Re: [9fans] 3D rendering

["rob pike" <rob@plan9.bell-labs.com>]

> I'm curious as to how 3D rendering would work in Plan9.  What would determine 
> if the rendering would be done locally on the terminal, or (perhaps) if the 
> rendering is done on a CPU server that has 3D Hardware available and then is 
> streamed back to the terminal over a network, or if the app is run on a cpu 
> server and sends render instructions over the network to the terminal to have 
> the rendering done on hardware locally.

Any of the above would be possible.  For best performance, you would certainly
want the application near the display, largely because the interface to modern
3-D hardware involves shared memory and fast buses.  Sending all those textures
over a wire could be painful.  It should be possible, though, to build an
architecture that permits remote, 9P-mediated access to 3-D hardware without
completely forsaking good local performance.  I do not speak from experience,
however.

-rob