I need help understanding ARB_instanced_arrays.

Mark Speir · 2013-01-04T23:31:43

I'm looking at the tutorial here: http://sol.gfxile.net/instancing.html It seems to be the only and/or best tutorial dealing with ARB_instanced_arrays. However, not much code is presented. I've asked the author, but he seems reluctant to release his code, so I'm hoping I can get an explanation. int pos = glGetAttribLocation(shader_instancedarrays.program, "transformmatrix"); int pos1 = pos + 0; // <- What is going on here.. int pos2 = pos + 1; // ... and here... int pos3 = pos + 2; // ... and here... int pos4 = pos + 3; // ... and here? glEnableVertexAttribArray(pos1); glEnableVertexAttribArray(pos2); glEnableVertexAttribArray(pos3); glEnableVertexAttribArray(pos4); glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, VBO_containing_matrices); // <- The part I really do not understand glVertexAttribPointer(pos1, 4, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(GLfloat) * 4 * 4, (void*)(0)); glVertexAttribPointer(pos2, 4, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(GLfloat) * 4 * 4, (void*)(sizeof(float) * 4)); glVertexAttribPointer(pos3, 4, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(GLfloat) * 4 * 4, (void*)(sizeof(float) * 8)); glVertexAttribPointer(pos4, 4, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, sizeof(GLfloat) * 4 * 4, (void*)(sizeof(float) * 12)); glVertexAttribDivisor(pos1, 1); glVertexAttribDivisor(pos2, 1); glVertexAttribDivisor(pos3, 1); glVertexAttribDivisor(pos4, 1); From what I can surmise, the code gets the location of the transformation matrix in the shader program. (Guessing here...) It then creates four positions, corresponding to four instances. Then a VBO is bound. I'm guessing that the VBO contains an array of vertices, each defined by four floats, grouped into four representing a 4x4 matrix, and each representing a position of the corresponding instance. So, the VBO in this example contains 16 vertices, with vertex 1-4 representing a matrix, 5-8 representing another matrix, etc. Is my understanding correct? The tutorial really isn't a tutorial, but a description of the various methods to accomplish instancing, and thus, is missing important details. If my understanding of the VBO is correct, it brings up another question. Can I assume that the matrices stored in the VBO are represented as: |0 4 8 12| = vertex 1, 5, 9, etc. |1 5 9 13| = vertex 2, 6, 10, etc. |2 6 10 14| = vertex 3, 7, 11, etc. |3 7 11 15| = vertex 4, 8, 12, etc. I'm surprised that there is so little information available on instancing implementation.