Question

I just tried to render the first redbook example ( the white Quad ) by using VBOs.
It works fine with immediate mode and vertex arrays.

But when using VBOs the screen stays black. I think i must have missed something important.

init:

unsigned int bufIds[2];
glGenBuffers( 2, bufIds );
GLfloat vertices[] = {
  0.25, 0.25, 0.0,
  0.75, 0.25, 0.0,
  0.75, 0.75, 0.0,
  0.25, 0.75, 0.0
};
glBindBuffer( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, bufIds[0] );
glBufferData( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 12, vertices, GL_STATIC_DRAW );
glBindBuffer( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0 );

glClearColor( 0, 0, 0, 1 );
glColor3f( 1, 1, 1 );
glOrtho( 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1.0, -1.0, 1.0 );

renderloop for VBO (not working):

glClear( GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT );
glEnableClientState( GL_VERTEX_ARRAY );
glBindBuffer( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, bufIds[0] );
glVertexPointer( 3, GL_FLOAT, 0, 0 );
glDrawArrays( GL_QUADS, 0, 12 );
glBindBuffer( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0 );
glDisableClientState( GL_VERTEX_ARRAY );

renderloop for vertex arrays (working):

glClear( GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT );
glEnableClientState( GL_VERTEX_ARRAY );
glBindBuffer( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0 );
glVertexPointer( 3, GL_FLOAT, 0, vertices );
glDrawArrays( GL_QUADS, 0, 12 );
glDisableClientState( GL_VERTEX_ARRAY );

Answer 1

argh i just figured it out by trying to read back the contents of the buffer:

i need to allocate the buffer with 12 * sizeof( GLfloat ) instead of only 12

glBufferData( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 12 * sizeof( GLfloat ), vertices, GL_STATIC_DRAW );

my read back code

GLfloat vertices2[12];
glBindBuffer( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, bufIds[0] );
glGetBufferSubData ( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0, 12 * sizeof( GLfloat ), vertices2 );
glBindBuffer( GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0 );

for ( int i = 0; i < 4; i ++ ) {
    LOG_DEBUG << "point " << i << ": " << vertices2[ i * 3 + 0 ] << " / " << vertices2[ i * 3 + 1 ] << " / " << vertices2[ i * 3 + 2 ];
}