C++ SFML Introduction

In this page:

Creating an SFML Window
The Event Loop
SFML Coordinates
Controlling Frame Rate
Texturing and Sprites Intro

Creating an SFML Window

SFML (Simple and Fast Multimedia Library) provides windowing, graphics, audio, and input handling behind a clean C++ API. Creating a window is as simple as constructing an sf::RenderWindow with a size and title; on Ubuntu you'd link it after installing libsfml-dev, and on Windows you'd link against the prebuilt static libraries.

Example: Creating an SFML Window

cpp

#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>

int main() {
	sf::RenderWindow window(sf::VideoMode(800, 600), "My SFML Window");
	while (window.isOpen()) {
		window.clear();
		window.display();
		break; // demo: exit after one frame
	}
	return 0;
}

The Event Loop

An event loop repeatedly calls pollEvent() to drain the queue of things that happened since the last check -- the window being closed, a key pressed, the mouse moved -- so your program can react to each one. Without this loop, a window would open but never respond to being closed or clicked.

Example: The Event Loop

cpp

#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>

int main() {
	sf::RenderWindow window(sf::VideoMode(800, 600), "Events");
	sf::Event event;
	while (window.isOpen()) {
		while (window.pollEvent(event)) {
			if (event.type == sf::Event::Closed)
				window.close();
		}
	}
	return 0;
}

SFML Coordinates

Like most 2D graphics libraries, SFML places the coordinate origin (0, 0) at the window's top-left corner. The window's overall pixel dimensions are set through the VideoMode object passed to the RenderWindow constructor, which also defines the outer bounds of that coordinate space.

Example: SFML Coordinates

cpp

#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>

int main() {
	sf::VideoMode mode(800, 600); // origin (0,0) is top-left
	sf::RenderWindow window(mode, "Coordinates");
	return 0;
}

Controlling Frame Rate

Without any limiting, a render loop will run as fast as the CPU allows, needlessly burning power. setFramerateLimit() caps how many frames SFML renders per second, while sf::Clock lets you measure the actual elapsed time between frames yourself for finer control, such as computing delta time.

Example: Controlling Frame Rate

cpp

#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>

int main() {
	sf::RenderWindow window(sf::VideoMode(800, 600), "FPS");
	window.setFramerateLimit(60);

	sf::Clock clock;
	sf::Time elapsed = clock.restart();
	return 0;
}

Texturing and Sprites Intro

A sprite is how SFML displays an image on screen -- you first load image data from disk into an sf::Texture, then attach that texture to an sf::Sprite object, which can be positioned, rotated, and scaled independently of the underlying image data it references.

Example: Texturing and Sprites Intro

cpp

#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>

int main() {
	sf::Texture texture;
	texture.loadFromFile("player.png");
	sf::Sprite sprite;
	sprite.setTexture(texture);
	sprite.setPosition(100, 100);
	return 0;
}

🔒

Chapter Quiz — Complete all 7 topics to unlock

0/7 topics done

Complete these topics first:

← Previous Lesson C++ Graphics Introduction Next Lesson → C++ Drawing Shapes (SFML)