22 Jan
2003
22 Jan
'03
11:06 a.m.
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 07:06 AM, Steve Harris wrote:
Something I've been thinking of recently is
palming off the rendering
to
OpenGL, modern cards have large texture memories so they can hold most
of
the graphics on the card, and not need to bother the main RAM.
Interesting that you would mention Macintosh and this in the same day,
as this is how Quartz Extreme on OS 10.2 works. All of the UI code is
fobbed off onto your video card, if it has enough memory. (If not, it
uses standard Quartz). Since I have a Mac (the dual 1Ghz model) with a
good enough card and OS 10.2, I can attest that the results are
actually quite nice. Using OpenGL for your UI also gives you some nifty
options you don't get under standard 2D drawing.
I seem to recall a Linux-related project to make a window manager that
was OpenGL running on a video card. I can't recall the name of it
offhand, though.
And I agree, we need graphic designers. I may try my hand at it, if I
find some free time. (At this point, that's a big if. :)
Regards,
Darren Landrum