OpenGL multipipe SDK: a toolkit for scalable parallel rendering

We describe OpenGL multipipe SDK (MPK), a toolkit for scalable parallel rendering based on OpenGL. MPK provides a uniform application programming interface (API) to manage scalable graphics applications across many different graphics subsystems. MPK-based applications run seamlessly from single-processor, single-pipe desktop systems to large multi-processor, multipipe scalable graphics systems. The application is oblivious of the system configuration, which can be specified through a configuration file at run time. To scale application performance, MPK uses a decomposition system that supports different modes for task partitioning and implements optimized CPU-based composition algorithms. MPK also provides a customizable image composition interface, which can be used to apply post-processing algorithms on raw pixel data obtained from executing sub-tasks on multiple graphics pipes in parallel. This can be used to implement parallel versions of any CPU-based algorithm, not necessarily used for rendering. In this paper, we motivate the need for a scalable graphics API and discuss the architecture of MPK. We present MPK's graphics configuration interface, introduce the notion of compound-based decomposition schemes and describe our implementation. We present some results from our work on a couple of target system architectures and conclude with future directions of research in this area.