Equalizer enables applications to benefit from multiple graphics cards, processors and computers to scale the rendering performance, visual quality and display size.
An Equalizer-based application runs unmodified on any visualization system, from a simple workstation to large scale graphics clusters, multi-GPU workstations and Virtual Reality installations.
Benefits:
· Parallel Rendering Know-How: Equalizer contains the essence of 10+ years of experience in parallel and scalable rendering, easily integrated into your application.
· Fast Path for Scalable OpenGL Applications: Equalizer provides the natural parallel execution model to exploit the parallelism of multicore, multi-GPU workstations and graphics clusters.
· Feature-Rich Framework: Equalizer contains state-of-the-art scalable rendering algorithms, and its open development model ensures constant improvement. Equalizer applications are flexible and deployable in many, rapidly changing environments.
Equalizer is a cross-platform toolkit, available for Mac OS X, Linux, Windows XP and supports both 32-bit and 64-bit execution.
Equalizer does not interfere with the application's OpenGL rendering code. Equalizer requires at a minimum OpenGL version 1.1 in order to run, but uses later OpenGL features and extensions where available.
What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]
New Features:
· Automatic cross-segment load-balancing for multi-display installations
· Dynamic Frame Resolution (DFR) for constant framerate rendering
· Compression Plugin API for runtime-loadable image compression engines
· Canvas and Layout API for runtime-switchable layouts and resource configurations
· Simple configuration of physical projection system
· Logical view layouts on multi-segment projection surfaces
· Simple 2D operations on multi-segment projection surfaces
· Run-time (de-)activation of nodes, pipes, windows and channels
· Support for multiple observers in a single configuration
· Support for Head-Mounted Displays (HMD)
· Monitor Equalizer for the observation of other views
· Up- and down-scaling for source channel pixel viewports, including zoom support for compositing
· Support for hardware swapbuffer synchronization with nVidia G-Sync
· Support for Framebuffer Objects (FBO)
· Support for half_float and float PBuffers and FBOs
· Spacemouse support (AGL only)
· New helper class to handle dynamic libraries
· New helper class for memory-mapped files
Enhancements:
· Improved statistics overlay (added legend, FPS counter, image compression ratio, pipe idle ratio, framerate throttle statistic)
· New helper class eq::Object for easier data distribution of dynamic, versioned objects
· Texture-based frames for optimal compositing on a single GPU
· Upgraded to VMMlib 1.0
· Abstraction for window-system specific code through OSPipe interface
· AGL event handling follows same threading model as GLX and WGL
· Config file versioning
· Synchronize clock used for logging across all nodes
· Improved handling for event-driven applications
Optimizations:
· Lock-free network packet cache for low-latency, high-performance packet dispatch
· Network layer uses asynchronous IO semantics and has better performance on Windows
· Per-component and differential RLE image compressor
· Use GL_UNSIGNED_INT depth buffer instead of GL_FLOAT for better performance and compression
· DPlex framerate equalizer optimizations
· Faster serialization of std::vectors in distributed objects
· Named pipe connection for fast local communication on Windows
Bug Fixes:
· 2822348: No latency when event-driven
· 2803528: assertion with zero area pvps
· 2797391: Error state in parser not reset
· 2788964: Suspicious compiler warning
· 2782038: Mapping of multiple Objects of type DELTA creates assertions
· 2778587: eqServer crashes when running without an appNode
· 2688797: Configs with no appNode crash
· 2592240: DPlex LB breaks swapbarrier
· 2556921: AGL context updates broken
· 2545209: crashes on specific configs
· 2458583: Mouse buttons are numbered differently between AGL and GLX
· 2268547: fullscreen windows not always active on Win32
· 1997583: eqPly: ortho frustum culling broken
· 1816670: eVolve: binary swap configs don't work