Cull streams for fine-grained rendering predication

• Main Authors: Diard Franck R, Everitt Cass W
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 08.11.2016
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL; PHYSICS

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique to perform fine-grained rendering predication using an IGPU and a DGPU. A graphics driver divides a 3D object into batches of triangles. The IGPU processes each batch of triangles through a modified rendering pipeline to determine if the batch is culled. The IGPU writes bits into a bitstream corresponding to the visibility of the batches. The DGPU reads bits from the bitstream and performs full-blown rendering, including shading, but only on the batches of triangles whose bit indicates that the batch is visible. Advantageously, this approach to rendering predication provides fine-grained culling without adding unnecessary overhead, thereby optimizing both hardware resources and performance.