what kind of rendering? huge vertices & need edit

hello,

I have an application which deals with up to “5 millian vertices” models. I used Immediate Mode to render the model but the rendering is slow whenever I change the viewpoint (i.e. rotate, translate & scale the object).

I can not use Display List because I need to edit (ex: select/cut part of the model, i.e. changing the number of vertices) the model within the application. Then I have the choice of Vertex Array or VBO (Vertex Buffer Object, preferrable than Vertex Array), in which I may change the contents of index for the array (even though I am not 100% sure that will work, but as my understanding it should? ).

However both Vertex Array & VBO have the limit of “GL_MAX_ELEMENTS_VERTICES / INDICES”

( refer to http://www.opengl.org/discussion_boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=125297 )

that for my video card, GL_MAX_ELEMENTS_VERTICES = GL_MAX_ELEMENTS_INDICES = 1048576, so for a 5 millian vertices model the performance will suffer …

Does anyone have experiences writing application to deal with such a large amount of vertices and meanwhile need to change the contents of the model ?? What kind of rendering technique should I use ??

thanks a lot,

alex

However both Vertex Array & VBO have the limit of “GL_MAX_ELEMENTS_VERTICES / INDICES”

No, they do not. That limit is for using glDrawRangeElements. This function is for faster drawing, but with restrictions (like staying within those limits). glDrawElements has no limits.

I’m stupefied.

Even if it were a hard limit, you see there’s max vertex and think there’s a problem? You can issue more than one call.

Performance gains hit seriously diminishing returns once you start issuing a lot of vertices.

I am rendering about 20+ million points/vertices in real-time. I don’t have any problems with limits as such. As long as the memory is enough, it should be fine.

I have not done any real-time editing of the vertices though. Its a static model.

@Dorbie: What’s “max vertex”?

@Fugitive: by “rendering about 20+ million points/vertices in real-time” you meant rendering the model in “Immediate Mode” or “Display List”? Did you not have any delay whenever you change view point (rotate, translate & scaling)? Do you render only points, or triangles with colors?

I think Dorbie’s “max vertex” was referring to my “GL_MAX_ELEMENTS_VERTICES / INDICES”

Alex, I have tried all three. Using immediate mode is insansely slow, obviously.

Display lists stop working on some cards (I tried both ATI and NVidia) beyond a certain number of vertices (about 10+ million I think). My assumption is thats because Display Lists take more memory than raw vertices and the GPU was running out of memory. There was definately lag in rotation/translation, but it was still useable at 10 million or so vertices. It was interactive.

Using VBOs currently, I get completely smooth movement. One thing to note is that I was drawing points rather than triangles. Triangles/polygons are dog slow beyond a few million polygons, even on VBOs.

As for “GL_MAX_ELEMENTS_VERTICES / INDICES”, as Alfonse pointed out, thats for glDrawRangeElements only.