glClearColor

glClearColor is a function in the OpenGL graphics library. Its purpose is to set the red, green, blue, and alpha (RGBA) values used when clearing the color buffer. When the glClear function is called, the entire color buffer is filled with the color specified by glClearColor. The parameters to glClearColor are four floating-point values, each ranging from 0.0 to 1.0. The first parameter corresponds to the red component, the second to green, the third to blue, and the fourth to alpha. An alpha value of 1.0 indicates full opacity, while 0.0 indicates complete transparency.

For example, calling glClearColor(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f) would set the clear color to pure red. Subsequently calling glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT) would paint the entire screen red. Similarly, glClearColor(0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f, 1.0f) would set the clear color to a medium gray. The clear color remains set until it is changed by another call to glClearColor or until the OpenGL context is destroyed. This function is fundamental for initializing the framebuffer to a known state before drawing new content.