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The core OpenGL API focuses on rendering functionality but there
are a number of tasks common to many 3D programs that are not
strictly related to rendering. For this reason, the OpenGL
standard also provides the OpenGL Utility Library (GLU). The GLU
routines (all prefixed with glu) fall into one of the following areas:
- Manipulating images for use in texturing.
- Transforming Coordinates.
- Polygon tessellation.
- Rendering spheres, cylinders, and disks.
- Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) curves and surfaces.
- Describing errors.
The GLU is a separate but standard library that any OpenGL application
can use.