luma.gl/docs/api-reference/webgl/vertex-array.md

VertexArray

A VertexArray holds a WebGL VertexArrayObject which stores a set of Buffer bindings representing the input data to GLSL shaders (in much the same way that a TransformFeedback object stores a set of Buffer bindings for output data from shaders).

Note that it is usually not necessary to manipulate VertexArrays directly in luma.gl applications. It is often simpler to just supply named attribute buffers to the Model class, and rely on that class to automatically manage the vertex attributes array before running a program (e.g. when rendering, picking etc).

For more information, see OpenGL Wiki.

Notes:

• While the default VertexArray is always available, creating additional non-default VertexArrays requires WebGL2 or a a WebGL1 extension.
• Using setDivisor to set up instanced attributes requires WebGL2 or a a WebGL1 extension.

Functions

Function	WebGL Counterpart	Description
setBuffer	vertexAttrib{I}Pointer	Set to 'WebGLBuffer'
enable	enableVertexAttribArray	attribute visible to shader
disable	disableVertexAttribArray	not visible to shader
setDivisor WebGL2/ext	vertexAttribDivisor	(un)marks as instanced
getMaxAttributes	MAX_VERTEX_ATTRIBS	Length of array (>=8)
setGeneric	vertexAttrib4[u]{f,i}v	Set value to a constant

Usage

Getting the global VertexArray for a WebGL context

const vertexArray = VertexArray.global(gl);

Creating a VertexArray

import {VertexArray} from 'luma.gl';
if (VertexArray.isSupported(gl)) {
  return new VertexArray(gl)
}

Adding attributes to a VertexArray

const vertexArrayObject = new VertexArray(gl);
vertexArrayObject.bind();
vertexArrayObject.unbind();

Deleting a VertexArray

vertexArrayObject.delete();

Setting a set of attributes and an elements array

const vertexArray = new VertexArray(gl, {
  elements: new Buffer({target: GL.ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, data: new Uint32Array([...])}),
  attributes: {
  	0: new Buffer({data: new Float32Array([...])})
  }
}

