gluLookAt, glTranslates and glRotates

hi everyone…

when glanced over almost of the terrain programs, i found that the developers prefer to use glRotates and glTranslates instead of gluLookAt to determine the ‘camera’ position.

i wonder why those two functions used, because in as far as i concerned, both funcs (gltranslates and glrotates) are for objects.

can anyone explain…?
thanks for anybody who are helping me…

rgdrs,
Ms Zack

You can use rotations and translations for a camera as well as for any object. There are no restrictions.

What gluLookAt does is compute the right rotations and translations for you. However if you can calculate them yourself you save some functions calls, although I’m inclined to say that the bennefit should be marginal.

thanks Antonio…
really appreciate it.