I want to write a small app that displays a graph.
I looked at the sample app SuperFormulaGPU which as the name
implies uses the GPU.
I figure my app might be able to deal with more Nodes/Edges if implemented using the GPU. SuperFormulaGPU uses shaders which i can not use since my objects are created dynamically (i am shure this is not correctly formulated --> beginner).
The point is i want the graph drawn by GPUs while not dealing with shaders. Is this possible?, If yes, how do i do this ?
well done for being ambitious enough to get stuck in, however you may want to rewind a bit and learn some more about what OpenGL is, how it works, what it is good at and what it isn’t good at etc before trying to throw it at a high level problem.
A great place to start with graphics in Cinder is here but a wider knowledge about OpenGL is also very useful and some good tutorials can be found here
To draw anything in modern OpenGL you will need to understand at least the basics of shaders and the graphics pipeline. Cinder has some “convenience” functions for drawing Polylines and simple objects without having to deal too much with the shaders themselves but these are not going to be using your GPU as efficiently as it could be if you know a bit more about your problem. (also learning about shaders is one of the most fun aspects of GPU programming)
Low level graphics programming is a complex subject but it is hugely rewarding to learn. There are lots of great online resources that I cant list here but google is always useful.
thanks for your reply.
I read the cinder docs before i posted the question.
I wasn’t shure if i have to use shaders and did not want to invest
a lot of time while not knowing if it is necessary.
Since you answered that, i can now start to dive into the material.