Second Life Forums Archive - avatar vertex program?

Rayne Moonlight

Registered User

Join date: 1 Sep 2005

Posts: 44

10-29-2005 15:29

i noticed this once i upgraded yet havent seen anything about it. if i enable it, my avatar and everyone elses disappears and our clothing shows....

anyone?

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Namssor Daguerre

Imitates life

Join date: 18 Feb 2004

Posts: 1,423

10-29-2005 15:34

I mess with this feature a lot, switching it on and off. I have not noticed what you describe.

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Davan Camus

Registered User

Join date: 13 Sep 2005

Posts: 67

10-30-2005 10:50

In 1.6, using Mac OS 10.3.9 and an ATI Radeon 9000, whenever I turned on Avatar Vertex Thingie the avatars all disappeared just like you describe.

After I changed video cards to an ATI Radeon 9800, Avatar Vertex Thingie worked fine (though I can't see any obvious visual or performance difference), same Mac OS, and SL 1.6 an 1.7.

No answers here, but there's some data for ya.

_____________________

Visit Cubes at Alice 100,18.
--------------------------------------------------
Davan Camus, born: 2005 September 8
Out-world location: Santa Cruz, CA
UI Proposal: http://davancamus.hexaflexagon.com/blog/?p=39

Torley Linden

Enlightenment!

Join date: 15 Sep 2004

Posts: 16,530

10-31-2005 03:03

I'd like to see a formal, comprehensive data of "Avatar Vertex Program". It sounds technical and I haven't really seen it well-explained.

All I know is when I click it on and off, I get different shadow effects on my av... and checked off it can be a bit slower (not really noticeable) but nice for some times of photography without looking too "flat".

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Zodiakos Absolute

With a a dash of lemon.

Join date: 6 Jun 2005

Posts: 282

10-31-2005 11:16

Most modern video cards are capable of storing small 'programs' in memory and executing them with your video card's processor (which is DESIGNED and optimized for manipulating vector data like vertices), taking some of the stress off your CPU, expecially with complex tasks such as editing vertices on a mesh(vertex shaders), or doing pixel calculations (pixel shaders).

However, there's been different versions of these shaders. Most cards today have either vertex and pixel shaders version 2.0 or 3.0. Older cards had 1.4, and even 1.1 (or less). These shaders(as these programs are called) are sometimes not compatible with older cards, depending on how complex they are. My guess is that the current vertex programs that SL uses for speeding up rendering of avatars are 1.4 shaders, which means that anything older than a radeon 8500, or a Geforce 3, might not work correctly with them. At least that's my GUESS.

Some (relatively) newer cards might not work with them either. The radeon 9000 and 9200 were budget cards, I believe, and did not have shader 1.4 (I'm not sure about this). The same is true of the GeForce 4 MX, it was a budget card that did not posess these capabilities.

Also, some integrated laptop cards, even those that are generally good at 3D games, offload vertex programs right back onto the CPU, in order to make the chip more compact, or use less heat, or any number of reasons. Because of this, disabling vertex programs might actually be faster for those chipsets (which include many ati xpress cards, I don't know if the nvidia cards are like that, although they are less common in off-the-shelf laptops).

Did that make any sense?

avatar vertex program?
Rayne Moonlight Registered User Join date: 1 Sep 2005 Posts: 44	10-29-2005 15:29 i noticed this once i upgraded yet havent seen anything about it. if i enable it, my avatar and everyone elses disappears and our clothing shows.... anyone? _____________________ ---- my karma ran over your dogma.
Namssor Daguerre Imitates life Join date: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 1,423	10-29-2005 15:34 I mess with this feature a lot, switching it on and off. I have not noticed what you describe. _____________________
Davan Camus Registered User Join date: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 67	10-30-2005 10:50 In 1.6, using Mac OS 10.3.9 and an ATI Radeon 9000, whenever I turned on Avatar Vertex Thingie the avatars all disappeared just like you describe. After I changed video cards to an ATI Radeon 9800, Avatar Vertex Thingie worked fine (though I can't see any obvious visual or performance difference), same Mac OS, and SL 1.6 an 1.7. No answers here, but there's some data for ya. _____________________ Visit Cubes at Alice 100,18. -------------------------------------------------- Davan Camus, born: 2005 September 8 Out-world location: Santa Cruz, CA UI Proposal: http://davancamus.hexaflexagon.com/blog/?p=39
Torley Linden Enlightenment! Join date: 15 Sep 2004 Posts: 16,530	10-31-2005 03:03 I'd like to see a formal, comprehensive data of "Avatar Vertex Program". It sounds technical and I haven't really seen it well-explained. All I know is when I click it on and off, I get different shadow effects on my av... and checked off it can be a bit slower (not really noticeable) but nice for some times of photography without looking too "flat". _____________________
Zodiakos Absolute With a a dash of lemon. Join date: 6 Jun 2005 Posts: 282	10-31-2005 11:16 Most modern video cards are capable of storing small 'programs' in memory and executing them with your video card's processor (which is DESIGNED and optimized for manipulating vector data like vertices), taking some of the stress off your CPU, expecially with complex tasks such as editing vertices on a mesh(vertex shaders), or doing pixel calculations (pixel shaders). However, there's been different versions of these shaders. Most cards today have either vertex and pixel shaders version 2.0 or 3.0. Older cards had 1.4, and even 1.1 (or less). These shaders(as these programs are called) are sometimes not compatible with older cards, depending on how complex they are. My guess is that the current vertex programs that SL uses for speeding up rendering of avatars are 1.4 shaders, which means that anything older than a radeon 8500, or a Geforce 3, might not work correctly with them. At least that's my GUESS. Some (relatively) newer cards might not work with them either. The radeon 9000 and 9200 were budget cards, I believe, and did not have shader 1.4 (I'm not sure about this). The same is true of the GeForce 4 MX, it was a budget card that did not posess these capabilities. Also, some integrated laptop cards, even those that are generally good at 3D games, offload vertex programs right back onto the CPU, in order to make the chip more compact, or use less heat, or any number of reasons. Because of this, disabling vertex programs might actually be faster for those chipsets (which include many ati xpress cards, I don't know if the nvidia cards are like that, although they are less common in off-the-shelf laptops). Did that make any sense?

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avatar vertex program?