NAME
glBlendFunc - specify pixel arithmetic
C SPECIFICATION
void glBlendFunc( GLenum sfactor,
GLenum dfactor )
PARAMETERS
sfactor Specifies how the red, green, blue, and alpha
source blending factors are computed. Nine
symbolic constants are accepted: GL_ZERO, GL_ONE,
GL_DST_COLOR, GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_COLOR, GL_SRC_ALPHA,
GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA, GL_DST_ALPHA,
GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_ALPHA, and GL_SRC_ALPHA_SATURATE.
The initial value is GL_ONE.
dfactor Specifies how the red, green, blue, and alpha
destination blending factors are computed. Eight
symbolic constants are accepted: GL_ZERO, GL_ONE,
GL_SRC_COLOR, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_COLOR, GL_SRC_ALPHA,
GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA, GL_DST_ALPHA, and
GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_ALPHA. The initial value is
GL_ZERO.
DESCRIPTION
In RGBA mode, pixels can be drawn using a function that
blends the incoming (source) RGBA values with the RGBA
values that are already in the frame buffer (the destination
values). Blending is initially disabled. Use glEnable and
glDisable with argument GL_BLEND to enable and disable
blending.
glBlendFunc defines the operation of blending when it is
enabled. sfactor specifies which of nine methods is used to
scale the source color components. dfactor specifies which
of eight methods is used to scale the destination color
components. The eleven possible methods are described in
the following table. Each method defines four scale
factors, one each for red, green, blue, and alpha.
In the table and in subsequent equations, source and
destination color components are referred to as
(R ,G ,B ,A ) and (R ,G ,B ,A ). They are understood to
have integer values between 0dand (k ,k ,k ,k ), where
R G B A
mc
kc = 2 -1
and (mR,mG,mB,mA) is the number of red, green, blue, and
alpha bitplanes.
Source and destination scale factors are referred to as
(s ,s ,s ,s ) and (d ,d ,d ,d ). The scale factors
described in the table,Gdenoted (f ,f ,f ,f ), represent
either source or destination factors.G All scale factors
have range [0,1].
______________________________________________________________________
| parameter | (f , f , f , f ) |
|_______________________|_____________________________________________|
| GL_ZERO | (0, 0, 0, 0) |
| GL_ONE | (1, 1, 1, 1) |
| GL_SRC_COLOR | (R /k , G /k , B /k , A /k ) |
|GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_COLOR | (1, 1, 1,s1)R- (R /k , G /k , B /k , A /k ) |
| GL_DST_COLOR | (R /k , G /k , B /k , A /k ) s A |
|GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_COLOR | (1, 1, 1,d1)R- (R /k , G /k , B /k , A /k ) |
| GL_SRC_ALPHA | (A /k , A /k , A /k , A /k ) d A |
|GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA | (1, 1, 1,s1)A- (A /k , A /k , A /k , A /k ) |
| GL_DST_ALPHA | (A /k , A /k , A /k , A /k ) s A |
|GL_ONE_MINUS_DST_ALPHA | (1, 1, 1,d1)A- (A /k , A /k , A /k , A /k ) |
|GL_SRC_ALPHA_SATURATE | (i, i, i,d1)A d A d A |
|_______________________|_____________________________________________|
In the table,
i = min(A , k -A ) / k
s A d A
To determine the blended RGBA values of a pixel when drawing
in RGBA mode, the system uses the following equations:
R = min(k , R s +R d )
Gd = min(kR, GssR+GddR)
Bd = min(kG, BssG+BddG)
Ad = min(kB, AssB+AddB)
d A s A d A
Despite the apparent precision of the above equations,
blending arithmetic is not exactly specified, because
blending operates with imprecise integer color values.
However, a blend factor that should be equal to 1 is
guaranteed not to modify its multiplicand, and a blend
factor equal to 0 reduces its multiplicand to 0. For
example, when sfactor is GL_SRC_ALPHA, dfactor is
GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA, and A is equal to k , the equations
reduce to simple replacement:s A
R = R
Gd = Gs
Bd = Bs
Ad = As
d s
EXAMPLES
Transparency is best implemented using blend function
(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA) with primitives
sorted from farthest to nearest. Note that this
transparency calculation does not require the presence of
alpha bitplanes in the frame buffer.
Blend function (GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA) is
also useful for rendering antialiased points and lines in
arbitrary order.
Polygon antialiasing is optimized using blend function
(GL_SRC_ALPHA_SATURATE, GL_ONE) with polygons sorted from
nearest to farthest. (See the glEnable, glDisable reference
page and the GL_POLYGON_SMOOTH argument for information on
polygon antialiasing.) Destination alpha bitplanes, which
must be present for this blend function to operate
correctly, store the accumulated coverage.
NOTES
Incoming (source) alpha is correctly thought of as a
material opacity, ranging from 1.0 (K ), representing
complete opacity, to 0.0 (0), representing complete
transparency.
When more than one color buffer is enabled for drawing, the
GL performs blending separately for each enabled buffer,
using the contents of that buffer for destination color.
(See glDrawBuffer.)
Blending affects only RGBA rendering. It is ignored by
color index renderers.
ERRORS
GL_INVALID_ENUM is generated if either sfactor or dfactor is
not an accepted value.
GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if glBlendFunc is executed
between the execution of glBegin and the corresponding
execution of glEnd.
ASSOCIATED GETS
glGet with argument GL_BLEND_SRC
glGet with argument GL_BLEND_DST
glIsEnabled with argument GL_BLEND
SEE ALSO
glAlphaFunc, glClear, glDrawBuffer, glEnable, glLogicOp,
glStencilFunc