What is OpenGL® accelerated?

Accelerated Open Graphics Library® (OpenGL®) in computer graphics is a condition that can be activated in a computer graphics card to use hardware capabilities of the graphics card to make some or all OpenGL® commands and rendering instead of default software functions. Not all graphics cards support hardware and accelerated OpenGL® and some that support the mode, not fully accelerate all commands available in the OpenGL® library. Depending on the hardware and controls used on a particular computer or device, the OpenGL® mode may sometimes be slower than the software rendering mode, whether for conflicts or just because the computer processor is faster than the graphics processor. When typing applications that use the accelerated OpenGL® mode, it may be difficult to detect and use the mode exclusively, because the implementation of how to manage accelerated modesdised and can be very different from one driver to another.

OpenGL® graphics library is an abstract programming interface (API) that provides a buffer between graphics hardware and software written for access. Generally, OpenGL® works with a client-server model, which means that the software becomes a client who then sends drawing requirements and server information, which is usually the OpenGL® driver and hardware. The driver, which is provided either by the operating system or the graphics card manufacturer, can vary very much in its internal implementation, so some more advanced hardware functions are not always standardized. The OpenGL® hardware mode is one of the features that are left to graphics card manufacturers for implementation.

When the program uses the OpenGL® hardware mode, it actually happens that the OpenGL® functional call is phenomena and handed over to the driver. If the driver finds that the acceleration is active or that a particular operation has direct hardware support,Then the function is handed over directly to the graphics processing unit (GPU) located on the graphics card. If there is no active or the presence of acceleration, the command will be processed and made using standard software calls and algorithms. In most cases, hardware acceleration provides much faster rendering times than clean software.

Some graphics cards support the accelerated OpenGL® mode, but only at a specific color resolution and color depth. This means that the graphics card can automatically use accelerated mode if it initializes OpenGL® requiring specific color resolution and depth. Graphic hardware can vary very much, so this mode is not always obvious and sometimes it can be difficult to automatically detect from the program without the user input. In addition that the control and hardware must be supported by OpenGL® mode, monitoring or imaging devices must also have native support for the desired resolution and depth of color, otherwise switching to accelerated modeE and can prevent the program from implementing.