Isn’t it pretty? This is my first OpenGL ES application using the iPhone SDK. All it is an arrow that rotates when the orientation of the device is changed. Think of it as a cheap compass. Nothing too great, but for starting out it’s pretty decent.

I followed a tutorial found in the iPhone 3D Programming: Developing Graphical Applications with OpenGL ES book. It’s fairly easy to follow since it tells you exactly what to do every step of the way. So far I’ve gone through the first chapter and I’ve had no complaints. I’ve only had a few minor bugs that I encountered but that was on my behalf for not following exactly what the book mentioned. So yes, every line is important and yes, the debugger is amazing too!

If you have been looking for a book, then iPhone 3D Programming: Developing Graphical Applications with OpenGL ES is something I’ll highly recommend. I’ll be going through and once I get far into it, I’ll come back and write a review for it. So, so far what has this book taught me in the first chapter?

• Basic introduction to the iPhone SDK
• Learn how to create and run the default OpenGL ES project
• Start an OpenGL ES program from scratch
• Create an Icon and Splash Screen for my application
• Create a Rendering Engine for both Open GL ES 1.1 and 2.0 versions for backwards compatibility
• Learned to draw, rotate, and animate a simple polygon

Keep following to learn my progress

Keep updated on Talk Binary, as I’ll continue to share my latest discoveries with the iPhone SDK. It’s not as bad as you think. Once you know where to start, and what resources to use, it just takes some patience. If you have any questions, feel free to ask below. I’m here to help.