Skybox texture does not show with OpenGL? - c++

Question

So I am having this assignment which requires to create a skybox; the texture is provided as a single file. Bear in mind, I am very slow when it comes to understanding OpenGL, and this particular SkyBox has been driving me insane. I read up on every little thing on the internet that I thought could relate to my issue, but I either can't comprehend what is going on, which is not what I am after since I want to know what I am doing and not copy/paste some code, or the result ends up being something different.
The code relating to the skybox so far:
GLfloat cubeVertexData[108] =
{
0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f,
0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f,
0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f,
0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
-0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
//4
-0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
-0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
//5
0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f,
-0.5f, -0.5f, 0.5f,
//6
0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f,
0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, -0.5f, -0.5f,
-0.5f, 0.5f, -0.5f
};
GLfloat textureCoordsSkyBox[72] = {
//face 1
0.75,0.33, // 0,1,
0.75,0.67, // 1,1,
0.5,0.33, // 0,0,
0.5,0.33, // 0,0,
0.75,0.67, // 1,0,
0.5,0.67, // 1,1,
//face 2
0.5,1.0, // 1,1,
0.25,1, // 0,1,
0.5,0.67, // 1,0,
0.5,0.67, // 1,0,
0.25,1.0, // 0,1,
0.25,0.67, // 1,1,
//face 3
0,0.67,// 1,1,
0,0.33,// 0,1,
0.25,0.67,// 1,0,
0.25,0.67,// 1,0,
0,0.33,// 0,1,
0.25,0.33,// 0,0,
//face 4
0.25,0.0,// 0,1,
0.5,0.0,// 1,1,
0.25,0.33,// 0,0,
0.25,0.33,// 0,0,
0.5,0.0,// 1,1,
0.5,0.33,// 0,0,
//face 5
0.5,0.67,// 1,0,
0.25,0.67,// 0,0,
0.5,0.33,// 1,1,
0.5,0.33,// 1,1,
0.25,0.67,// 0,0,
0.25,0.33,// 0,1,
//face 6
0.75,0.33,// 1,1,
1.0,0.33,// 0,1,
0.75,0.67,// 1,0,
0.75,0.67,// 1,0,
1.0,0.33,// 0,1,
1.0,0.67// 0,0
};
GLfloat gCubeVertexdataNormals[108] =
{
1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f,
-1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
-1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
-1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
-1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
-1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
-1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f,
0.0f, 0.0f, -1.0f
};
void DrawSkyBox() {
glFrontFace(GL_CW);
glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, textures[SKYIMAGE]);
glEnableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY);
glEnableClientState(GL_NORMAL_ARRAY);
glNormalPointer(GL_FLOAT, 0, gCubeVertexdataNormals);
glEnableClientState(GL_TEXTURE_COORD_ARRAY);
glVertexPointer(3, GL_FLOAT, 0, cubeVertexData);
glTexCoordPointer(2, GL_FLOAT, 0, textureCoordsSkyBox);
glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 36);
glDisableClientState(GL_VERTEX_ARRAY);
glDisableClientState(GL_NORMAL_ARRAY);
glDisableClientState(GL_TEXTURE_COORD_ARRAY);
}
Loading texture [part of code missing as I have different textures for other elements loaded here]:
.....
#define SKYIMAGE 5 //sky image
const char *textureFiles[TEXTURE_COUNT] = { "stormydays.tga".... };
I am not sure if it is of importance, but I will also mention that the other textured elements of the scene do not have coordinates from 0-1, but from 100 to 1000. I tried previously to set up the textureCoordsSkyBox to 1000 in terms of coordinates, but still no result.
I imagine I do something completely wrong when it comes to the binding of the texture, but I am having a hard time comprehending how I can improve that part. Any advice would be deeply appreciated. Thank you in advance.
-Edit-
So this is the texture I am using:
What I am seeing is just black, besides the other elements of the scene like the back wall, some grass and some flowers [this is what I was referring to when I said textured elements of the scene]. I am attaching the code here of what part of my drawing the scene function looks like:
void RenderScene(void)
{
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
glLoadIdentity();
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
gluLookAt(cameraX, cameraY, cameraZ,//eye
50.00, 90.00, 50.00,//centre
0.00, 1000.00, 0.00);//up
glPushMatrix();
DrawSkyBox();
glPopMatrix();
glPushMatrix();
glTranslatef(0.0, 0.0, -100.0);
glRotatef(-90.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0);
drawTexturedSurface(IMAGE1); //grass
glPopMatrix();
glPushMatrix();
glTranslatef(0.0, 0.0, -350.0);
drawTexturedSurface(IMAGE4); //front stone wall
glPopMatrix();
glPushMatrix();
.......
glPopMatrix();
drawGUI();
glPushMatrix();
glutSwapBuffers();
}
Also, it is the fixed version of OpenGL. I tried messing about with GL_LIGHTING, GL_CULL_FACE, GL_DEPTH_TEST and glDisableClientState but it is the same result. Also, I don't get any errors.

Answer 1

In your case the skybox is a very tiny object in the center of the world.
You have to draw the skybox in at the position of the camera. When you darw the sykbox, then you have to disable the depth test, this cause that the depth buffer is not written and all other parts of the scene cover the skybox.
Further two-dimensional texturing has to be enabled by glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D), before the skybox geometry is drawn:
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
glLoadIdentity();
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
gluLookAt(
cameraX, cameraY, cameraZ,//eye
50.00, 90.00, 50.00,//centre
0.00, 1000.00, 0.00);//up
glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
glPushMatrix();
glTranslatef(cameraX, cameraY, cameraZ); // model transformation to the camera position
glEnable(GL_TEXTURE_2D);
DrawSkyBox();
glPopMatrix();
glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);