OpenGL ES rendering example

Ilias TsagklisNovember 11th, 2012Last Updated: February 16th, 2013

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This is an example of how to perform OpenGL ES rendering on Android. OpenGL for Embedded Systems (OpenGL ES) is a subset of the OpenGL 3D graphics application programming interface (API) designed for embedded systems such as mobile phones, PDAs, and video game consoles.

OpenGL ES rendering can be done following these steps:

Create a class that extends Activity
Create an instance of the GLSurfaceView class
Create a new GlRenderer for the GLSurfaceView class
The GlRenderer should implement the Renderer interface
Implement the onDrawFrame, onSurfaceChanged and onSurfaceCreated methods

These are demonstrated in the code snippet(s) below:

package net.obviam.opengl;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.opengl.GLSurfaceView;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Window;
import android.view.WindowManager;

public class Run extends Activity {

	/** The OpenGL view */
	private GLSurfaceView glSurfaceView;

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

  // requesting to turn the title OFF

  requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);

  // making it full screen
		getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN,
				WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN);

  // Initiate the Open GL view and

  // create an instance with this activity

  glSurfaceView = new GLSurfaceView(this);

  // set our renderer to be the main renderer with

  // the current activity context

  glSurfaceView.setRenderer(new GlRenderer());

  setContentView(glSurfaceView);
    }

	/** Remember to resume the glSurface  */
	@Override
	protected void onResume() {
		super.onResume();
		glSurfaceView.onResume();
	}

	/** Also pause the glSurface  */
	@Override
	protected void onPause() {
		super.onPause();
		glSurfaceView.onPause();
	}
}

import javax.microedition.khronos.egl.EGLConfig;
import javax.microedition.khronos.opengles.GL10;

import android.opengl.GLSurfaceView.Renderer;

public class GlRenderer implements Renderer {

	@Override
	public void onDrawFrame(GL10 gl) {
	}

	@Override
	public void onSurfaceChanged(GL10 gl, int width, int height) {
	}

	@Override
	public void onSurfaceCreated(GL10 gl, EGLConfig config) {
	}
}

This was an example of how to perform OpenGL ES rendering with Android.

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