Name

    EXT_blend_equation_separate

Name Strings

    GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate

Contact

    Mark Kilgard, NVIDIA Corporation (mjk 'at' nvidia.com)

Notice

    Copyright NVIDIA Corporation, 2003.

Version

    Date: 12/23/2003  Version 1.0

Status

    Shipping as of May 2004 for GeForce6.

Number

    299

Dependencies

    Written based on the wording of the OpenGL 1.5 specification.

    OpenGL 1.4 (or ARB_imaging, or EXT_blend_minmax and/or
    EXT_blend_subtract) is required for blend equation support.

    EXT_blend_func_separate is presumed but not required.

    EXT_blend_logic_op interacts with this extension.

Overview

    EXT_blend_func_separate introduced separate RGB and alpha blend
    factors.  EXT_blend_minmax introduced a distinct blend equation for
    combining source and destination blend terms.  (EXT_blend_subtract &
    EXT_blend_logic_op added other blend equation modes.)  OpenGL 1.4
    integrated both functionalities into the core standard.

    While there are separate blend functions for the RGB and alpha blend
    factors, OpenGL 1.4 provides a single blend equation that applies
    to both RGB and alpha portions of blending.

    This extension provides a separate blend equation for RGB and alpha
    to match the generality available for blend factors.

IP Status

    No known IP issues.

Issues

    Why not use ATI_blend_equation_separate?

        Apple supports this extension in OS X 10.2 but the extension
        lacks a specification and, as explained in subsequent issues,
        the token naming is inconsistent with OpenGL conventions.

    What should the token names be?

        RESOLVED:  Follow the precedent of EXT_blend_equation_separate.
        For example, GL_BLEND_DST becomes GL_BLEND_DST_RGB
        and GL_BLEND_DST_ALPHA.  So GL_BLEND_EQUATION becomes
        GL_BLEND_EQUATION_RGB (same value as GL_BLEND_EQUATION) and
        GL_BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA.

        This is different from the ATI_blend_equation_separate approach
        which introduces the single name GL_ALPHA_BLEND_EQUATION_ATI
        (no RGB name is introduced).  The existing OpenGL convention
        (example: ARB_texture_env_combine) is to use _RGB and _ALPHA as
        a suffix for enumerants, not a prefix.

    How should get token values be assigned?

        RESOLVED:  GL_BLEND_EQUATION_RGB_EXT has the same value as
        GL_BLEND_EQUATION.  See "Compatibility" section.

        For compatibility with ATI_blend_equation_separate,
        GL_BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA_EXT shares the same value (0x883D)
        with the ATI_blend_equation_separate's GL_ALPHA_BLEND_EQUATION_ATI
        token.  The GL_BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA_EXT name uses the suffixing
        convention (rather than prefixing) for adding _ALPHA addition
        as done by ARB_texture_env_combine and EXT_blend_func_separate.

New Procedures and Functions

    void BlendEquationSeparateEXT(enum modeRGB,
                                  enum modeAlpha);

New Tokens

    Accepted by the <pname> parameter of GetBooleanv, GetIntegerv,
    GetFloatv, and GetDoublev:

        BLEND_EQUATION_RGB_EXT             0x8009 (same as BLEND_EQUATION)
        BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA_EXT           0x883D

Additions to Chapter 2 of the 1.5 GL Specification (OpenGL Operation)

    None

Additions to Chapter 3 of the 1.5 GL Specification (Rasterization)

    None

Additions to Chapter 4 of the 1.5 GL Specification (Per-Fragment Operations
and the Framebuffer)

    Replace the "Blend Equation" discussion in section 4.1.7 (Blending)
    with the following:

    "The equations used to control blending are determined by the blend
    equations.  Blend equations are specified with the commands:

      void BlendEquation(enum mode);
      void BlendEquationSeparateEXT(enum modeRGB, enum modeAlpha);

    BlendEquationSeparateEXT arguments modeRGB determines the RGB blend
    function while modeAlpha determines the alpha blend equation.
    BlendEquation argument mode determines both the RGB and alpha blend
    equations.  modeRGB and modeAlpha must each be one of FUNC_ADD,
    FUNC_SUBTRACT, FUNC_REVERSE_SUBTRACT, MIN, or MAX.

    Destination (framebuffer) components are taken to be fixed-point
    values represented according to the scheme in section 2.13.9
    (Final Color Processing), as are source (fragment) components.
    Constant color components are taken to be floating point values.
    [ed: paragraph unchanged except that floating-point is hyphenated.]

    Prior to blending, each fixed-point color component undergoes an
    implied conversion to floating-point.  This conversion must leave
    the values 0 and 1 invariant.  Blending components are treated as
    if carried out in floating-point.  [ed: paragraph unchanged except
    that floating-point is hyphenated.]

    Table 4.blendeq provides the corresponding per-component blend
    equations for each mode, whether acting on RGB components for modeRGB
    or the alpha component for modeAlpha.

    In the table, the "s" subscript on a color component abbreviation
    (R, G, B, or A) refers to the source color component for an incoming
    fragment, the "d" subscript on a color component abbreviation refers
    to the destination color component at the corresponding framebuffer
    location,  and the "c" subscript on a color component abbreviation
    refers to the constant blend color component.  A color component
    abbreviation without a subscript refers to the new color component
    resulting from blending.  Additionally, Sr, Sg, Sb, and Sa are
    the red, green, blue, and alpha components of the source weighting
    factors determined by the source blend function, and Dr, Dg, Db, and
    Da are the red, green, blue, and alpha components of the destination
    weighting factors determined by the destination blend function.
    Blend functions are described below.

