Light | Dark

docs.GL

glGetTexImage

Name

glGetTexImage — return a texture image

C Specification

void glGetTexImage( GLenum target,
GLint level,
GLenum format,
GLenum type,
GLvoid * pixels);
void glGetnTexImage( GLenum target,
GLint level,
GLenum format,
GLenum type,
GLsizei bufSize,
void *pixels);
void glGetTextureImage( GLuint texture,
GLint level,
GLenum format,
GLenum type,
GLsizei bufSize,
void *pixels);

Parameters

target

Specifies the target to which the texture is bound for glGetTexImage and glGetnTexImage functions. GL_TEXTURE_1D, GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_3D, GL_TEXTURE_1D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_2D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_X, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_X, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_Y, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_Y, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_Z, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_Z, and GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_ARRAY are acceptable.

texture

Specifies the texture object name.

level

Specifies the level-of-detail number of the desired image. Level 0 is the base image level. Level n is the nth mipmap reduction image.

format

Specifies a pixel format for the returned data. The supported formats are GL_STENCIL_INDEX, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT, GL_DEPTH_STENCIL, GL_RED, GL_GREEN, GL_BLUE, GL_RG, GL_RGB, GL_RGBA, GL_BGR, GL_BGRA, GL_RED_INTEGER, GL_GREEN_INTEGER, GL_BLUE_INTEGER, GL_RG_INTEGER, GL_RGB_INTEGER, GL_RGBA_INTEGER, GL_BGR_INTEGER, GL_BGRA_INTEGER.

type

Specifies a pixel type for the returned data. The supported types are GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, GL_BYTE, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT, GL_SHORT, GL_UNSIGNED_INT, GL_INT, GL_HALF_FLOAT, GL_FLOAT, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE_3_3_2, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE_2_3_3_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_5_6_5, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_5_6_5_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_4_4_4_4, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_4_4_4_4_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_5_5_5_1, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_1_5_5_5_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_8_8_8_8, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_8_8_8_8_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_10_10_10_2, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_2_10_10_10_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_24_8, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_10F_11F_11F_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_5_9_9_9_REV, and GL_FLOAT_32_UNSIGNED_INT_24_8_REV.

bufSize

Specifies the size of the buffer pixels for glGetnTexImage and glGetTextureImage functions.

pixels

Returns the texture image. Should be a pointer to an array of the type specified by type.

Description

glGetTexImage, glGetnTexImage and glGetTextureImage functions return a texture image into pixels. For glGetTexImage and glGetnTexImage, target specifies whether the desired texture image is one specified by glTexImage1D (GL_TEXTURE_1D), glTexImage2D (GL_TEXTURE_1D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE, GL_TEXTURE_2D or any of GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_*), or glTexImage3D (GL_TEXTURE_2D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_3D, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_ARRAY). For glGetTextureImage, texture specifies the texture object name. In addition to types of textures accepted by glGetTexImage and glGetnTexImage, the function also accepts cube map texture objects (with effective target GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP). level specifies the level-of-detail number of the desired image. format and type specify the format and type of the desired image array. See the reference page for glTexImage1D for a description of the acceptable values for the format and type parameters, respectively. For glGetnTexImage and glGetTextureImage functions, bufSize tells the size of the buffer to receive the retrieved pixel data. glGetnTexImage and glGetTextureImage do not write more than bufSize bytes into pixels.

If a non-zero named buffer object is bound to the GL_PIXEL_PACK_BUFFER target (see glBindBuffer) while a texture image is requested, pixels is treated as a byte offset into the buffer object's data store.

To understand the operation of glGetTexImage, consider the selected internal four-component texture image to be an RGBA color buffer the size of the image. The semantics of glGetTexImage are then identical to those of glReadPixels, with the exception that no pixel transfer operations are performed, when called with the same format and type, with x and y set to 0, width set to the width of the texture image and height set to 1 for 1D images, or to the height of the texture image for 2D images.

If the selected texture image does not contain four components, the following mappings are applied. Single-component textures are treated as RGBA buffers with red set to the single-component value, green set to 0, blue set to 0, and alpha set to 1. Two-component textures are treated as RGBA buffers with red set to the value of component zero, alpha set to the value of component one, and green and blue set to 0. Finally, three-component textures are treated as RGBA buffers with red set to component zero, green set to component one, blue set to component two, and alpha set to 1.

