The documentation of this framework is covered in full in the provided specification, available from Moodle. Note that the use of this framework is optional and completely at your discretion, however you may find it easier tofocus on applying the computer graphics theory with all the windowing handled.
A software document reference for the framework classes is also available here.
The framework is cross-platform and uses OpenGL, (free)GLUT and GLU. Prebuilt and linked projects are available for use with Windows under Visual Studio and macOS under XCode, containing two folders. The first, ``Framework", which contains all the pre-written code for you to use with your project. It is highly recommended that you do NOT edit any of the files in this project: you should just include the header files where appropriate, e.g.:
#include "DisplayableObject.h"
#include "Animation.h"The latter folder, named "Code", will contain your coursework code. Some example
code, demonstrating various techniques for graphics programming, is provided
using the framework. The main class that you should run will be MyScene.cpp.
There is an overriding method Initialise() where you should define all your
objects and add them to thescene. Note that you should not attempt to override
Scene::Draw if you are using this framework.
It is strongly recommended you use git to clone the
repository to your desktop, so you can pull updates and demos directly. If you
do not have git installed, you can find details for download and
installation here -- note: A32 lab
machines already have git installed.
Run a terminal, or command prompt, and navigate to an appropriate directory
location. If you are using a lab machine you will need to navigate to the H:
drive in cmd first.
> H:
> mkdir G53GRA & cd G53GRA
> git clone https://projects.cs.nott.ac.uk/psxwowa/g53gra_framework.git
You will now be prompted for your username and password. You should enter for
IS login details -- this will allow you to pull from the repository. You
should see:
> git clone
https://projects.cs.nott.ac.uk/psxwowa/g53gra_framework.git
Cloning into 'g53gra_framework'...
remote: Counting objects: 477, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (282/282), done.
remote: Total 477 (delta 276), reused 348 (delta 181)
Receiving objects: 100% (477/477), 2.74 MiB | 2.61 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (276/276), done.
Checking connectivity... done.
To check this was successful, cd into the new folder and check the git status. If the status matches the below, you have cloned the project
successfully.
> cd g53gra_framework
> git status
On branch coursework
your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/coursework'.
nothing to commit, working directory clean
You can now check the project file, for Windows/Visual Studio users it should be
located in ./G53GRA.Framework/G53GRA.Framework.sln
The XCode project (for macOS users) is found in
./G53GRA.Framework/G53GRA.Framework/G53GRA.Framework.xcodeproj
The project should build and run without error, and you should see an OpenGL context window open with a black background. This is a success, and everything is set up properly.
Any changes you now make, while writing your coursework, can be added and committed to your local coursework branch to maintain source control over your coursework.