More 3D Graphics Performance; 3D Graphic Operations - HP Vectra XW Optimization Manual

Highest 3D Graphics
Performance

More 3D Graphics Performance

Your HP Vectra XW is supplied with an AccelProT/2500 3D graphics
adapter which provides optimized performance with 3D CAD/CAM and
animation applications. This graphics adapter takes advantage of the
power of your system's Pentium Pro processors to accelerate any
application that uses the OpenGL 3D graphics API under Windows NT
(OpenGL is Open Graphics Language, API is Application Program
Interface). This type of graphics system is called an "OpenGL Interface".
The integrated OpenGL Interface offers the highest 3D graphics
performance currently available for a Personal Workstation. This is
made possible by the way in which graphics operations are processed
and the memory architecture of the 3D graphics adapter.

3D Graphic Operations

Any graphic instruction is handled as a 3D instruction: 2D instructions
are treated as simplified 3D instructions. The way in which 3D graphic
operations are accelerated is to pipeline the component instructions
through the 3D pipeline, much as the Pentium Pro processor does
through its own internal pipelines (see "Using Pipelines to Accelerate
Instruction Execution" on page 19).
The 3D graphic pipeline works by breaking any graphic operation
(such as a rotating a 3D graphics object on screen) into three
categories:
Geometric operations, where the displayed object is broken into
•
geometric components. Calculations are then performed on these
components to create the constituent elements required to build the
new display object.
SETUP operations, where the resulting geometric component
•
objects are assembled to form a new software model of the image to
be displayed.
Rendering operations, where this software model is prepared for
•
output to your display.
1 Your Personal Workstation's Performance Features
More 3D Graphics Performance
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