Why are my OpenGL objects drawing relative to the last object drawn? - c++

Question

I'm pretty sure this is due to my lack of understanding of how the GL_MODELVIEW matrix works. Here is a screen recording of what's happening: http://youtu.be/3F7FLkVI7kA
As you can see, the bottom-most triangle is the first triangle being drawn, and moves as I expect the other 2 triangles to move. The second triangle is moved and rotated relative to the first, and the third is moved and rotated relative to that combination.
What I want is for all three triangles to be stationary in 3D space, but spinning (like the first triangle).
Source:
// Main loop
do {
// Clear Screen
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
// Update camera
glfwGetCursorPos(window, &cursorX, &cursorY);
cam.update(0.001f, (int)cursorX, (int)cursorY);
// Reset Matrix
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glLoadIdentity();
// move camera
glRotatef(cam.rotation.x, 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
glRotatef(cam.rotation.y, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
// translate modelview matrix to position of the camera - everything should now draw relative to camera position
glTranslatef(-cam.position.x, cam.position.y, -cam.position.z);
// Draw ground
drawGroundGrid(-25.0f);
drawSpinningTriangle(0.0f, 0.0f, -5.0f);
drawSpinningTriangle(3.14f, 3.0f, -6.0f);
drawSpinningTriangle(-6.0f, 12.0f, -5.0f);
// Swap buffers - back buffer is now front buffer to be rendered to next frame
glfwSwapBuffers(window);
glfwPollEvents();
calcFPS();
} while (!glfwGetKey(window, GLFW_KEY_ESCAPE) && !glfwWindowShouldClose(window));// Main Loop End
[...]
void drawSpinningTriangle(float x, float y, float z) {
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glTranslatef(x, y, z);
glRotatef(glfwGetTime() * 50.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
glBegin(GL_TRIANGLES);
{
// Red vertex
glColor3f(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
glVertex3f(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
// Yellow vertex
glColor3f(1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
glVertex3f(-1.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f);
// White vertex
glColor3f(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f);
glVertex3f(1.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f);
}
glEnd();
}

Answer 1

First using the matrix stack is deprecated. It's much better to manage your own matrices
Second you should pushMatrix and popMatrix before the transformations and after drawing:
void drawSpinningTriangle(float x, float y, float z) {
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glPushMatrix();
glTranslatef(x, y, z);
glRotatef(glfwGetTime() * 50.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
glBegin(GL_TRIANGLES);
{
// Red vertex
glColor3f(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
glVertex3f(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
// Yellow vertex
glColor3f(1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);
glVertex3f(-1.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f);
// White vertex
glColor3f(1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f);
glVertex3f(1.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f);
}
glEnd();
glPopMatrix();
}
This will save and restore the top most matrix so any changes between the 2 calls are removed.