Name

    EXT_draw_buffers2

Name Strings

    GL_EXT_draw_buffers2

Contact

    Mike Strauss, NVIDIA Corporation (mstrauss 'at' nvidia.com)

Status

    Multi vendor extension
 
    Shipping for GeForce 8 Series (November 2006) 

Version

    Last Modified Date:         7/9/2008
    NVIDIA Revision:            10

Number

    340

Dependencies

    The extension is written against the OpenGL 2.0 Specification.

    OpenGL 2.0 is required.

Overview

    This extension builds upon the ARB_draw_buffers extension and provides
    separate blend enables and color write masks for each color output.  In
    ARB_draw_buffers (part of OpenGL 2.0), separate values can be written to
    each color buffer, but the blend enable and color write mask are global
    and apply to all color outputs.

    While this extension does provide separate blend enables, it does not
    provide separate blend functions or blend equations per color output.


New Procedures and Functions

    void ColorMaskIndexedEXT(uint buf, boolean r, boolean g,
                             boolean b, boolean a);

    void GetBooleanIndexedvEXT(enum value, uint index, boolean *data);

    void GetIntegerIndexedvEXT(enum value, uint index, int *data);

    void EnableIndexedEXT(enum target, uint index);

    void DisableIndexedEXT(enum target, uint index);

    boolean IsEnabledIndexedEXT(enum target, uint index);    

New Tokens

    None.

Additions to Chapter 2 of the OpenGL 2.0 Specification (OpenGL Operation)

    None.

Additions to Chapter 3 of the OpenGL 2.0 Specification (Rasterization)

    None.

Additions to Chapter 4 of the OpenGL 2.0 Specification (Per-Fragment
Operations and the Frame Buffer)

    Modify the thrid paragraph of section 4.1.8 (Blending), p206, to 
    read as follows:

    Blending is dependent on the incoming fragment's alpha value and
    that of the corresponding currently stored pixel.  Blending applies
    only in RGBA mode; in color index mode it is bypassed.  Blending
    is enabled or disabled for an individual draw buffer using

        void EnableIndexedEXT(GLenum target, GLuint index);
        void DisableIndexedEXT(GLenum target, GLuint index);

    <target> is the symbolic constant BLEND and <index> is an integer
    i specifying the draw buffer associated with the symbolic constant
    DRAW_BUFFERi.  If the color buffer associated with DRAW_BUFFERi is 
    one of FRONT, BACK, LEFT, RIGHT, or FRONT_AND_BACK (specifying 
    multiple color buffers), then the state enabled or disabled is 
    applicable for all of the buffers.  Blending can be enabled or 
    disabled for all draw buffers using Enable or Disable with the 
    symbolic constant BLEND.  If blending is disabled for a particular 
    draw buffer, or if logical operation on color values is enabled 
    (section 4.1.10), proceed to the next operation.


    Modify the first paragraph of section 4.1.8 (Blending - Blending 
    State), p209, to read as follows:

    The state required for blending is two integers for the RGB and
    alpha blend equations, four integers indicating the source and
    destination RGB and alpha blending functions, four floating-point
    values to store the RGBA constant blend color, and n bits 
    indicating whether blending is enabled or disabled for each of the 
    n draw buffers.  The initial blend equations for RGB and alpha are 
    both FUNC_ADD.  The initial blending functions are ONE for the 
    source RGB and alpha functions, and ZERO for the destination RGB 
    and alpha functions.  The initial constant blend color is 
    (R, G, B, A) = (0, 0, 0, 0).  Initially, blending is disabled for 
    all draw buffers.


    Modify the first paragraph of section 4.2.2 (Fine Control of Buffer
    Updates) to read as followS:

    Three commands are used to mask the writing of bits to each of the 
    logical draw buffers after all per-fragment operations have been
    performed.

    The commands

        void IndexMask(uint mask);
        void ColorMask(boolean r, boolean g, boolean b, boolean a);
        void ColorMaskIndexedEXT(uint buf, boolean r, boolean g, 
                                 boolean b, boolean a);

    control writes to the active draw buffers.  

