:

So here complete GL+VAO/VBO+GLSL+shaders example in C++. As I use Borland environment it is in VCL form app so just ignore the VCL stuff and extract only what you need. This is how it looks like:

normal shading

That cross is my point light position to visually check the correctness and that arrow (hand drawed) shows average light direction.

normal_shading.glsl_vert

// Vertex
#version 400 core
layout(location = 0) in vec3 pos;
layout(location = 2) in vec3 nor;
layout(location = 3) in vec3 col;
uniform mat4 m_model;   // model matrix
uniform mat4 m_normal;  // model matrix with origin=(0,0,0)
uniform mat4 m_view;    // inverse of camera matrix
uniform mat4 m_proj;    // projection matrix
out vec3 pixel_pos;     // fragment position [GCS]
out vec3 pixel_col;     // fragment surface color
out vec3 pixel_nor;     // fragment surface normal [GCS]
void main()
    {
    pixel_col=col;
    pixel_pos=(m_model*vec4(pos,1)).xyz;
    pixel_nor=(m_normal*vec4(nor,1)).xyz;
    gl_Position=m_proj*m_view*m_model*vec4(pos,1);
    }

normal_shading.glsl_frag

// Fragment
#version 400 core
uniform vec3 lt_pnt_pos;// point light source position [GCS]
uniform vec3 lt_pnt_col;// point light source color&strength
uniform vec3 lt_amb_col;// ambient light source color&strength
in vec3 pixel_pos;      // fragment position [GCS]
in vec3 pixel_col;      // fragment surface color
in vec3 pixel_nor;      // fragment surface normal [GCS]
out vec4 col;
void main()
    {
    float li;
    vec3 c,lt_dir;
    lt_dir=normalize(lt_pnt_pos-pixel_pos); // vector from fragment to point light source in [GCS]
    li=dot(pixel_nor,lt_dir);
    if (li<0.0) li=0.0;
    c=pixel_col*(lt_amb_col+(lt_pnt_col*li));
    col=vec4(c,1.0);
    }

gl_simple.h

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
//--- GL simple ver: 1.000 --------------------------------------------------
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#define GLEW_STATIC
#include "glew.c"
#include <gl\gl.h>
#include <gl\glu.h>
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
//--- OpenGL GL example -----------------------------------------------------
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
int     xs,ys;      // screen size
HDC     hdc=NULL;   // device context
HGLRC   hrc=NULL;   // rendering context
int  gl_inicialized=0;
int  gl_init(HWND Handle);
void gl_exit();
void gl_draw();
void gl_resize(int _xs,int _ys);
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
//--- OpenGL GLSL example ---------------------------------------------------
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GLint prog_id=0,    // whole program
      vert_id=0,    // vertex shader
      frag_id=0;    // fragment shader
char  glsl_log[4096];// compile/link GLSL log
int   glsl_logs=0;
void  glsl_init(char *vert,char *frag);     // create/compile/link GLSL program
void  glsl_exit();
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
//--- OpenGL VAO example ----------------------------------------------------
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#pragma pack(1)
//#define vao_indices
GLuint vbo[4]={-1,-1,-1,-1};
GLuint vao[4]={-1,-1,-1,-1};
const GLfloat vao_pos[]=
    {
//  x    y    z     //ix
    -1.0,+1.0,-1.0, //0
    +1.0,+1.0,-1.0, //1
    +1.0,-1.0,-1.0, //2
    -1.0,-1.0,-1.0, //3

    -1.0,-1.0,+1.0, //4
    +1.0,-1.0,+1.0, //5
    +1.0,+1.0,+1.0, //6
    -1.0,+1.0,+1.0, //7

    #ifndef vao_indices
    -1.0,-1.0,-1.0, //3
    +1.0,-1.0,-1.0, //2
    +1.0,-1.0,+1.0, //5
    -1.0,-1.0,+1.0, //4

    +1.0,-1.0,-1.0, //2
    +1.0,+1.0,-1.0, //1
    +1.0,+1.0,+1.0, //6
    +1.0,-1.0,+1.0, //5

    +1.0,+1.0,-1.0, //1
    -1.0,+1.0,-1.0, //0
    -1.0,+1.0,+1.0, //7
    +1.0,+1.0,+1.0, //6

    -1.0,+1.0,-1.0, //0
    -1.0,-1.0,-1.0, //3
    -1.0,-1.0,+1.0, //4
    -1.0,+1.0,+1.0, //7
    #endif
    };

const GLfloat vao_col[]=
    {
//  r   g   b    //ix
    0.0,0.0,0.0, //0
    1.0,0.0,0.0, //1
    1.0,1.0,0.0, //2
    0.0,1.0,0.0, //3
    0.0,0.0,1.0, //4
    1.0,0.0,1.0, //5
    1.0,1.0,1.0, //6
    0.0,1.0,1.0, //7

