OpenGL Particle Simulation

A high-performance particle simulation system leveraging modern OpenGL features and GPU acceleration. This project demonstrates graphics programming techniques and parallel computing concepts through an interactive 2D particle system.

Features

Core Systems

• GPU-Accelerated Particle Physics

  • Real-time particle position and velocity updates
  • Gravity point influence system
  • Delta time-based simulation stepping

• Modern OpenGL Pipeline

  • Vertex/Fragment shaders for rendering
  • VAO/VBO management for efficient rendering
  • Custom shader compilation and management system

Visualization & Interaction

• Dynamic Grid System

  • Configurable reference grid
  • Scale and spacing controls

• Interactive Controls

  • Mouse-based gravity point control
  • Camera zoom functionality
  • Real-time simulation parameter adjustment

• Performance Monitoring

  • Real-time FPS counter
  • Frame time tracking
  • Particle count display
  • Delta time monitoring

Dependencies

• GLFW - Window management and OpenGL context
• CGLM - Graphics mathematics library
• GLAD - OpenGL function loader
• Dear ImGui - Debug UI and statistics display

Built-In Recording (FFmpeg + VAAPI)

The engine can capture frames directly from its OpenGL back buffer and encode with VAAPI.

1. Configure with recording enabled:

cmake -S . -B build -DENABLE_RECORDING=ON
cmake --build build

2. Run with recording enabled:

ENGINE_RECORD=1 ./main

Optional environment variables:

• ENGINE_RECORD_OUTPUT (default: capture.mkv)
• ENGINE_RECORD_CODEC (default: hevc_vaapi)
• ENGINE_RECORD_DEVICE (default: /dev/dri/renderD128)
• ENGINE_RECORD_RATE_CONTROL (default: quality, options: quality, cbr)
• ENGINE_RECORD_QP (default: 18, used in quality mode; lower = higher quality)
• ENGINE_RECORD_BITRATE_KBPS (default: 50000)
• ENGINE_RECORD_FPS (default: 60)
• ENGINE_RECORD_KEYINT (default: FPS * 2)