Name

    EXT_framebuffer_multisample_blit_scaled

Name Strings

    GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample_blit_scaled

Contact

    Gareth Hughes, NVIDIA Corporation (gareth 'at' nvidia.com)

Contributors

    Jeff Bolz, NVIDIA
    Pat Brown, NVIDIA
    Alex Eddy, Apple
    Gareth Hughes, NVIDIA
    Eric Werness, NVIDIA

Status

    Complete.

Version

    Last Modified Date:         07/05/11
    Revision:                   8

Number

    409

Dependencies

    ARB_framebuffer_object is required.

    Written based on the wording of the OpenGL 2.1 specification.


Overview

    This extension relaxes some of the restrictions associated with
    multisample resolve operations, specifically to allow a combined
    resolve and scale operation through a single call to BlitFramebuffer.
    It also adds two new filter types to control the quality of the
    combined scaled resolve operation.

    In traditional multisampled framebuffer rendering, color samples
    must be explicitly resolved via BlitFramebuffer before any other
    operation on the resulting pixel values can be performed.  This
    multisample resolve operation must be done using a BlitFramebuffer
    call where the dimensions of the source and destination rectangles
    are identical.  If the resulting pixel values need to be copied to a
    texture with different dimensions, these resolved values can then be
    scaled with a second call to BlitFramebuffer.

    By requiring two separate calls to BlitFramebuffer, the quality
    of final image can be maintained to a certain degree.  The samples
    are first resolved, and then these resolved values can be filtered
    to produce the final image.  This image quality comes at the price
    of increased memory usage and lower performance.  However, the
    scaling blit can still introduce artifacts, particularly if it is
    done with a simple bilinear filter.

    The new filter types introduced by this extension allow the scaled
    resolve to be done with a single call to BlitFramebuffer.  Not all
    samples from the read framebuffer are required to be be used when
    producing the final pixel values, and there may be a loss in quality
    when compared to an image produced by a separate resolve and scale.
    However, the single-pass scaled resolve blit should be faster than
    the traditional two-pass resolve then scale blits.


New Procedures and Functions

    None.


New Types

    None.


New Tokens

    Accepted by the <filter> parameter of BlitFramebuffer:

      SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT                        0x90BA
      SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT                         0x90BB


Additions to Chapter 4 of the OpenGL 2.1 Specification (Per-Fragment
Operations and the Frame Buffer)

    In section 4.3.3 "Copying Pixels", modify the fifth paragraph
    describing BlitFramebuffer as follows:

    "If the source and destination rectangle dimensions do not match,
    the source image is stretched to fit the rectangle.  <filter> must
    be LINEAR, NEAREST, SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT or
    SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT and specifies the method of interpolation
    to be applied if the image is stretched.  LINEAR,
    SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT or SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT filtering is
    allowed only for the color buffer; if ..."

    Modify the following text in section 4.3.3 "Copying Pixels" that was
    added by ARB_framebuffer_object:

    "If SAMPLE_BUFFERS for the read framebuffer is greater than zero,
    SAMPLE_BUFFERS for the draw framebuffer is zero and the dimensions
    of the source and destination rectangles provided to
    BlitFramebuffer are identical, the samples corresponding to each
    pixel location in the source are converted to a single sample before
    being written to the destination."

    Modify the last paragraph in section 4.3.3 "Copying Pixels" that was
    added by ARB_framebuffer_object:

    "If SAMPLE_BUFFERS for either the read framebuffer or draw
    framebuffer is greater than zero, no copy is performed and an
    INVALID_OPERATION error is generated if the dimensions of the source
    and destination rectangles provided to BlitFramebuffer are not
    identical and the filter is NEAREST or LINEAR, or if the formats of
    the read and draw framebuffers are not identical."

    Append to section 4.3.3, after the text that was added by
    ARB_framebuffer_object:

    "If SAMPLE_BUFFERS for the read framebuffer is greater than zero,
    SAMPLE_BUFFERS for the draw framebuffer is zero, the dimensions of
    the source and destination rectangles provided to BlitFramebuffer
    are not identical, and the filter is SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT or
    SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT, then the source samples are resolved and
    scaled in an implementation specific manner.  When the filter is
    SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT, no fewer than four samples from the read
    framebuffer will be used to construct each destination pixel.  When
    the filter is SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT, the number of samples used
    to construct each destination pixel will be at least as many as is
    used when the filter is SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT.

    Futhermore, if the filter provided to BlitFramebuffer is
    SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT or SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT, and if
    SAMPLE_BUFFERS for the read framebuffer is zero or SAMPLE_BUFFERS
    for the draw framebuffer is greater than zero then no copy is
    performed and an INVALID_OPERATION error is generated."

    If OpenGL 3.1 is supported, modify the following text in section
    4.3.2 "Copying Pixels":

    "Calling BlitFramebuffer will result in an INVALID_OPERATION error if
    filter is not NEAREST and read buffer contains integer data."


Dependencies on ARB_framebuffer_object

    ARB_framebuffer_object is required.