    The least significant n bits of <mask>, where n is the number of 
    bits in a color index buffer, specify a mask.  Where a 1 appears in
    this mask, the corresponding bit in the color index buffer (or 
    buffers) is written; where a 0 appears, the bit is not written.  
    This mask  applies only in color index mode.  

    In RGBA mode, ColorMask and ColorMaskIndexedEXT are used to mask
    the writing of R, G, B and A values to the draw buffer or buffers.  
    ColorMaskIndexedEXT sets the mask for a particular draw buffer.  
    The mask for DRAW_BUFFERi is modified by passing i as the parameter
    <buf>.  <r>, <g>, <b>, and <a> indicate whether R, G, B, or A 
    values, respectively, are written or not (a value of TRUE means 
    that the corresponding  value is written).  The mask specified by 
    <r>, <g>, <b>, and <a> is applied to the color buffer associated 
    with DRAW_BUFFERi.  If DRAW_BUFFERi is one of FRONT, BACK, LEFT, 
    RIGHT, or FRONT_AND_BACK (specifying multiple color buffers) then 
    the mask is applied to all of the buffers.  ColorMask sets the mask
    for all draw buffers to the same values as specified by <r>, <g>, 
    <b>, and <a>.

Additions to Chapter 5 of the OpenGL 2.0 Specification (Special Functions)

    None.

Additions to Chapter 6 of the OpenGL 2.0 Specification (State and
State Requests)

    Modify the second paragraph of section 6.1.1 (Simple Queries)
    p244 to read as follows:

    ...<data> is a pointer to a scalar or array of the indicated
    type in which to place the returned data.

        void GetBooleanIndexedvEXT(enum target, uint index, boolean *data);
        void GetIntegerIndexedvEXT(enum target, uint index, int *data);

    are used to query indexed state.  <target> is the name of 
    the indexed state and <index> is the index of the particular
    element being queried.  <data> is a pointer to a scalar or array
    of the indicated type in which to place the returned data.  In
    addition

        boolean IsEnabled(enum value);

    can be used to determine if <value> is currently enabled (as with
    Enable) or disabled.

        boolean IsEnabledIndexedEXT(enum target, uint index);

    can be used to determine if the index state corresponding to
    <target> and <index> is enabled or disabled.

Additions to Appendix A of the OpenGL 2.0 Specification (Invariance)

    None.
 
Additions to the AGL/GLX/WGL Specifications

    None.

GLX Protocol

    UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Errors

    The error INVALID_ENUM is generated by EnableIndexedEXT and
    DisableIndexedEXT if the <target> parameter is not BLEND.

    The error INVALID_OPERATION is generated by EnableIndexedEXT and 
    DisableIndexeEXT if the <target> parameter is BLEND and the <index>
    parameter is outside the range [0, MAX_DRAW_BUFFERS-1].

    The error INVALID_ENUM is generated by IsEnabledIndexedEXT if the 
    <target> parameter is not BLEND.

    The error INVALID_OPERATION is generated by IsEnabledIndexedEXT if
    the <target> parameter is BLEND and the <index> parameter is 
    outside the range [0, MAX_DRAW_BUFFERS-1].

    The error INVALID_OPERATION is generated by DrawBufferColorMaskEXT
    if the <buf> parameter is outside the range 
    [0, MAX_DRAW_BUFFERS-1].

    The error INVALID_ENUM is generated by GetBooleanIndexedvEXT if the 
    <target> parameter is not BLEND.

    The error INVALID_OPERATION is generated by GetBooleanIndexedvEXT 
    if the <target> parameter is BLEND and the <index> parameter is
    outside the range [0, MAX_DRAW_BUFFERS-1].

New State

    Modify (table 6.20, p281), modifying the entry for BLEND and adding 
    a new one.


    Get Target  Type Get Command         Value Description                        Section       Attribute
    ----------  ---- ------------------- ----- ---------------------------------- ------- -------------------
    BLEND       B    IsEnabled           False Blending enabled for draw buffer 0  4.1.8  color-buffer/enable
    BLEND       B    IsEnabledIndexedEXT False Blending enabled for draw buffer i  4.1.8  color-buffer/enable
                                         where i is specified as <index>


    Modify (table 6.21, p282), modifying the entry for COLOR_WRITEMASK
    and adding a new one.

