Quadtree Art, Part 1: Setting Up the Canvas

In this first part we lay the groundwork for the quadtree art project.

We focus on setting up a basic SDL environment, a framebuffer and loading an image using stb_image.h. There is no subdivision logic yet. We are simply preparing to draw.

What You’ll Learn

• How to set up a window, renderer, and texture using SDL3
• How to load an image using stb_image.h
• How to allocate and update a manual framebuffer
• The foundation for building an interactive image renderer in C23

Why It Matters

Every graphics project needs a solid foundation.

This part ensures we can:

• Read an image from disk
• Display a dynamic texture
• Prepare for manual pixel drawing using a framebuffer

Project Code

You will find the complete source code here: quadtree-art

If everything is set up correctly you should see the input image drawn using the framebuffer.

External Resources

• SDL3
• SDL tutorials

Acknowledgements

• Quads by Michael Fogleman - original idea

Next Up

In part 2 we will build the actual quadtree by subdividing the image region by region.