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The OpenGL Utility Library (GLU) is a computer graphics library for OpenGL.

It consists of a number of functions that use the base OpenGL library to provide higher-level drawing routines from the more primitive routines that OpenGL provides. It is usually distributed with the base OpenGL package. GLU is not implemented in the embedded version of the OpenGL package, OpenGL ES.

Among these features are mapping between screen- and world-coordinates, generation of texture mipmaps, drawing of quadric surfaces, NURBS, tessellation of polygonal primitives, interpretation of OpenGL error codes, an extended range of transformation routines for setting up viewing volumes and simple positioning of the camera, generally in more human-friendly terms than the routines presented by OpenGL. It also provides additional primitives for use in OpenGL applications, including spheres, cylinders and disks.

GLU functions can be easily recognized by looking at them because they all have glu as a prefix. An example function is gluOrtho2D() which defines a two dimensional orthographic projection matrix.

Specifications for GLU are available at the OpenGL specification page

See also[edit]

• OpenGL Utility Toolkit (GLUT)
• OpenGL User Interface Library (GLUI)
• freeglut