SDL_SetRenderTarget(3)

✨ SDL_SetRenderTarget ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to the SDL3 FUNCTIONS corner of the manual 💅 this one's called SDL_SetRenderTarget and it's literally about telling your renderer where to draw. main character energy for real.

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🎀 NAME 🎀

SDL_SetRenderTarget — set a texture as the current rendering target.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <SDL3/SDL_render.h>

bool SDL_SetRenderTarget(SDL_Renderer *renderer, SDL_Texture *texture);

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so by default, the render target is the window that the renderer was created for. that's just where it goes. no thoughts, head empty, window it is.

but if you wanna stop rendering to a texture and go back to rendering to the window? call this function with a NULL texture. that's the whole vibe reset. ✨

and here's the tea, bestie: viewport, cliprect, scale, and logical presentation are unique to each render target. like, each one has its own little personality. the get and set functions for these states apply to whatever current render target you set with this function, and those states persist on each target when the current render target changes. so your settings don't get lost when you switch — they're just chilling there waiting for you to come back. obsessed. 🫶

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💖 FUNCTION PARAMETERS 💖

• renderer — the rendering context. the whole setup, the moment, the stage. 🎬
• texture — the targeted texture, and it must be created with the SDL_TEXTUREACCESS_TARGET flag. or, alternatively, NULL if you wanna render to the window instead of a texture. that's the "never mind, back to the window" option. 🙈

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⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

returns true on success or false on failure. and if it fails? call SDL_GetError() for more information. she will tell you what went wrong, fr fr. 😭

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🔥 THREAD SAFETY 🔥

this function should only be called on the main thread. no side quests, no other threads, just the main one. periodt. 👑

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🌈 AVAILABILITY 🌈

this function is available since SDL 3.2.0. so if you're on something older... it's giving nothing, sorry bestie. 💀

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• SDL_GetRenderTarget(3) — the other half of the duo, go read it 🧚

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Simple Directmedia Layer made this, it's SDL 3.4.18 energy, and that's the whole page. mwah. 💋 stay slay, keep your render targets straight, and don't forget the SDL_TEXTUREACCESS_TARGET flag or she WILL return false on you. 🍓💜