GLUT (pronounced like the glut in gluttony) is the OpenGL Utility Toolkit, a window system independent toolkit for writing OpenGL programs. It implements a simple windowing application programming interface (API) for OpenGL. GLUT makes it considerably easier to learn about and explore OpenGL programming.
GLUT is designed for constructing small to medium sized OpenGL programs. While GLUT is well-suited to learning OpenGL and developing simple OpenGL applications, GLUT is not a full-featured toolkit so large applications requiring sophisticated user interfaces are better off using native window system toolkits like Motif. GLUT is simple, easy, and small. My intent is to keep GLUT that way.
The GLUT library supports the following functionality:
The GLUT library has both C, C++ (same as C), and FORTRAN programming bindings. The GLUT source code distribution is portable to nearly all OpenGL implementations for the X Window System. GLUT also works well with Brian Paul's Mesa, a freely available implementation of the OpenGL API.
Because GLUT is window system independent (as much as possible), GLUT can be implemented for window systems other than X. Implementations of GLUT for OS/2, NT & Windows 95, and the Mac have ben implemented, but these implementations are not part of the official GLUT source code distrbution.
The current version of the GLUT API is 3. The current source code distribution is GLUT 3.1.
GLUT is distributed in source code form. The programs and associated files contained in the distrbution were developed by Mark J. Kilgard (unless otherwise noted). The programs are not in the public domain, but they are freely distributable without licensing fees. These programs are provided without gurantee or warrantee expressed or implied.
Download the GLUT 3.1 source distribution by downloading this (shift Left in Netscape).
For SGI users that want to save the hassle of compiling GLUT 3.1 by hand, you can download installable images for GLUT 3.1. Image images include:
The GLUT 3.1 images work with IRIX 5.3, IRIX 6.1, and IRIX 6.2. The installable images make it easy to install, upgrade, and remove GLUT. This is particularly true if you want N32 or 64-bit versions of GLUT. The N32 version refers to the new N32 object format that results in better performance from MIPS's current R4400, R8000, and R10000 processors. N32 is supported in IRIX 6.1 and 6.2.
The images are distributed as a tar file. You can either untar the file, or run tardist on the tar file to automatically start SGI's Software Manager (swmgr). Otherwise, you can run inst or swmgr on the untar'ed files.
Download the GLUT 3.1 installable images by downloading this (shift Left in Netscape).
If your browser is configured to use tardist, try clicking the above link to start swmgr automatically. Note that not all the GLUT example source code in the source distribution is included with the GLUT images.
The OpenGL Utility Toolkit (GLUT) Programming Interface, API version 3 specifies all the routines in the GLUT API and how they operate. This document is available in both HTML and PostScript formats.
There is also a column on GLUT published in The X Journal available in PostScript. The X Journal carries a regular column on OpenGL that I write. GLUT examples are featured regularly in the column.
GLUT 3.0 involves an update to the GLUT API to version 3 so the GLUT library has new routines included in it implementing new functionality. There are also bug fixes, better support for IRIX 6.x's 64-bit and N32 object formats, and more sample programs.
The important new API additions are support for overlays, determining font character widths, new bitmap fonts, returning held down modifiers for mouse and keyboard events, and full screen windows.
There are a few minor bug fixes in the library. Various build problems on various built platforms have been resolved. GLUT 3.1 should build much cleanly on HP/UX, AIX, Linux, Solaris, and SunOS platforms now (cross finger). There are also a few more example programs. See the CHANGES file for details.
I've collected a page of GLUT frequently asked questions that I expect about GLUT 3.1.
No, not money. If you have benefited from using GLUT and have developed a cool GLUT program that you would like included with a future GLUT source code distribution, feel free to notify me by email about including it.
Please send email to Mark Kilgard at mjk@sgi.com to report bugs or problems with GLUT.
(I make no promises to fix bugs quickly or even at all, though I usually do.)
- Mark