    Mode                   RGB components          Alpha component
    ---------------------  ----------------------  ----------------------
    FUNC_ADD               Rc = Rs * Sr + Rd * Dr  Ac = As * Sa + Ad * Da
                           Gc = Gs * Sg + Gd * Dg
                           Bc = Bs * Sb + Bd * Db
    ---------------------  ----------------------  ----------------------
    FUNC_SUBTRACT          Rc = Rs * Sr - Rd * Dr  Ac = As * Sa - Ad * Da
                           Gc = Gs * Sg - Gd * Dg
                           Bc = Bs * Sb - Bd * Db
    ---------------------  ----------------------  ----------------------
    FUNC_REVERSE_SUBTRACT  Rc = Rd * Sr - Rs * Dr  Ac = Ad * Sa - As * Da
                           Gc = Gd * Sg - Gs * Dg
                           Bc = Bd * Sb - Bs * Db
    ---------------------  ----------------------  ----------------------
    MIN                    Rc = min(Rs, Rd)        Ac = min(As, Ad)
                           Gc = min(Gs, Gd)
                           Bc = min(Bs, Bd)
    ---------------------  ----------------------  ----------------------
    MAX                    Rc = max(Rs, Rd)        Ac = max(As, Ad)
                           Gc = max(Gs, Gd)
                           Bc = max(Bs, Bd)
    ---------------------  ----------------------  ----------------------

    Table 4.blendeq:  RGB and alpha blend equations are their
    per-component equations controlling the color components resulting
    from blending for each mode."

    In the "Blending State" paragraph, replace the initial lines with...

    "The state required for blending is two integers for the RGB and alpha
    blend equations, four integer indicating the source and destination
    RGB and alpha blending functions, four floating-point values to store
    the RGBA constant blend color, and a bit indicating whether blending
    is enabled or disabled.  The initial blending equations for RGB and
    alpha are FUNC_ADD. ..."

Additions to Chapter 5 of the 1.5 GL Specification (Special Functions)

    None

Additions to Chapter 6 of the 1.5 GL Specification (State and State Requests)

    None

Additions to the GLX Specification

    None

GLX Protocol

    A new GL rendering command is added. The following command is sent
    to the server as part of a glXRender request:

        BlendEquationSeparateEXT
            2           12              rendering command length
            2           4228            rendering command opcode
            4           ENUM            modeRGB
            4           ENUM            modeAlpha

Dependencies on EXT_blend_logic_op

    If EXT_blend_logic_op and EXT_blend_equation_separate are both
    supported, the logic op blend equation should be supported separately
    for RGB and alpha as with the other blend equation modes.

    And add to the table 4.blendeq this line:

    Mode                   RGB components          Alpha component
    ---------------------  ----------------------  ----------------------
    LOGIC_OP               Rc = Rs OP Rd           Ac = As OP Ad
                           Gc = Gs OP Gd
                           Bc = Bs OP Bd
    ---------------------  ----------------------  ----------------------

    where OP denotes the logical operation controlled by LogicOp (see
    table 4.2).

    Note: there is no support for a distinct RGB logical operation
    and alpha logical operation (that could be provided by another
    extension).

Errors

    INVALID_ENUM is generated if either the modeRGB or modeAlpha
    parameter of BlendEquationSeparateEXT is not one of FUNC_ADD,
    FUNC_SUBTRACT, FUNC_REVERSE_SUBTRACT, MAX, or MIN.

    INVALID_OPERATION is generated if BlendEquationSeparateEXT
    is executed between the execution of Begin and the corresponding
    execution of End.

New State

                                                 Initial
    Get Value                 Get Command  Type  Value     Attribute
    ------------------------  -----------  ----  --------  ------------
    BLEND_EQUATION_RGB_EXT    GetIntegerv  Z     FUNC_ADD  color-buffer
    BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA_EXT  GetIntegerv  Z     FUNC_ADD  color-buffer

    [remove BLEND_EQUATION from the table, add a note "v1.5 BLEND_EQUATON"
    beside BLEND_EQUATION_RGB_EXT to note the legacy name.]

New Implementation Dependent State

    None

Compatibility

    The BLEND_EQUATION_RGB_EXT query token has the same value as the
    legacy BLEND_EQUATION query token.  This means querying the legacy
    BLEND_EQUATION state is identical to querying the RGB blend equation
    state.

    This is a different approach than taken by the EXT_blend_func_separate
    extension, but matches the approach taken by other "split" OpenGL
    state such as the SMOOTH_POINT_SIZE_RANGE and ALIASED_POINT_SIZE_RANGE
    values split from POINT_SIZE_RANGE.

    In the EXT_blend_func_separate case, four new token names
    (BLEND_DST_RGB, BLEND_SRC_RGB, BLEND_DST_ALPHA, and BLEND_DST_RGB)
    with four new token values (0x80C8, 0x80C9, 0x80CA, and 0x80CB
    respectively) were added.  Querying the legacy BLEND_DST (0x0BE0) and
    BLEND_RGB (0x0BE1) returns the same value as querying BLEND_SRC_RGB
    and BLEND_DST_RGB respectively but this was never explicitly
    documented.

    In the case of the point size ranges, SMOOTH_POINT_SIZE_RANGE was
    given the same value as POINT_SIZE_RANGE (0x0B12) and a single new
    token ALIASED_POINT_SIZE_RANGE (0x846D).

    The point size ranges approach is preferable because it minimizes
    the confusion about how the legacy name should be treated by
    implementations because the legacy name shares its value with
    the new name.  This is less prone to confusion by developers and
    implementers and less effort to implement.

    For token value compatibility with ATI_blend_equation_separate,
    GL_BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA_EXT shares the same value (0x883D) with the
    ATI_blend_equation_separate's GL_ALPHA_BLEND_EQUATION_ATI token.