Errors

    If either the draw or read framebuffer is framebuffer complete and
    has a value of SAMPLE_BUFFERS that is greater than zero, then the
    error INVALID_OPERATION is generated if BlitFramebuffer is called
    and the specified source and destination dimensions are not
    identical and the filter is NEAREST or LINEAR.

    If the draw framebuffer is framebuffer complete and has a value of
    SAMPLE_BUFFERS that is greater than zero, or if the read framebuffer
    is framebuffer complete and has a value of SAMPLE_BUFFERS that is
    zero, then the error INVALID_OPERATION is generated if
    BlitFramebuffer is called and the filter is
    SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT or SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT.


NVIDIA Implementation Details

    When SAMPLE_BUFFERS is greater than zero, the samples are laid out
    in a rectangular grid roughly corresponding to the location of the
    samples where the aspect ratio per pixel is no worse than two.

    SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT is implemented with a simple bilinear
    filter of the source samples, regardless of the number of samples in
    the read framebuffer.

    SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT is implemented with an anisotropic filter
    of the source samples, regardless of the number of samples in the
    read framebuffer.  The final image quality will be somewhat
    dependent on the ratio of the dimensions of the draw and read
    framebuffers, but in all cases will be no worse than a simple
    bilinear filter.


Issues

    (1) What should this extension be called?

        RESOLVED: EXT_framebuffer_multisample_blit_scaled.

        This extension is mostly based on the functionality introduced
        by EXT_framebuffer_multisample and EXT_framebuffer_blit, and so
        should include all of these terms.

    (2) Should there be an explicit way to enable the scaled resolve
        blit, or should this feature be silently enabled by the mere
        presence of this extension?

        RESOLVED: Explicit enums.

        While it might be simpler to just remove the restriction on the
        dimensions of the rectangles passed to BlitFramebuffer when
        SAMPLE_BUFFERS is greater than zero for either the read or draw
        framebuffer, a new filter type was added to address the
        potential loss in quality when doing a single-pass scaled
        resolve blit.

    (3) Should the restriction be removed in all cases, or only when
        SAMPLE_BUFFERS is greater than zero for the read framebuffer?

        RESOLVED: Only for multisample resolves.

        Given the fact that this extension adds new filter types
        explicitly designed for a scaled multisample resolve blit, it
        seems reasonable to limit the use of this new filter type to
        multisample resolves and not pixel replication when
        SAMPLE_BUFFERS is greater than zero for the draw framebuffer.
        As such, the new filter types can only be used with a
        multisample read framebuffer and a single-sample draw
        framebuffer.

    (4) Should the restriction be removed when SAMPLE_BUFFERS is greater
        than zero for both the read and draw framebuffer?

        RESOLVED: NO.

        The purpose of this extension is to improve performance of the
        multisample resolve operation when the resulting pixel data
        needs to be copied to a texture with different dimensions.  By
        allowing the resolve and scale to be completed with a single
        BlitFramebuffer call, there is no need for an intermediate
        framebuffer object.  This both reduces the memory footprint and
        increases performance by reducing the amount of data that needs
        to be copied.

    (5) Does the process in which sample values are resolved and scaled
        need to be defined?

        RESOLVED: NO.

        The minimum levels of quality are defined by this extension, but
        the exact details are left up to the implementation.  In fact,
        it is likely that a single, potentially random sample for each
        pixel will be accessed as part of a simple bilinear filter
        operation.  This will depend on the memory layout for the given
        number of SAMPLE_BUFFERS, the dimensions of the source and
        destination rectangles, and so on.

    (6) How good is SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT?

        RESOLVED: No worse than a 4-tap linear filter.

        The implementation of this filter type should be no worse than a
        simple 4-tap linear filter.  The exact image quality may depend
        on the memory layout of the multisampled read framebuffer.

    (7) How good is SCALED_RESOLVE_NICEST_EXT?

        RESOLVED: No worse than SCALED_RESOLVE_FASTEST_EXT.

        The implementation of this filter type should be at least as
        good as than a simple 4-tap linear filter, but does not need to
        be bit-for-bit identical with the original two-pass resolve and
        scale.  The exact image quality may depend on the memory layout
        of the multisampled read framebuffer.

    (8) Can the new filter types be used with integer data?

        RESOLVED: NO.

        It does not make sense to have the new filter types be used with
        integer data when the OpenGL 3.1 spec does not allow a filter of
        LINEAR in those cases.


Revision History

    Rev.    Date    Author    Changes
    ----  --------  --------  -----------------------------------------
    8     07/05/11  ghughes   Update status to complete.
    7     03/10/11  ghughes   Update contributors.
    6     03/01/11  ghughes   Updated NVIDIA implementation details.
    5     03/01/11  ghughes   More clarifications.
    4     02/28/11  ghughes   Clarified language about filter types.
    3     08/30/10  ghughes   Updated filter enums, added more issues.
    2     08/30/10  ghughes   Added new filter types.
    1     08/27/10  ghughes   Initial revision.