    #ifndef vao_indices
    0.0,0.0,0.0, //0
    1.0,0.0,0.0, //1
    1.0,0.0,1.0, //5
    0.0,0.0,1.0, //4

    1.0,0.0,0.0, //1
    1.0,1.0,0.0, //2
    1.0,1.0,1.0, //6
    1.0,0.0,1.0, //5

    1.0,1.0,0.0, //2
    0.0,1.0,0.0, //3
    0.0,1.0,1.0, //7
    1.0,1.0,1.0, //6

    0.0,1.0,0.0, //3
    0.0,0.0,0.0, //0
    0.0,0.0,1.0, //4
    0.0,1.0,1.0, //7
    #endif
    };

#ifndef vao_indices
const GLfloat vao_nor[]=
    {
//   nx   ny   nz   //ix
     0.0, 0.0,-1.0, //0
     0.0, 0.0,-1.0, //1
     0.0, 0.0,-1.0, //2
     0.0, 0.0,-1.0, //3

     0.0, 0.0,+1.0, //4
     0.0, 0.0,+1.0, //5
     0.0, 0.0,+1.0, //6
     0.0, 0.0,+1.0, //7

     0.0,-1.0, 0.0, //0
     0.0,-1.0, 0.0, //1
     0.0,-1.0, 0.0, //5
     0.0,-1.0, 0.0, //4

    +1.0, 0.0, 0.0, //1
    +1.0, 0.0, 0.0, //2
    +1.0, 0.0, 0.0, //6
    +1.0, 0.0, 0.0, //5

     0.0,+1.0, 0.0, //2
     0.0,+1.0, 0.0, //3
     0.0,+1.0, 0.0, //7
     0.0,+1.0, 0.0, //6

    -1.0, 0.0, 0.0, //3
    -1.0, 0.0, 0.0, //0
    -1.0, 0.0, 0.0, //4
    -1.0, 0.0, 0.0, //7
    };
#endif

#ifdef vao_indices
const GLuint vao_ix[]=
    {
    0,1,2,3,
    4,5,6,7,
    3,2,5,4,
    2,1,6,5,
    1,0,7,6,
    0,3,4,7,
    };
#endif

#pragma pack()
void vao_init();
void vao_exit();
void vao_draw();
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
//--- bodies: ---------------------------------------------------------------
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
int gl_init(HWND Handle)
    {
    if (gl_inicialized) return 1;
    hdc = GetDC(Handle);            // get device context
    PIXELFORMATDESCRIPTOR pfd;
    ZeroMemory( &pfd, sizeof( pfd ) );      // set the pixel format for the DC
    pfd.nSize = sizeof( pfd );
    pfd.nVersion = 1;
    pfd.dwFlags = PFD_DRAW_TO_WINDOW | PFD_SUPPORT_OPENGL | PFD_DOUBLEBUFFER;
    pfd.iPixelType = PFD_TYPE_RGBA;
    pfd.cColorBits = 24;
    pfd.cDepthBits = 24;
    pfd.iLayerType = PFD_MAIN_PLANE;
    SetPixelFormat(hdc,ChoosePixelFormat(hdc, &pfd),&pfd);
    hrc = wglCreateContext(hdc);            // create current rendering context
    if(hrc == NULL)
            {
            ShowMessage("Could not initialize OpenGL Rendering context !!!");
            gl_inicialized=0;
            return 0;
            }
    if(wglMakeCurrent(hdc, hrc) == false)
            {
            ShowMessage("Could not make current OpenGL Rendering context !!!");
            wglDeleteContext(hrc);          // destroy rendering context
            gl_inicialized=0;
            return 0;
            }
    gl_resize(1,1);
    glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);                // Zbuf
    glDisable(GL_CULL_FACE);                // vynechavaj odvratene steny
    glDisable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);               // pouzivaj textury, farbu pouzivaj z textury
    glDisable(GL_BLEND);                    // priehladnost
    glShadeModel(GL_SMOOTH);                // gourard shading
    glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f);   // background color
    gl_inicialized=1;
    glewInit();
    return 1;
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void gl_exit()
    {
    if (!gl_inicialized) return;
    wglMakeCurrent(NULL, NULL);     // release current rendering context
    wglDeleteContext(hrc);          // destroy rendering context
    gl_inicialized=0;
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void gl_resize(int _xs,int _ys)
    {
    xs=_xs;
    ys=_ys;
    if (xs<=0) xs = 1;                  // Prevent a divide by zero
    if (ys<=0) ys = 1;
    if (!gl_inicialized) return;
    glViewport(0,0,xs,ys);              // Set Viewport to window dimensions
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);        // operacie s projekcnou maticou
    glLoadIdentity();                   // jednotkova matica projekcie
    gluPerspective(30,float(xs)/float(ys),0.1,100.0); // matica=perspektiva,120 stupnov premieta z viewsize do 0.1
    glMatrixMode(GL_TEXTURE);           // operacie s texturovou maticou
    glLoadIdentity();                   // jednotkova matica textury
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);         // operacie s modelovou maticou
    glLoadIdentity();                   // jednotkova matica modelu (objektu)
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void glsl_init(char *vert,char *frag)
    {
    const int _size=1024;
    GLint status,siz=0,i;
    const char * VS = vert;
    const char * FS = frag;
    glsl_logs=0;
    if (prog_id<=0) prog_id=glCreateProgram();

