using multiple renderers in 1 process?

[MichaelJPCT]

Hello Egon,
i have a strange idea. can we use 1 opengl renderer and multiple software renderers at the same time in 1 process?
software renderers don't use gpu but only cpu. nowadays all cpus have multiple cores. if we use most cores for rendering (for example render-to-texture) it should be great, right?
if so, the software renderer can be a great tool.

[EgonOlsen]

It is possible to use the renderers in parallel to a degree. IIRC, it will hinder the GL renderers performance slightly and combining the results of both will most likely eat up all the benefits that doing so might have. I don't think, that it's worth it.

[MichaelJPCT]

what if gl renderer and software renderer are used to render 2 different display port? not combining the images, but still in 1 process. is this do-able? would it be faster?

[EgonOlsen]

Yes, that should work. Would it be faster...faster than what?

[MichaelJPCT]

i mean, faster than using only gl renderer to render all display ports.

[EgonOlsen]

It depends, I guess. You can run software and hardware renderer in parallel if you are using distinct worlds and objects. You can also make the software renderer use all available cores. If that's faster or not highly depend on the application and if it's worth the hasle...I'm really not sure.