OpenGL 2D HUD not showing

Question

So I have a 3D openGL application and I wanted to display a 2D HUD, I understand the basic concept of how to do this after a lot of googling but nothing I try makes it show up. My current code after going over many other examples is this:

    // HUD ///////////////////////////////////

    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glLoadIdentity();
    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glLoadIdentity();
    glOrtho(0, (GLdouble)WIDTH, (GLdouble)HEIGHT, 0, -1, 1);
    glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
    glDisable(GL_CULL_FACE);

    glColor3f(1, 1, 1);
    glPushMatrix();
    glBegin(GL_QUADS);
    glVertex3f(-5.0f, 5.0f, 0.0f);
    glVertex3f(-5.0f, -5.0f, 0.0f);
    glVertex3f(5.0f, -5.0f, 0.0f);
    glVertex3f(5.0f, 5.0f, 0.0f);
    glEnd();
    glPopMatrix();
    glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
    glDepthMask(GL_TRUE);

Right now nothing visually changes, I can get the whole screen to clear to a colour but even then I can't seem to draw a quad on it.

EDIT:

glDisable(GL_CULL_FACE);
    glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
    glDepthMask(GL_FALSE);

    glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
    glLoadIdentity();
    glOrtho(0, WIDTH, HEIGHT, 0, -1, 1);
    glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
    glLoadIdentity();

    glClear(GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);

    glColor3f(1, 1, 1);
    glPushMatrix();
    glBegin(GL_QUADS);
    glVertex3f(-10.0f, 10.0f, 0.0f);
    glVertex3f(-10.0f, -10.0f, 0.0f);
    glVertex3f(10.0f, -10.0f, 0.0f);
    glVertex3f(10.0f, 10.0f, 0.0f);
    glEnd();
    glPopMatrix();

    glEnable(GL_CULL_FACE);
    glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);
    glDepthMask(GL_TRUE);

EDIT 2: SKYBOX CODE

glDisable(GL_CULL_FACE);
    glDepthFunc(GL_LEQUAL);  // Change depth function so depth test passes when values are equal to depth buffer's content
    skyShader.Bind();
    view = glm::mat4(glm::mat3(camera.GetViewProjection()));    // Remove any translation component of the view matrix
    glUniformMatrix4fv(glGetUniformLocation(skyShader.getProg(), "view"), 1, GL_FALSE, glm::value_ptr(view));
    glUniformMatrix4fv(glGetUniformLocation(skyShader.getProg(), "projection"), 1, GL_FALSE, glm::value_ptr(projection));
    // SKYBOX CUBE ///////////////////////////////// 
    glBindVertexArray(skyboxVAO);
    glActiveTexture(GL_TEXTURE0);
    glUniform1i(glGetUniformLocation(skyShader.getProg(), "skybox"), 0);
    glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP, skyboxTexture);
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 36);
    glBindVertexArray(0);
    glDepthFunc(GL_LESS); // Set depth function back to default

Answer 1

I'm not sure what HEIGHT and WIDTH are set to so I just used 100 for both. When I ran the code you posted I can see your quad in the top-left corner of the screen.

What I would recommend is to simply your HUD code until you've got a grasp of what is happening.

For example:

glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glLoadIdentity();

glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glLoadIdentity();

glPushMatrix();
glBegin(GL_QUADS);
glVertex3f(-0.5f,  0.5f, 0f);
glVertex3f(-0.5f, -0.5f, 0f);
glVertex3f( 0.5f, -0.5f, 0f);
glVertex3f( 0.5f,  0.5f, 0f);
glEnd();
glPopMatrix();

Given the rest of your GL state is unchanged, that should draw a white quad that fills 50% of the screen, positioned in the center:

This is because the view defaults to a glOrtho call that looks like this:

glOrtho(-1f, 1f, -1f, 1f, -1f, 1f);

Now let's set WIDTH and HEIGHT to 10f. This is what your glOrtho call would be:

glOrtho(0f, 10f, 10f, 0f, -1f, 1f);

This is what gets rendered:

If your HEIGHT and WIDTH is bigger, say 800x600, that quad would be so small it wouldn't even appear.

