in a wavefront object file (.obj) how am i supposed to render faces with more than 4 vertices in opengl?

Question

So using a Wavefront object file how am i supposed to render faces that have more than 4 vertices in OpenGL?

I understand that if it has 3 vertices I use GL_TR

Answer 1

OBJ exporters will export the vertices in a sane order for each face (anti-/clockwise), and long as your faces are coplanar and convex (which they bloody should be!) - you can use GL_TRIANGLE_FAN.

I disagree with Nicol Bolas' point that faces should always have 3 vertices, although fool proof, if your polygons follow the above rules, using GL_TRIANGLE_FAN simplifies your code and reduces system memory consumption. Nothing will change GPU side as the polygons will be decomposed to triangles anyway.