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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Equalizer is using the following
terms:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>1. Node:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This is a single computer</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2. Pipe:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A pipe usually corresponds to one GPU. But you are
also allowed to create multiple pipes per node, even though you might have just
one GPU in that machine. For each pipe, a thread is created. This means, all
pipes on one node can render in parallel. If you want/need, you can change this
threading model, though. Having multiple pipes on just one GPU is possible, but
(usually) pointless.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>3. Window:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Each pipe can have one ore more windows.
Each window can have its own pixelformat (and therefore has it own
rendering context). The pipe's thread will sequentially visit all windows of the
pipe. A window can also be a PBuffer (you can change this with the window's
attributes). The only difference between a "classic" window and a pbuffer is,
that the window is visible, while the pbuffer is invisible (i.e. offscreen).
Also, a pbuffer can have a non-displayable color format (like Float16, but I
don't know if Equalizer supports this yet). The size and position of the window
is controlled via its 'viewport' setting. For pbuffers, the position will be
ignored.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>4. Channel:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A channel is a (sub-)region of a window where the
actual rendering will happen. The position and size of the channels is
controlled via its 'viewport' setting, in relation to the window/pbuffer. You
can have multiple channels per window, if needed. The pipe-thread will visit
each channel of each window sequentially.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>>> 1. whether these two channel-drawing
action are implemented in two seperate threads ? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Channel drawing _only_ happens in separate threads,
if the channels belong to separate pipes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>>>2. Could you show me how these two channels share the same piece of
P-buffer ? </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't know want you want to achieve? Why should
two channels render into the same region of the pbuffer?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I hope, I could help a bit,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mathias</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=wangfeiz@notes.udayton.edu
href="mailto:wangfeiz@notes.udayton.edu">wangfeiz@notes.udayton.edu</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=mheyer@3dinteractive.de
href="mailto:mheyer@3dinteractive.de">mheyer@3dinteractive.de</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=eq-dev@equalizergraphics.com
href="mailto:eq-dev@equalizergraphics.com">Equalizer Developer List</A> ; <A
title=eilemann@gmail.com
href="mailto:eilemann@gmail.com">eilemann@gmail.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 18, 2008 7:37
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [eq-dev] How to decouple
pipes</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT
face="Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" size=2><FONT
face="Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" size=2>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">Dear Mathias: </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">Thanks for your suggestion for the one GPU , but with
two viewport / channel configuration. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px"> I am reading the source code of Equalizer,
unfortunately I just understand those code partially. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">I found that one window is associated /assigned a piece
of p-buffer. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">So I assume that the two channels share the same piece
of p-buffer. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">Then I assume that each channel draws a portion of this
p-buffer respectively. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">My questions are : </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">1. whether these two channel-drawing action are
implemented in two seperate threads ? </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">2. Could you show me how these two channels share the
same piece of P-buffer ? Could you show me which .cpp file talk about
this mechanism? </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px">3. I am always confused with window/context/channel,
Could you suggest any book for me about these topic ? </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0px"> </P></FONT></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"
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