How to rotate vertices exactly like with glRotatef() in OpenGL?

Question

I need to optimize my rendering code, currently I'm using glPushMatrix() with glTranslatef() and glRotatef(). But this costs more than rendering all objects in a single vertex array call.

Is there some fast built in function in OpenGL to rotate my vertices data exactly like glRotatef() would do? If not, what library or method would you recommend using? The only method I know is to use sin/cos functions to rotate the vertices, but I'm not sure if that is the fastest way to do it, or will it even result in the same outcome.

I only need to rotate along one axis once per object (2D rendering), so it doesn't need to be super complicated or support that glPushMatrix() system in its full potential.

Edit: I don't want to use shaders for this.

Edit2: I am only rendering individual quads (in 2D mode) which are rotated along the zero point, so each vertex would go from -10 to 10 values for example. My current code: (quad.vert[i].x*cosval)-(quad.vert[i].y*sinval) (twice, for y too).

Answer 1

I'm assuming you're using an old version of OpenGL, since you're using glRotate , and truly ancient/strange hardware since you don't want to use shaders.

You can put the glRotate*() calls in a display list, or compute the rotation matrices yourself. Chapter 3 of the OpenGL Red Book together with appendix F has the information you need to construct the matrices yourself. Look at chapter 7 for more information about display lists.