Setting a buffer name map
```js
const vertexArray = new VertexArray(gl);
// Can only set buffers using location indices
vertexArray.setAttributes({
  0: new Buffer({size: 3, data: new Float32Array([...]), ...})
})
// Register a location map
const program = new Program();
const locations = program.getLocations(); // Note: slow call, GPU driver roundtrip
vertexArray.update({locations});
// Now possible to set buffers using attribute names
vertexArray.setAttributes({
  aColor: new Buffer({size: 3, data: new Float32Array([...]), ...})
});

Setting a generic vertex attribute

import {VertexArray} from 'luma.gl';
VertexArray.setGeneric(gl, 0, ...);

Methods

VertexArray inherits from Resource.

global (static method)

Returns the "global" VertexArray which is always supported.

isSupported (static method)

VertexArray.isSupported({vertexArrayObjects: true, instanceDivisors: true});

Parameters:

• gl (WebGLRenderingContext) - gl context
• vertexArrayObjects=true - if set, returns true only if VertexArrays are supported.
• instanceDivisors=true - if set, returns true only if instance divisors are supported.

Returns:

• Boolean - true if VertexArrays and/or instanced rendering are supported in the current environment.

Note that while VertexArrays and instance divisors are technically not available in basic WebGL1 environments, they available by default in WebGL2 and via commonly supported extensions under WebGL1.

• instanced_arrays
• vertex_array_objects

constructor

Creates a new VertexArray

Parameters:

• gl (WebGLRenderingContext) - gl context
• opts (Object) - passed through to Resource constructor and to initialize

initialize

Parameters:

• elements=null (Buffer) - optional buffer representing elements array (i.e. indices)
• buffers=null (Buffer) - optional buffer representing elements array (i.e. indices)
• location={} (Object) - optional map of (attribute) names to location indices.

setBuffer

Assigns a buffer a vertex attribute. Vertex Shader will be invoked once (not considering indexing and instancing) with each value in the buffer's array.

• Set a location in vertex attributes array to a buffer, specifying
• its data layout and integer to float conversion and normalization flags

setBuffer({location, buffer, ...});

• gl (*WebGLRenderingContext) - gl context

• location (GLuint) - index/ordinal number of the attribute

• buffer (WebGLBuffer|Buffer) - WebGL buffer to set as value

• target=buffer.target (GLuint, ) - which target to bind to

• size (GLuint) - number of values (components) per element (1-4)

• type (GLuint) - type of values (e.g. gl.FLOAT)

• normalized (boolean, false) - normalize integers to [-1,1] or [0,1]

• integer (boolean, false) - WebGL2 disable int-to-float conversion

• stride (GLuint, 0) - supports strided arrays

• offset (GLuint, 0) - supports strided arrays

• layout.normalized=false (GLbool) - normalize integers to [-1,1], [0,1]

• layout.integer=false (GLuint) - WebGL2 only, disable int-to-float conv

Notes:

• The application can enable normalization by setting the normalized flag to true in the setBuffer call.
• WebGL2 The application can disable integer to float conversion when running under WebGL2, by setting the integer flag to true.
• glVertexAttribIPointer specifies integer data formats and locations of vertex attributes. Values are always left as integer values. Only accepts the integer types gl.BYTE, gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE, gl.SHORT, gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, gl.INT, gl.UNSIGNED_INT

vertexAttrib{I}Pointer

enable

Enable the attribute

Note: By default all attributes are disabled. Only attributes used by a program's shaders should be enabled.

disable

Disable the attribute

• @param {GLuint} location - ordinal number of the attribute

Note:

• Only attributes used by a program's shaders should be enabled.
• Attribute 0 can sometimes be treated specially by the driver, so to be safe this method avoids disabling it.

setDivisor

Sets the Set the frequency divisor used for instanced rendering. Usually simply set to 1 or 0 to enable/disable instanced rendering. 0 disables instancing, >=1 enables it.

VertexArray.setDivisor({gl, location, array});

1. gl (*WebGLRenderingContext) - gl context
2. location (GLuint) - index of the attribute

• @param {GLuint} divisor - instances that pass between updates of attribute

Notes:

• An attribute is referred to as instanced if its divisor value is non-zero.

• The divisor modifies the rate at which generic vertex attributes advance when rendering multiple instances of primitives in a single draw call.

• If divisor is zero, the attribute at slot index advances once per vertex.

• If divisor is non-zero, the attribute advances once per divisor instances of the set(s) of vertices being rendered.

• This method will look use WebGL2 or the array_instanced_ANGLE extension, if available. To avoid exceptions on unsupported platforms. the app can call VertexAttributeObject.isSupported() to determine whether instancing is supported before invoking VertexArray.setDivisor.

vertexAttribDivisor

setGeneric

Sets a constant (i.e. generic) value for a vertex attribute. All Vertex Shader invocations will get the same value.

VertexArray.setGeneric({gl, location, array});

• gl (WebGLRenderingContext) - gl context
• location (GLuint) - index of the attribute

vertexAttrib4[u]{f,i}v

setGenericValues

Specify values for generic vertex attributes. Generic vertex attributes are constant for all vertices. Up to 4 values depending on attribute size

VertexArray.setGenericValues({gl, location, array});

• gl (WebGLRenderingContext) - gl context
• location (GLuint) - index of the attribute

vertexAttrib4[u]{f,i}v

