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11 <h1>The Mesa
3D Graphics Library
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17 <h1>Performance Tips
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20 Performance tips for software rendering:
24 <li> Turn off smooth shading when you don't need it (glShadeModel)
25 <li> Turn off depth buffering when you don't need it.
26 <li> Turn off dithering when not needed.
27 <li> Use double buffering as it's often faster than single buffering
28 <li> Compile in the X Shared Memory extension option if it's supported
29 on your system by adding -DSHM to CFLAGS and -lXext to XLIBS for
30 your system in the Make-config file.
31 <li> Recompile Mesa with more optimization if possible.
32 <li> Try to maximize the amount of drawing done between glBegin/glEnd pairs.
33 <li> Use the MESA_BACK_BUFFER variable to find best performance in double
34 buffered mode. (X users only)
35 <li> Optimized polygon rasterizers are employed when:
36 rendering into back buffer which is an XImage
37 RGB mode, not grayscale, not monochrome
38 depth buffering is GL_LESS, or disabled
39 flat or smooth shading
40 dithered or non-dithered
41 no other rasterization operations enabled (blending, stencil, etc)
42 <li> Optimized line drawing is employed when:
43 rendering into back buffer which is an XImage
44 RGB mode, not grayscale, not monochrome
45 depth buffering is GL_LESS or disabled
47 dithered or non-dithered
48 no other rasterization operations enabled (blending, stencil, etc)
49 <li> Textured polygons are fastest when:
50 using a
3-component (RGB),
2-D texture
51 minification and magnification filters are GL_NEAREST
52 texture coordinate wrap modes for S and T are GL_REPEAT
53 GL_DECAL environment mode
54 glHint( GL_PERSPECTIVE_CORRECTION_HINT, GL_FASTEST )
55 depth buffering is GL_LESS or disabled
56 <li> Lighting is fastest when:
57 Two-sided lighting is disabled
58 GL_LIGHT_MODEL_LOCAL_VIEWER is false
59 GL_COLOR_MATERIAL is disabled
60 No spot lights are used (all GL_SPOT_CUTOFFs are
180.0)
61 No local lights are used (all position W's are
0.0)
62 All material and light coefficients are
>= zero
63 <li> XFree86 users: if you want to use
24-bit color try starting your
64 X server in
32-bit per pixel mode for better performance. That is,
65 start your X server with
69 <li> Try disabling dithering with the MESA_NO_DITHER environment variable.
70 If this env var is defined Mesa will disable dithering and the
71 command glEnable(GL_DITHER) will be ignored.