To determine the required size of pixels, use glGetTexLevelParameter to determine the dimensions of the internal texture image, then scale the required number of pixels by the storage required for each pixel, based on format and type. Be sure to take the pixel storage parameters into account, especially GL_PACK_ALIGNMENT.

If glGetTextureImage is used against a cube map texture object, the texture is treated as a three-dimensional image of a depth of 6, where the cube map faces are ordered as image layers, in an order presented in the table below:

Layer number Cube Map Face
0 GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_X
1 GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_X
2 GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_Y
3 GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_Y
4 GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_Z
5 GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_Z

Notes

If an error is generated, no change is made to the contents of pixels.

glGetTexImage and glGetnTexImage return the texture image for the active texture unit.

GL_STENCIL_INDEX is accepted for format only if the GL version is 4.4 or greater.

Errors

GL_INVALID_ENUM is generated by glGetTexImage and glGetnTexImage functions if target is not an accepted value. These include:

  • GL_TEXTURE_1D, GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_3D, GL_TEXTURE_1D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_2D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_X, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_X, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_Y, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_Y, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_POSITIVE_Z, and GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_NEGATIVE_Z for glGetTexImage and glGetnTexImage functions.

  • GL_TEXTURE_1D, GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_3D, GL_TEXTURE_1D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_2D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE, and GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP for glGetTextureImage function.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated by glGetTextureImage if texture is not the name of an existing texture object.

GL_INVALID_ENUM is generated if format, or type is not an accepted value.

GL_INVALID_VALUE is generated if level is less than 0.

GL_INVALID_VALUE may be generated if level is greater than log 2 ⁡ max , where max is the returned value of GL_MAX_TEXTURE_SIZE.

GL_INVALID_VALUE is generated if level is non-zero and the effective target is GL_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if type is one of GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE_3_3_2, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE_2_3_3_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_5_6_5, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_5_6_5_REV, or GL_UNSIGNED_INT_10F_11F_11F_REV and format is not GL_RGB.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if type is one of GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_4_4_4_4, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_4_4_4_4_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_5_5_5_1, GL_UNSIGNED_SHORT_1_5_5_5_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_8_8_8_8, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_8_8_8_8_REV, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_10_10_10_2, GL_UNSIGNED_INT_2_10_10_10_REV, or GL_UNSIGNED_INT_5_9_9_9_REV and format is neither GL_RGBA or GL_BGRA.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if format is GL_STENCIL_INDEX and the base internal format is not GL_STENCIL_INDEX or GL_DEPTH_STENCIL.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if a non-zero buffer object name is bound to the GL_PIXEL_PACK_BUFFER target and the buffer object's data store is currently mapped.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if a non-zero buffer object name is bound to the GL_PIXEL_PACK_BUFFER target and the data would be packed to the buffer object such that the memory writes required would exceed the data store size.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if a non-zero buffer object name is bound to the GL_PIXEL_PACK_BUFFER target and pixels is not evenly divisible into the number of bytes needed to store in memory a datum indicated by type.

GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated by glGetTextureImage and glGetnTexImage if the buffer size required to store the requested data is greater than bufSize.

Associated Gets

glGetTexLevelParameter with argument GL_TEXTURE_WIDTH

glGetTexLevelParameter with argument GL_TEXTURE_HEIGHT

glGetTexLevelParameter with argument GL_TEXTURE_INTERNAL_FORMAT

glGet with arguments GL_PACK_ALIGNMENT and others

glGet with argument GL_PIXEL_PACK_BUFFER_BINDING

Examples

Read the texture from GPU memory into a buffer.
glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, texture_id); // texture_id was given by glGenTextures

// texture_data must be large enough to hold the entire texture, in this case
// sizeof(float) * width * height * 3
glGetTexImage(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGB, GL_FLOAT, texture_data);

Version Support

OpenGL Version
Function / Feature Name 2.0 2.1 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5
glGetTexImage ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
glGetTextureImage - - - - - - - - - - - ✔
glGetnTexImage - - - - - - - - - - - ✔
Think you can improve this page? Edit this page on GitHub.