glCreateTextures

glCreateTextures is an OpenGL function that creates texture object names for a specified texture target without binding them to a texture unit. It is part of the ARB_direct_state_access extension and is built into the OpenGL 4.5 core specification, enabling more direct and efficient texture management.

The function signature is void glCreateTextures(GLenum texture, GLsizei n, GLuint *textures). The texture parameter indicates the texture target type (for example GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_3D, GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP, GL_TEXTURE_2D_ARRAY, GL_TEXTURE_2D_MULTISAMPLE, etc.). The n parameter specifies how many texture objects to create, and textures is a pointer to an array that receives the generated object names. The created textures are initially uninitialized, so storage and parameters must be allocated and configured afterwards using direct-state-access functions (for example glTextureStorage2D, glTextureStorage3D, glTextureParameteri, etc.) without binding the textures.

Because glCreateTextures is designed for direct state access, it allows you to create and operate on texture objects by name, without the traditional bind-to-edit workflow. This reduces binding overhead and simplifies code that manipulates multiple textures. After creation, a texture object can be allocated storage and configured using the appropriate glTexture* commands, and later attached or bound as needed.

glCreateTextures contrasts with the legacy glGenTextures, which only generates names and relies on binding to specify or modify texture state. The glCreateTextures approach is available on platforms supporting OpenGL 4.5 or later (and ARB_direct_state_access); it is not available in OpenGL ES or WebGL.