Framebuffer object

<h2 id="uses">Uses</h2>
<p>The FBO has two main uses: The post-processing of rendered images and composition between different scenes.
Some examples are:
</p>
<ol><li>The rendered image is captured and subjected to <a href="/facts/Fragment_Shaders/qfhkKFwA">Fragment Shaders</a> or other manipulations. This allows for many of today's popular computer graphics effects to be carried out, including the addition of a blurring or bloom effect.</li>
<li>Can be used to create views of other scenes, for example: a TV in a house showing the view from a secondary camera. A scene can be rendered through an FBO to a texture, then that texture can be applied to the surface of a TV. This is sometimes called "Render to Texture" or RTT.</li></ol>
<h2 id="advantages-over-other-methods">Advantages over other methods</h2>
<p>Methods involving the FBO are considered superior because:
</p>
<ul><li>It is easier to set up than most other methods.</li>
<li>Does not require context switching.</li>
<li>Is more efficient because resources are shared within the same context.</li>
<li>Is more flexible because all of <a href="/facts/Depth_buffer/HTyzcKbx">depth buffer</a>, <a href="/facts/Stencil_buffer/BNGPjMJE">stencil buffer</a>, etc. can be acquired.</li></ul>
<h2 id="architecture">Architecture</h2>
<p>To use an FBO one simply creates an instance of it. Along with the FBO come several attachments. One can then attach these to a chosen receiver: either a <a href="/facts/Texture_(computer_graphics)/9gDTsuXN">texture</a>, or a render buffer.
</p><p>For example:
</p>
<ul><li>Create an FBO and bind it.</li>
<li>Attach the color buffer (either as a RenderBuffer or a texture) to the FBO.</li>
<li>Attach the depth buffer (either as a RenderBuffer or a texture) to the FBO.</li>
<li>Bind the native window FrameBuffer (id=0)</li>
<li>Render the texture to screen with a pixel shader, dependent on both the Color information and depth information.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/EXT/framebuffer_object.txt">Framebuffer object technical paper</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130502110335/http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/EXT/framebuffer_object.txt">Archived</a> 2013-05-02 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070108122530/http://openvidia.sourceforge.net/fbo.shtml">Framebuffer object reference at openvidia</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.songho.ca/opengl/gl_fbo.html">Example code for Windows and Linux</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131101002803/http://www.opengl.org/wiki/GL_EXT_framebuffer_object">EXT Framebuffer</a> (opengl.org)</li></ul>

Framebuffer object open-in-new

Framebuffer object