SDL_CreateTexture(3)

💖 SDL_CreateTexture(3) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the SDL3 FUNCTIONS section of the manual, and today's main character is SDL_CreateTexture — the one that ✨creates a texture for a rendering context✨. yes she does that. let's get into it 🎀

---

✨ NAME ✨

SDL_CreateTexture — Create a texture for a rendering context. that's it, that's the job, and she's iconic for it 👑

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <SDL3/SDL_render.h>

SDL_Texture * SDL_CreateTexture(SDL_Renderer *renderer, SDL_PixelFormat format, SDL_TextureAccess access, int w, int h);

look at that signature. five params. she's thorough, she's committed, she knows what she wants 💅

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea: the contents of a texture when first created are not defined. meaning whatever's in there when you make it? nobody knows. it's giving mystery. it's giving uninitialized. don't peek at it and assume, bestie, fr fr 🙈

---

🎀 FUNCTION PARAMETERS 🎀

• renderer — the rendering context. your whole vibe headquarters, the thing doing the drawing 🌈
• format — one of the enumerated values in SDL_PixelFormat. pick your pixel flavor, it's a whole menu ✨
• access — one of the enumerated values in SDL_TextureAccess. how the texture gets accessed, choose wisely 🧚
• w — the width of the texture in pixels 📏
• h — the height of the texture in pixels 📐

---

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

Returns the created texture, or NULL on failure 😭. if you get a NULL back, do not spiral — just call SDL_GetError() for more information and she'll tell you exactly what went wrong 🫶

---

🔥 THREAD SAFETY 🔥

This function should only be called on the main thread. main thread only, no cap. don't be out here spawning threads and calling her from all of them, that's not the vibe 💀

---

💜 AVAILABILITY 💜

This function is available since SDL 3.2.0. so if you're on something older, sorry babe, she's not there yet 😔

---

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(3)
• SDL_CreateTextureWithProperties(3)
• SDL_DestroyTexture(3)
• SDL_GetTextureSize(3)
• SDL_UpdateTexture(3)

the whole friend group honestly, go read them all, they're all slaying 💖

---

and that's the page, bestie!! brought to you by the Simple Directmedia Layer girlies, straight out of the SDL 3.4.18 release, filed under SDL_CreateTexture(3) because obviously. mwah, go make some textures, ily 🎀💅✨