Parallel implementing OpenGL on PVM

A 3D polygon rendering system conforming to the specification of OpenGL is implemented on a PVM (parallel virtual machine). The system is targeted to a low speed network of low cost serial computers. In our parallel rendering algorithm, image space is decomposed to exactly the number of regions equal to the number of processors which reduces the volume of communication and the polygons needed to be rendered more than once on separate renderers. We also propose a transmission scheme that distributes the passing of data throughout the whole process of rendering. Taking advantage of frame-to-frame coherence, load balancing is achieved by decomposing the image space unequally so that the workloads in each space region are proportional to the processing power of the corresponding renders. Distribution of workload and processing power that is volatile during rendering are obtained with linear prediction from statistics of previous frames. The system is practical and scalable for moderate number of processors.