    if (vert_id<=0) vert_id=glCreateShader(GL_VERTEX_SHADER); else glDetachShader(prog_id,vert_id);
    if (vert)
        {
        glShaderSource(vert_id, 1, &VS,NULL);
        glCompileShader(vert_id);
        glAttachShader(prog_id,vert_id);
        glGetShaderiv(vert_id,GL_COMPILE_STATUS,&status);
        const char t[]="[Vertex]\r\n"; for (i=0;t[i];i++) { glsl_log[glsl_logs]=t[i]; glsl_logs++; }
        glGetShaderInfoLog(vert_id,_size,&siz,glsl_log+glsl_logs);
        glsl_logs+=siz;
        }
    if (frag_id<=0) frag_id=glCreateShader(GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER); else glDetachShader(prog_id,frag_id);
    if (frag)
        {
        glShaderSource(frag_id, 1, &FS,NULL);
        glCompileShader(frag_id);
        glAttachShader(prog_id,frag_id);
        glGetShaderiv(frag_id,GL_COMPILE_STATUS,&status);
        const char t[]="[Fragment]\r\n"; for (i=0;t[i];i++) { glsl_log[glsl_logs]=t[i]; glsl_logs++; }
        glGetShaderInfoLog(frag_id,_size,&siz,glsl_log+glsl_logs);
        glsl_logs+=siz;
        }
    glLinkProgram(prog_id);
    glGetProgramiv(prog_id,GL_LINK_STATUS,&status);
    const char t[]="[Program]\r\n"; for (i=0;t[i];i++) { glsl_log[glsl_logs]=t[i]; glsl_logs++; }
    glGetProgramInfoLog(prog_id,_size,&siz,glsl_log+glsl_logs);
    glsl_logs+=siz;

    glReleaseShaderCompiler();
    glsl_log[glsl_logs]=0;
    }
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
void glsl_exit()
    {
    glUseProgram(0);
    if (vert_id>0) { glDetachShader(prog_id,vert_id); glDeleteShader(vert_id); }
    if (frag_id>0) { glDetachShader(prog_id,frag_id); glDeleteShader(frag_id); }
    if (prog_id>0) {                                  glDeleteShader(prog_id); }
    glsl_log[0]=0;
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
void vao_init()
    {
    GLuint i;
    glGenVertexArrays(4,vao);
    glGenBuffers(4,vbo);
    glBindVertexArray(vao[0]);
    i=0; // vertex
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,vbo[i]);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,sizeof(vao_pos),vao_pos,GL_STATIC_DRAW);
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(i);
    glVertexAttribPointer(i,3,GL_FLOAT,GL_FALSE,0,0);
    i=1; // indices
    #ifdef vao_indices
    glBindBuffer(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER,vbo[i]);
    glBufferData(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER,sizeof(vao_ix),vao_ix,GL_STATIC_DRAW);
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(i);
    glVertexAttribIPointer(i,4,GL_UNSIGNED_INT,0,0);
    #endif
    i=2; // normal
    #ifndef vao_indices
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,vbo[i]);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,sizeof(vao_nor),vao_nor,GL_STATIC_DRAW);
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(i);
    glVertexAttribPointer(i,3,GL_FLOAT,GL_FALSE,0,0);
    #endif
    i=3; // color
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,vbo[i]);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,sizeof(vao_col),vao_col,GL_STATIC_DRAW);
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(i);
    glVertexAttribPointer(i,3,GL_FLOAT,GL_FALSE,0,0);

    glBindVertexArray(0);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,0);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER,0);
    glDisableVertexAttribArray(0);
    glDisableVertexAttribArray(1);
    glDisableVertexAttribArray(2);
    glDisableVertexAttribArray(3);
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void vao_exit()
    {
    glDeleteVertexArrays(4,vao);
    glDeleteBuffers(4,vbo);
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void vao_draw()
    {
    glBindVertexArray(vao[0]);
    #ifndef vao_indices
    glDrawArrays(GL_QUADS,0,sizeof(vao_pos)/sizeof(vao_pos[0]));                    // QUADS ... no indices
    #endif
    #ifdef vao_indices
    glDrawElements(GL_QUADS,sizeof(vao_ix)/sizeof(vao_ix[0]),GL_UNSIGNED_INT,0);    // indices (choose just one line not both !!!)
    #endif
    glBindVertexArray(0);
    }
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VCL App main form source:

