Draw image from vertex buffer object generated with CUDA using OpenGL - c

Question

I am using CUDA to generate this ABGR output image. The image in question is stored in a uchar4 array. Each element of the array represents the color of each pixel in the image. Obviously, this output array is a 2D image but it is allocated in CUDA as a linear memory of interleaved bytes.
I know that CUDA can easily map this array to an OpenGL Vertex Buffer Object. My question is, assuming that I have the RGB value of every pixel in an image, along with the width and height of the image, how can I draw this image to screen using OpenGL?
I know that some kind of shader must be involved but since my knowledge is very little, I have no idea how a shader can use the color of each pixel, but map it to correct screen pixels.
I know I should increase my knowledge in OpenGL, but this seems like a trivial task.
If there is an easy way for me to draw this image, I'd rather not spend much time learning OpenGL.

Answer 1

I finally figured out an easy way to do what I wanted. Unfortunately, I did not know about the existence of the sample that Robert was talking about on NVIDIA's website.
Long story short, the easiest way to draw the image was to define a Pixel Buffer Object in OpenGL, register the buffer with CUDA and pass it as an output array of uchar4 to the CUDA kernel. Here is a quick pseudo-code based on JOGL and JCUDA that shows the steps involved. Most of the code was obtained from the sample on NVIDIA's website:
1) Creaing the OpenGL buffers
GL2 gl = drawable.getGL().getGL2();
int[] buffer = new int[1];
// Generate buffer
gl.glGenBuffers(1, IntBuffer.wrap(buffer));
glBuffer = buffer[0];
// Bind the generated buffer
gl.glBindBuffer(GL2.GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, glBuffer);
// Specify the size of the buffer (no data is pre-loaded in this buffer)
gl.glBufferData(GL2.GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, imageWidth * imageHeight * 4, (Buffer)null, GL2.GL_DYNAMIC_DRAW);
gl.glBindBuffer(GL2.GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0);
// The bufferResource is of type CUgraphicsResource and is defined as a class field
this.bufferResource = new CUgraphicsResource();
// Register buffer in CUDA
cuGraphicsGLRegisterBuffer(bufferResource, glBuffer, CUgraphicsMapResourceFlags.CU_GRAPHICS_MAP_RESOURCE_FLAGS_NONE);
2) Initialize the texture and set texture parameters
GL2 gl = drawable.getGL().getGL2();
int[] texture = new int[1];
gl.glGenTextures(1, IntBuffer.wrap(texture));
this.glTexture = texture[0];
gl.glBindTexture(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D, glTexture);
gl.glTexParameteri(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL2.GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL2.GL_LINEAR);
gl.glTexParameteri(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL2.GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL2.GL_LINEAR);
gl.glTexImage2D(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL2.GL_RGBA8, imageWidth, imageHeight, 0, GL2.GL_BGRA, GL2.GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, (Buffer)null);
gl.glBindTexture(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0);
3) Run the CUDA kernel and display the results in OpenGL's display loop.
this.runCUDA();
GL2 gl = drawable.getGL().getGL2();
gl.glBindBuffer(GL2.GL_PIXEL_UNPACK_BUFFER, glBuffer);
gl.glBindTexture(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D, glTexture);
gl.glTexSubImage2D(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, 0, 0,
imageWidth, imageHeight,
GL2.GL_RGBA, GL2.GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, 0); //The last argument must be ZERO! NOT NULL! :-)
gl.glBindBuffer(GL2.GL_PIXEL_PACK_BUFFER, 0);
gl.glBindBuffer(GL2.GL_PIXEL_UNPACK_BUFFER, 0);
gl.glBindTexture(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D, glTexture);
gl.glEnable(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D);
gl.glDisable(GL2.GL_DEPTH_TEST);
gl.glDisable(GL2.GL_LIGHTING);
gl.glTexEnvf(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_ENV, GL2.GL_TEXTURE_ENV_MODE, GL2.GL_REPLACE);
gl.glMatrixMode(GL2.GL_PROJECTION);
gl.glPushMatrix();
gl.glLoadIdentity();
gl.glOrtho(-1.0, 1.0, -1.0, 1.0, -1.0, 1.0);
gl.glMatrixMode(GL2.GL_MODELVIEW);
gl.glLoadIdentity();
gl.glViewport(0, 0, imageWidth, imageHeight);
gl.glBegin(GL2.GL_QUADS);
gl.glTexCoord2f(0.0f, 1.0f);
gl.glVertex2f(-1.0f, -1.0f);
gl.glTexCoord2f(1.0f, 1.0f);
gl.glVertex2f(1.0f, -1.0f);
gl.glTexCoord2f(1.0f, 0.0f);
gl.glVertex2f(1.0f, 1.0f);
gl.glTexCoord2f(0.0f, 0.0f);
gl.glVertex2f(-1.0f, 1.0f);
gl.glEnd();
gl.glMatrixMode(GL2.GL_PROJECTION);
gl.glPopMatrix();
gl.glDisable(GL2.GL_TEXTURE_2D);
3.5) The CUDA call:
public void runCuda(GLAutoDrawable drawable) {
devOutput = new CUdeviceptr();
// Map the OpenGL buffer to a resource and then obtain a CUDA pointer to that resource
cuGraphicsMapResources(1, new CUgraphicsResource[]{bufferResource}, null);
cuGraphicsResourceGetMappedPointer(devOutput, new long[1], bufferResource);
// Setup the kernel parameters making sure that the devOutput pointer is passed to the kernel
Pointer kernelParams =
.
.
.
.
int gridSize = (int) Math.ceil(imageWidth * imageHeight / (double)DESC_BLOCK_SIZE);
cuLaunchKernel(function,
gridSize, 1, 1,
DESC_BLOCK_SIZE, 1, 1,
0, null,
kernelParams, null);
cuCtxSynchronize();
// Unmap the buffer so that it can be used in OpenGL
cuGraphicsUnmapResources(1, new CUgraphicsResource[]{bufferResource}, null);
}
PS: I thank Robert for providing the link to the sample. I also thank the people who downvoted my question without any useful feedback!