RENDERING TO MULTI-RESOLUTION HIERARCHIES

摘要

One embodiment of the present invention includes techniques for processing a multi-resolution hierarchy, where an application configures a ROP unit to render all the levels included in the multi-resolution hierarchy to a single composite render target. The ROP unit renders memory pages to the composite render target in pitch order. In contrast, the texture unit accesses the composite render target with memory pages in pitch order for each level of the hierarchy. The application configures the MMU to ensure that the composite render target is correctly interpreted by the texture unit. Notably, the MMU translates ROP unit virtual addresses and texture unit virtual addresses using different mapping strategies to the same physical address space. One advantage of the disclosed embodiments is that rendering to the multi-resolution hierarchy does not require the CPU to execute the state parameter changes that are associated with rendering the different hierarchical levels using prior-art techniques.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for processing a multi-resolution hierarchy, the method comprising:
associating a first composite virtual address with a first fragment that is included in a first hierarchical level of the multi-resolution hierarchy; mapping the first composite virtual address to a first physical address in a memory resource; rendering the first fragment to a composite render target based on the first composite virtual address; and mapping a first texture virtual address associated with the first hierarchical level to the first physical address.