Question

I found some code online which will move a box across the screen, then reset it after the box hits the end of the screen.
Here is the code:

void display(void) {
  int sign = 1;
  if (lastFrameTime == 0) {
    /*
     * sets lastFrameTime to be the number of milliseconds since
     * Init() was called;
     */
    lastFrameTime = glutGet(GLUT_ELAPSED_TIME);
  }

  int now = glutGet(GLUT_ELAPSED_TIME);
  int elapsedMilliseconds = now - lastFrameTime;
  float elapsedTime = float(elapsedMilliseconds) / 1000.0f;
  lastFrameTime = now;

  int windowWidth = glutGet(GLUT_WINDOW_WIDTH);

  if (boxX > windowWidth) {
    boxX -= windowWidth;
  }
  boxX += (sign)*256.0f * elapsedTime;

  glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);

  glPushMatrix();
  //creates a new matrix at the top that we can do things to?
  glTranslatef(boxX, 0.0f, 0.0f);

  /*
   * draw a "quad" (rectangle)
   */
  glBegin(GL_QUADS);
  glVertex2f(0.0f, 0.0f);
  glVertex2f(128.0f, 0.0f);
  glVertex2f(128.0f, 128.0f);
  glVertex2f(0.0f, 128.0f);
  glEnd();
  glPopMatrix();
  //pops that matrix off the stack so we can have a "clean" version to do something next time.?

  glutSwapBuffers();
}

Now, the way I understand glPushMatrix() and glPopMatrix() is that glPushMatrix() puts (or pushes) a new matrix on the stack for you to do things to, so that after you pop it back off you have a “clean” slate again. This is why, if I neglect the glPopMatrix() after glEnd(), my square seems to accelerate rather than move at a constant velocity.

How is it, however, that the changes I make inside of glPushMatrix() and glPopMatrix() are kept? When I use glPushMatrix() and make a change to the top matrix, it visualizes the changes, but when i use glPopMatrix(), aren’t all those changes gone? When I am restored to a “clean” slate again, how is it that my box moves across the screen?

How is the state of that translation recorded if i just pop the matrix off again after making the change?

Answer 1

It’s only the matrix, used to transform coordinates, that is restored by glPopMatrix. Not the whole framebuffer. The framebuffer contains the rendering of the quadrilateral, changing the matrix afterward doesn’t affect anything already rendered.