graphics - Animation in OpenGL using 3D Models

I have created a model in Blender. Now i want to read that 3D model in my c++ program. I figured that a model can be exported to various file formats e.g. .obj, .3ds or COLLADA and then can be read in a c++ program. I have been searching web for doing that for quite a while and found many tutorials. But i ran into issues with most of them. For example, IN the Nehe tutorial they are using glaux which I don't want to use in my program. And the remaining tutorials use md2 which is not supported by Blender.

So can anyone guide me which file format to use for exporting 3D model and how to load that in my OpenGL program? Also how can I animate that model? Is it possible to add extra effects like tone mapping after it has been loaded in the c++ program using OpenGL? if yes then how?

P.S. I am using Linux for game developement

Answer

I'd go for OBJ format. As you have already probably realised, there's hundreds of OBJ loaders for C++ out there. I believe one of the most mature ones is Assimp, it supports many different formats and it is pretty well documented. Here you have an example where they use it.