    Get Value       Type Get Command           Value Description                        Section Attribute
    --------------- ---- --------------------- ----- ---------------------------------- ------- ------------
    COLOR_WRITEMASK 4xB  GetBooleanv           True  Color write mask for draw buffer 0 4.2.2   color-buffer
    COLOR_WRITEMASK 4xB  GetBooleanIndexedvEXT True  Color write mask for draw buffer i 4.2.2   color-buffer
                                                     where i is specified as <index>
                                                              
Issues

    1.  Should the extension provide support for per draw buffer index 
    masks as well as per draw buffer color masks?

        RESOLVED:  No.  Color index rendering is not interesting
        enough to warrant extending the API in this direction.
    
    2.  Should the API for specifying separate color write masks be
    based on DrawBuffers() (specifying an array of write masks at 
    once)?

        RESOLVED:  No.  There are two ways to mimic the DrawBuffers()
        API.  A function, ColorMasks(), could take an an element count 
        and an array of four element boolean arrays as parameters.  
        Each four element boolean array contains a set of red, green, 
        blue, and alpha write masks for a specific color buffer.  An 
        alternative is a ColorMasks() function that takes an element 
        count and four parallel boolean arrays with one array per color
        channel.  Neither approach is particularly clean.  A cleaner
        approach, taken by ColorMaskIndexedEXT(), is to specify a 
        color mask for a single draw buffer where the draw buffer is
        specified as a parameter to the function.

    3.  How should ColorMask() affect the per color buffer write masks?

        RESOLVED:  ColorMask() should set all color buffer write masks
        to the same values.  This is backwards compatible with the way
        ColorMask() behaves in the absence of this extension.

    4.  What should GetBooleanv return when COLOR_WRITEMASK is queried?

        RESOLVED:  COLOR_WRITEMASK should return
        DRAW_BUFFER0_COLOR_WRITEMASK_EXT.  This is backwards compatible
        with the way the query works without this extension.  To query 
        the writemask associated with a particular draw buffer, an 
        application can use GetBooleanIndexedvEXT.

    5.  How are separate blend enables controlled?  Should a new
    function be introduced, or do Enable() and Disable() provide
    sufficient functionality?

        RESOLVED:  This extension introduces new functions
        EnableIndexedEXT and DisableIndexedEXT that can be used to
        enable/disable individual states of a state array.  These
        functions are introduced because there is a trend towards
        introducing arrays of state.  Rather than creating enums for
        each index in the array, it is better to give applications
        a mechanism for accessing a particular element of the state
        array given the name of the state and an index into the array.

    6.  What effect does enabling or disabling blending using BLEND
    have on per draw buffer blend enables?

        RESOLVED:  BLEND, used with Enable() and Disable(), should 
        enable or disable all per draw buffer blend enables.  This is
        similar to the way that ColorMask() affects the per draw
        buffer write masks.
      
    7.  What does DRAW_BUFFERi mean in the context of functions like
    ColorMaskIndexedEXT?
    
        PROPOSED:  When DrawBuffersARB is called with a list of buffers 
        to be used for MRT rendering, DRAW_BUFFERi implies an index into 
        the list of buffers.  That is, DRAW_BUFFER0 refers to the zeroeth
        buffer in the array passed to DrawBuffersARB (or any of the other
        ways to specify multiple render targets).  MAX_DRAW_BUFFERS is
        also to be understood in this context to mean the number of currently
        active draw buffers.

Revision History

    Rev.    Date    Author    Changes
    ----  --------  --------  -----------------------------------------
    10    07/11/08  joburgess Added a clarification of ColorMaskIndexedEXT / DrawBuffersARB interaction.
    
     9    02/09/07  pbrown    Updated status section (now released).

     8    10/23/06  pbrown    Fixed typo in the prototype for
                              GetIntegerIndexedvEXT -- <data> should be an
                              integer pointer.  Moved issues to the end.

     7    10/21/06  barthold  Added revision history

    1-6             mstrauss  Internal spec development.