CLIPPING PLANE

Clipping planes can be used in addition of those used created for the viewing volume. OpenGL define 6 clipping plane GL_CLIP_PLANEi (i goes from 0 to 5).
A clipping plane is a plane that separate the space in two regions. One region is included from the viewing volume, the other is excluded.

In mathematics, a plane is defined by this equation :
    a*x+b*y+c*z+d = 0
(x, y, z) are the coordinates of the points in the 3D space. All points that verify this equation are on the plane.
The inequality (< or > instead of =) define the region in each side of the plane.

In OpenGL, a clipping plane is the region defined by this equation :
    a*x+b*y+c*z+d >= 0
A clipping plane is creates with the 4 values a, b, c & d likethis :
    double[] eq = {a, b, c, d}
    gl.glClipPlane(GL_CLIP_PLANEi, eq)    

All points draw , the other are excluded (will not be rendered on the screen).

Like for lights, clipping planes have to be enable to be active :
    gl.glEnable(GL_CLIP_PLANEi) 

Read more...

ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION

The Viewing Volume shape in this case is a parallelepiped. The 6 clipping planes delimiting the space can be created with the aid of :
    gl.glOrtho(left, right, bottom, top, near, far)

VIEW VOLUME LOOKS LIKE:-

Read more...

PERSPECTIVE PROJECTION

With this kind of projection, the viewing volume shape is a truncated pyramid (its top is cutted).

This shape is abtained by 6 cutting planes : front, back, right, left, top and bottom planes (planes at the volume boundary). These planes are commonly called Clipping Planes. These planes can be created with the aid of the method :
    glu.gluPerspective(fovy, aspect, near, far)
The fovy parameter is the angle between the plane that goes downwards and the plane that goes upwards.
The aspect ratio is generaly the aspect ratio of the window (window is the region of the screen in which the scene is rendered).

Read more...