The reusability of vertex data, cloning if you will, is what I am after.
Given: Vertex Data with positions and normals of one 3d object ( say a cube).
How do I render in 1 frame:
3 cubes, in 3 different positions, in 3 different colors.
I am writing for the Mac iPad and objects will be rendered with ES2.
If instead of 3 you want to draw hundreds of copies of a mesh you may want to look into instancing, i.e. glDrawElementsInstanced and friends.
It probably makes more sense to ask about that on a ES forum though, as I don’t know what API ES supports in that area.