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Next: 18.3.4 Advanced Geometry-Limited Tuning Up: 18.3 Tuning the Geometry Previous: 18.3.2 Optimizing Transformations

18.3.3 Optimizing Lighting Performance

OpenGL offers a large selection of lighting features. The penalties some features carry may vary depending on the hardware you're running on. Be prepared to experiment with the lighting configuration.

As a general rule, use the simplest possible lighting model: a single infinite light with an infinite viewer. For some local effects, try replacing local lights with infinite lights and a local viewer. Keep in mind, however, that not all rules listed here increase performance for all architectures.

Use the following settings for peak performance lighting:

In addition, follow these guidelines to achieve peak lighting performance:


next up previous contents
Next: 18.3.4 Advanced Geometry-Limited Tuning Up: 18.3 Tuning the Geometry Previous: 18.3.2 Optimizing Transformations
David Blythe
1999-08-06