---

EDIT: Using glPushMatrix and glPopMatrix to isolate modifications to the model-view and projection matrices

After reading your edits and comments let me add some sample code that I believe illustrates what you want. It doesn't deal with the depth buffer, which may be what is causing you issues, but I wanted to keep it simple and build on what I had before:

int width = 500;   // window width
int height = 500;  // window height

// define our GL viewport
glViewport(0, 0, width, height);

// setup 3d projection
glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glPushMatrix();
glLoadIdentity();
glPerspective(60f, width/height, 1f, 50f);

// setup 3d modelview
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glPushMatrix();
glLoadIdentity();

// move the camera to put the tetrahedron behind the UI element
glRotatef(135f, 0f, 0f, 1f);
glTranslatef(0f, 5f, -30f);

// draw 3d object (tetrahedron)
glBegin(GL_TRIANGLES);
// triangle 1
glColor3f(1f, 0f, 0f);          // red
glVertex3f(0f, 10f, 0f);        // a
glColor3f(1f, 1f, 0f);          // yellow
glVertex3f(0f, -10f, -10f);     // b
glColor3f(0f, 1f, 0f);          // green
glVertex3f(-10f, -10f, 10f);    // c
// triangle 2
glColor3f(1f, 0f, 0f);          // red
glVertex3f(0f, 10f, 0f);        // a
glColor3f(1f, 0f, 1f);          // purple
glVertex3f(10f, -10f, 10f);     // d
glColor3f(1f, 1f, 0f);          // yellow
glVertex3f(0f, -10f, -10f);     // b
// triangle 3
glColor3f(1f, 0f, 0f);          // red
glVertex3f(0f, 10f, 0f);        // a
glColor3f(0f, 1f, 0f);          // green
glVertex3f(-10f, -10f, 10f);    // c
glColor3f(1f, 0f, 1f);          // purple
glVertex3f(10f, -10f, 10f);     // d
// triangle 4
glColor3f(1f, 1f, 0f);          // yellow
glVertex3f(0f, -10f, -10f);     // b
glColor3f(1f, 0f, 1f);          // purple
glVertex3f(10f, -10f, 10f);     // d
glColor3f(0f, 1f, 0f);          // green
glVertex3f(-10f, -10f, 10f);    // c
glEnd();

// revert to original modelview matrix
glPopMatrix();
// revert to original projection matrix
glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glPopMatrix();

// setup 2d projection
glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glPushMatrix();
glLoadIdentity();
glOrtho(0f, 1f, 1f, 0f, -1f, 1f);

// setup 2d modelview
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glPushMatrix();
glLoadIdentity();

// draw the 2d interface
glBegin(GL_QUADS);
glColor3f(0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f);    // grey
glVertex3f(0.05f, 0.05f, 0f);   // top-left
glVertex3f(0.95f, 0.05f, 0f);   // top-right
glVertex3f(0.95f, 0.2f, 0f);    // bottom-right
glVertex3f(0.05f, 0.2f, 0f);    // bottom-left
glEnd();

// revert to original modelview matrix
glPopMatrix();
// revert to original projection matrix
glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glPopMatrix();

This renders the following:

You'll notice when we setup the ModelView matrix for the 2d interface we're using this to define the view frustum:

glOrtho(0f, 1f, 1f, 0f, -1f, 1f);

This defines our view space as top-left being 0,0 and bottom right being 1,1. This allows us to place things on the screen without regard for the viewport size. When we draw our 2d interface we just have to supply values within a 0.0 to 1.0 range and it will fit it to the viewport.

Important: You should always remember that the model-view and projection matrices are stacks. Before you make any modifications to them remember to push a new layer on the stack and then pop it back off when you're done. By doing this you can isolate your changes.