Blender 2.80: Draw API

OpenGL Core Profile

Blender now uses the OpenGL core profile, which has all the new functionality required by EEVEE and the new viewport. However, this new OpenGL version also removes often-used features like immediate mode and the fixed function pipeline, make it much harder to use for simple drawing.

We advise addons to use the gpu module instead of directly using OpenGL through the bgl module. gpu provides a higher level API that will be more future proof for upgrades or adoption of new APIs like Vulkan.

For those addons that need more low level access or features not covered by the gpu module, there are many books and online resources that cover how to migrate to the OpenGL core profile.

GPU module

The important new concepts for drawing are Batch and Shader objects. Batches describe the geometry to draw, and can be efficiently reused and cached. Shaders describe how the geometry is drawn, and can be either builtin utility shaders or custom GLSL code. These replace immediate mode and fixed function shading functionality that is no longer in OpenGL core.

For details and examples, see the GPU module API documentation.