getParameter

• gl (WebGLRenderingContext) - WebGL context
• location (Number) - index of attributes

Parameter	Type	Value
GL.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_BUFFER_BINDING	WebGLBuffer (not Buffer)	Get currently bound buffer
GL.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_ENABLED	GLboolean	true if the vertex attribute at this index is enabled
GL.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_SIZE	GLint	indicating the size of an element of the vertex array.
GL.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_STRIDE	GLint	indicating the number of bytes between successive elements in
GL.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_TYPE	GLenum	The array type. One of
GL.BYTE, GL.UNSIGNED_BYTE, GL.SHORT, GL.UNSIGNED_SHORT, GL.FIXED, GL.FLOAT.
GL.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_NORMALIZED	GLboolean	true if fixed-point data types are normalized for the vertex attribute array at the given index.
GL.CURRENT_VERTEX_ATTRIB	Float32Array(4)	The current value of the vertex attribute at the given index.
When using a WebGL 2 context, the following values are available additionally:
GL.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_INTEGER	GLboolean	true if an integer data type is in the vertex attribute array at the given index.
GL.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_DIVISOR	GLint	The frequency divisor used for instanced rendering.

Remarks

This module offers set of functions for manipulating WebGL's global "vertex attributes array". Essentially, this module collects all WebGL gl.vertexAttrib* methods and gl.VERTEX_ATTRIB_ARRAY_* queries.

In WebGL, vertex attributes (often just called attributes) are input data to the Vertex Shader, the first shader stage in the GPU rendering pipeline.

These vertex attributes are stored in a conceptual global array with indices from 0 and up. At the start of shader execution, these indices (or 'locations') are matched to small integer indices assigned to shader attributes during shader compilation and program linking. This makes the data the application has set up in the vertex attributes available during shader execution. Vertex attributes thus represent one of the primary mechanisms for communication between JavaScript code and GPU code (GLSL shaders).

Vertex Attribute Values and Properties

Each vertex attribute has these properties:

• A value (constant or a buffered array with one set of values per vertex) that is accessible in shaders
• Enabled status: Can be enabled or disabled
• Data layout information: size (1-4 values per vertex), type, offset, stride
• An instance divisor (which enables/disables instancing) WebGL2/Extension
• An integer normalization policy (see below)
• An integer conversion policy (see below) WebGL2

Normally attributes are set to a WebGLBuffer that stores unique values for each vertex/instance, combined with information about the layout of data in the memory managed by the buffer.

Attributes can also be set to "generic" values. This single value will then be passed to every invocation of the vertex shader effectively representing a constant attribute value. A typical example could be to specify a single color for all vertices, instead of providing a buffer with unique colors per vertex.

Integer to Float Conversion and Normalization

Integer values in attributes (e.g in an Int32Array) are converted to floats before being passed to the shader.

In addition, normalization, maps values stored in an integer format to a normalized floating point range before they are passed to the shader:

• [-1,1] (SNORM, for signed integers)
• [0,1] (UNORM, for unsigned integers)

In WebGL2, it is possible to disable automatic conversion of integers to integers, enabling shaders to work directly with integer values. This works with all the integer types: gl.BYTE, gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE, gl.SHORT, gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, gl.INT and gl.UNSIGNED_INT.

Remarks

Note that while you can create your own VertexArrays there is a global "vertex attributes array" that is always available (even in core WebGL1) which is where vertex data is staged for vertex shader execution. This API is somewhat hard to learn for OpenGL newcomers so luma.gl provides this thin wrapper module to simplify its use.

• All methods in this class take a location index to specify which vertex attribute in the array they are operating on. This location needs to be matched with the location (i.e. index) selected by the compiler when compiling a Shader. Therefore it is usually better to work with symbolic names for vertex attributes, which is supported by other luma.gl classes.

• It is strongly recommended to only enable attributes that are actually used by a program. Other attributes can be left unchanged but disabled.

• The raw WebGL APIs for are working with WebGLVertexArrays are exposed differently in the WebGL1 extension and WebGL2. As always, the luma.gl VertexArray class transparently handles the necessary API detection and selection.

ANGLE_instanced_arrays Extension Allows instance divisors to be set, enabling instanced rendering.

• OES_VertexArray Extension Enables the application to create and "VertexArray"s to save and restore the entire global vertex attribute array with a single operation. luma.gl provides a class wrapper for VertexArrays.

• Setting instance divisors no longer requires a WebGL extension.

• VertexArrays no longer require using a WebGL extension.

• Adds support for exposing integer attribute values directly to shaders (without those values first being auto-converted to floats) The improvements cover both generic and buffered attributes.