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include <vcl.h>
#pragma hdrstop
#include "Unit1.h"
#include "gl_simple.h"
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#pragma package(smart_init)
#pragma resource "*.dfm"
TForm1 *Form1;
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GLfloat lt_pnt_pos[3]={+2.5,+2.5,+2.5};
GLfloat lt_pnt_col[3]={0.8,0.8,0.8};
GLfloat lt_amb_col[3]={0.2,0.2,0.2};
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void gl_draw()
    {
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);

    // load values into shader
    GLint i,id;
    GLfloat m[16];
    glUseProgram(prog_id);
    id=glGetUniformLocation(prog_id,"lt_pnt_pos"); glUniform3fv(id,1,lt_pnt_pos);
    id=glGetUniformLocation(prog_id,"lt_pnt_col"); glUniform3fv(id,1,lt_pnt_col);
    id=glGetUniformLocation(prog_id,"lt_amb_col"); glUniform3fv(id,1,lt_amb_col);
    glGetFloatv(GL_MODELVIEW_MATRIX,m);
    id=glGetUniformLocation(prog_id,"m_model"   ); glUniformMatrix4fv(id,1,GL_FALSE,m);
    m[12]=0.0; m[13]=0.0; m[14]=0.0;
    id=glGetUniformLocation(prog_id,"m_normal"  ); glUniformMatrix4fv(id,1,GL_FALSE,m);
    for (i=0;i<16;i++) m[i]=0.0; m[0]=1.0; m[5]=1.0; m[10]=1.0; m[15]=1.0;
    id=glGetUniformLocation(prog_id,"m_view"    ); glUniformMatrix4fv(id,1,GL_FALSE,m);
    glGetFloatv(GL_PROJECTION_MATRIX,m);
    id=glGetUniformLocation(prog_id,"m_proj"    ); glUniformMatrix4fv(id,1,GL_FALSE,m);
    // draw VAO cube
    vao_draw();
    // turn of shader
    glUseProgram(0);
    // rotate the cube to see animation
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glRotatef(1.0,0.0,1.0,0.0);
    glRotatef(1.0,1.0,0.0,0.0);

    // render point light source in [GCS]
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glPushMatrix();
    glLoadIdentity();
    GLfloat x,y,z,d=0.25;
    x=lt_pnt_pos[0];
    y=lt_pnt_pos[1];
    z=lt_pnt_pos[2];
    glBegin(GL_LINES);
    glColor3fv(lt_pnt_col);
    glVertex3f(x-d,y,z);
    glVertex3f(x+d,y,z);
    glVertex3f(x,y-d,z);
    glVertex3f(x,y+d,z);
    glVertex3f(x,y,z-d);
    glVertex3f(x,y,z+d);
    glEnd();
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glPopMatrix();

    glFlush();
    SwapBuffers(hdc);
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
__fastcall TForm1::TForm1(TComponent* Owner):TForm(Owner)
    {
    gl_init(Handle);

    int hnd,siz; char vertex[4096],fragment[4096];
    hnd=FileOpen("normal_shading.glsl_vert",fmOpenRead); siz=FileSeek(hnd,0,2); FileSeek(hnd,0,0); FileRead(hnd,vertex  ,siz); vertex  [siz]=0; FileClose(hnd);
    hnd=FileOpen("normal_shading.glsl_frag",fmOpenRead); siz=FileSeek(hnd,0,2); FileSeek(hnd,0,0); FileRead(hnd,fragment,siz); fragment[siz]=0; FileClose(hnd);
    glsl_init(vertex,fragment);
    hnd=FileCreate("GLSL.txt"); FileWrite(hnd,glsl_log,glsl_logs); FileClose(hnd);

    vao_init();
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TForm1::FormDestroy(TObject *Sender)
    {
    gl_exit();
    glsl_exit();
    vao_exit();
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TForm1::FormResize(TObject *Sender)
    {
    gl_resize(ClientWidth,ClientHeight);
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glTranslatef(0,0,-15.0);
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TForm1::FormPaint(TObject *Sender)
    {
    gl_draw();
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TForm1::Timer1Timer(TObject *Sender)
    {
    gl_draw();
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TForm1::FormMouseWheel(TObject *Sender, TShiftState Shift, int WheelDelta, TPoint &MousePos, bool &Handled)
    {
    GLfloat dz=2.0;
    if (WheelDelta<0) dz=-dz;
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glTranslatef(0,0,dz);
    gl_draw();
    }
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do not forget to change the layouts to yours, add textures and stuff only if this is already working and always check GLSL.txt (compile/link log) file to see if all is as should be.

Also you need GLEW for this so see

Here is this same example with texture atlas:

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