The Mesa 3D Graphics Library

Performance Tips

Performance tips for software rendering:

 Turn off smooth shading when you don't need it (glShadeModel)

 Turn off depth buffering when you don't need it.

 Turn off dithering when not needed.

 Use double buffering as it's often faster than single buffering

 Compile in the X Shared Memory extension option if it's supported

      on your system by adding -DSHM to CFLAGS and -lXext to XLIBS for

      your system in the Make-config file.

 Recompile Mesa with more optimization if possible.

 Try to maximize the amount of drawing done between glBegin/glEnd pairs.

 Use the MESA_BACK_BUFFER variable to find best performance in double

      buffered mode.  (X users only)

 Optimized polygon rasterizers are employed when:

         rendering into back buffer which is an XImage

         RGB mode, not grayscale, not monochrome

         depth buffering is GL_LESS, or disabled

         flat or smooth shading

         dithered or non-dithered

         no other rasterization operations enabled (blending, stencil, etc)

 Optimized line drawing is employed when:

         rendering into back buffer which is an XImage

         RGB mode, not grayscale, not monochrome

         depth buffering is GL_LESS or disabled

         flat shading

         dithered or non-dithered

         no other rasterization operations enabled (blending, stencil, etc)

 Textured polygons are fastest when:

         using a 3-component (RGB), 2-D texture

         minification and magnification filters are GL_NEAREST

         texture coordinate wrap modes for S and T are GL_REPEAT

         GL_DECAL environment mode

         glHint( GL_PERSPECTIVE_CORRECTION_HINT, GL_FASTEST )

         depth buffering is GL_LESS or disabled

 Lighting is fastest when:

         Two-sided lighting is disabled

         GL_LIGHT_MODEL_LOCAL_VIEWER is false

         GL_COLOR_MATERIAL is disabled

         No spot lights are used (all GL_SPOT_CUTOFFs are 180.0)

         No local lights are used (all position W's are 0.0)

         All material and light coefficients are >= zero

 XFree86 users:  if you want to use 24-bit color try starting your

      X server in 32-bit per pixel mode for better performance.  That is,

      start your X server with

         startx -- -bpp 32

      instead of

         startx -- -bpp 24

 Try disabling dithering with the MESA_NO_DITHER environment variable.

      If this env var is defined Mesa will disable dithering and the

      command glEnable(GL_DITHER) will be ignored.