Multi-GPU White Paper

I’ve just uploaded a white paper showing how much difference a parallel OpenGL application can make on a multi-GPU, multi-core workstation.

We have been able to increase the rendering performance from 5.2 frames per second to 20.7 FPS for the medium-sized data set, and from 2.1 FPS to 9.7 FPS for the large data set.

Get the PDF here.

Happy Birthday, Equalizer!

Three years ago today, I started at the University of Zürich with the goal to develop an open parallel rendering toolkit for the 21st century, using Equalizer as the project name.

In the last year, Equalizer made big steps in facilitating application porting, driven by the successful integration into a major commercial application. We broadened support to all major platforms, including a fully-featured port to Windows XP. Numerous other features, most notably support for volume rendering and substantial performance improvements, have established Equalizer as the parallel rendering framework for OpenGL.

What did happen in the first three years? The first six months I spent on research and gathering requirements, and then I needed over a year to lay the foundations. This year, culminating in the 0.1 release, was the hardest part. Since then it was lots of fun, with version 0.2 adding scalable rendering features, 0.3 supporting Windows XP and 0.4 adding volume rendering support and a programming guide. Version 0.5, which is just around the corner, will bring a whole bunch of new features, including pixel decomposition and increased performance.

Eyescale, the company behind Equalizer, also completed its first year of operations, exceeding our expectations by far, and the University of Zürich has put more resource behind the research around Equalizer. So I think it’s a safe bet to say that we have a very interesting year in front of us!