OpenGL Vertex Buffer Objects

I recently updated my 3d object rendering code to VBO, introduced in OpenGL 1.5. Using them is very simple, and only need 4 additional API calls. Basically, the vertex data, normals and indexes are sent to the graphics card, stored in there, and accessed through an ID. At draw time, only one or two call with IDs are sufficient and performance is very much improved over using previous Vertex Arrays API, because no data is transfered. My frame rate was multiplied by 2 at least and I can now display up to 150 000 000 tris/s on my GeForce 8800 GTS, hardly the fastest card these days.

I also found GLEW library during this work, very nice and useful to develop OpenGL applications, because of poor header support in MS SDK. It allows using API calls without bothering if they are in headers or not, thanks to clever dynamic loading features at runtime and extensive coverage of OpenGL extensions.

Update: After some tests, the number of tris/s is about 230 000 000 on my 8800 GTS.

Chmutov surface 3d printed

I received today a new object I have computed, it is a Chmutov 8 order surface (see this for a description). I used Shapeways service and the object is 5cm square. The material is called "white glaze" and was actually quite cheap thanks to a promotion. The result is very nice, with a glossy finish and handling the object is a pleasure.

Here is a picture.