Can't make blending work - c++

Question

I have a 3 dimensional dataset where each value of the dataset is normalized to [0, 1]. I want to visualize this dataset by using texture, and blending.
However, it seems that I can't make it work.
Here is what I have done so far:
int main(){
...
//building an image for each rectangular slice of data
vector<Texture> myTextures;
for (GLint rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < ROW_NUM; rowIndex++)
{
auto pathToImage = "images/row" + to_string(rowIndex) + FILE_EXT;
FIBITMAP *img = FreeImage_Allocate(SLICE_DIMENSION, SLICE_NUM, 32); //32 = RGBA
for (GLint depthIndex = 0; depthIndex < DEPTH_NUM; depthIndex++)
{
for (GLint colIndex = 0; colIndex < COL_NUM; colIndex++)
{
auto value = my3DData[depthIndex][rowIndex][colIndex];
//transform tValue to a source color
glm::vec4 source = transformValueToColor(value);
//note that here I am also setting the opacity.
RGBQUAD linRgb = { source.b, source.g, source.r, source.a };
FreeImage_SetPixelColor(img, colIndex, depthIndex, &linRgb);
}
}
//Saving images. Saved images shows transparency.
FreeImage_Save(FIF_PNG, img, pathToImage.c_str());
myTextures.push_back(Texture(pathToImage.c_str(), GL_TEXTURE0));
}
//create VAO, VBO, EBO for a unit quad.
glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
glEnable(GL_BLEND);
glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);
//game loop
while (!glfwWindowShouldClose(window))
{
...
for (int i = 0; i < myTextures.size(); i++)
{
GLint index = myTextures.size() - i - 1;
myTextures[index].bind(); //does glActiveTexture(...), and glBindTexture(...);
glm::mat4 model;
//translate
model = glm::translate(model, glm::vec3(0.0f, 0.0f, -index*0.003f));
//scale
model = glm::scale(model, glm::vec3(1.2f));
glUniformMatrix4fv(glGetUniformLocation(ourShader.Program, "model"), 1, GL_FALSE, glm::value_ptr(model));
glDrawElements(GL_TRIANGLES, 6, GL_UNSIGNED_INT, 0);
}
}
}
transformValueToColorfor transforming data value in [0,1] to color value:
//All inputs >=0.6 is transformed to highly transparent white color.
glm::vec4 transformValueToColor(GLclampf tValue)
{
if (tValue >= 0.6f) {
return glm::vec4(255, 255, 255, 10);
}
else {
auto val = round(255 * tValue);
auto valOp = round(255 * (1 - tValue));
return glm::vec4(val, val, val, valOp);
}
}
My vertex shader:
#version 330 core
layout(location = 0) in vec3 position;
layout(location = 1) in vec2 texCoord;
out vec2 TexCoord;
uniform mat4 model;
uniform mat4 view;
uniform mat4 projection;
void main()
{
gl_Position = projection * view * model * vec4(position, 1.0f);
TexCoord = vec2(texCoord.s, 1-texCoord.t);
}
My fragment shader:
#version 330 core
in vec2 TexCoord;
out vec4 color;
uniform sampler2D sliceTexture;
void main()
{
vec4 texColor = texture(sliceTexture, TexCoord);
color = texColor;
}
I think this is the code needed for the blending to work. The images are generated correctly, and also applied as texture on the quads correctly. However, the quads on the front appears as completely opaque, though the generated images (even the one appearing at front) shows transparent area.
I am not sure where I am going wrong. Requesting your suggestions.
Thank you.
Edit: details of Texture class (only the parts relevant to loading RGBA image and creating RGBA texture from that):
int width, height, channelCount;
unsigned char* image = SOIL_load_image(pathToImage, &width, &height, &channelCount, SOIL_LOAD_RGBA);
...
glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA, width, height, 0, GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, image);
Edit2: Added details of camera class. Camera::getViewMatrix() provides view matrix.
Camera::Camera(GLFWwindow* window, glm::vec3 position, glm::vec3 worldUpDirection, GLfloat yaw, GLfloat pitch)
:mouseSensitivity(0.25f), fov(45.0f), cameraSpeed(1.0f)
{
this->position = this->originalPosition = position;
this->worldUpDirection = worldUpDirection;
this->yaw = this->originalYaw = yaw;
this->pitch = this->originalPitch = pitch;
updateCameraVectors();
}
void Camera::updateCameraVectors()
{
glm::mat4 yawPitchRotMat;
yawPitchRotMat = glm::rotate(yawPitchRotMat, glm::radians(yaw), glm::vec3(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f)); //y-ais as yaw axis
yawPitchRotMat = glm::rotate(yawPitchRotMat, glm::radians(pitch), glm::vec3(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f)); //x-axis as pitch axis
frontDirection = glm::normalize(-glm::vec3(yawPitchRotMat[2].x, yawPitchRotMat[2].y, yawPitchRotMat[2].z));
rightDirection = glm::normalize(glm::cross(frontDirection, worldUpDirection));
upDirection = glm::normalize(glm::cross(rightDirection, frontDirection));
}
glm::mat4 Camera::getViewMatrix()
{
return glm::lookAt(position, position + frontDirection, upDirection);
}

Answer 1

myTextures.push_back(Texture(pathToImage.c_str(), GL_TEXTURE0));
This doesn't include any information about your Texture class and how it's parsing the image files. Even if the files themselves show transparency, it's possible that your texture loading code is discarding the alpha channel when you load the image.
model = glm::translate(model, glm::vec3(0.0f, 0.0f, -index*0.003f));
This makes it look as if you're rendering from front to back. If you want to render transparent objects, on top of one another you need to use an algorithm for order independent transparency, or you need to render from back to front.
glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);
You may also want / need to use glBlendFuncSeparate so that the mixing of the alpha channel is done differently. I'm not sure about this one though.
You may also want to consider simply populating a single GL_TEXTURE_3D object and rendering it as a cube, doing all the mixing in the fragment shader, rather than rendering a series of quads for each layer.