SGI performer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This is one of the Silicon Graphics FAQ series, which consists of:

    SGI admin FAQ - IRIX system administration
    SGI apps FAQ - Applications and miscellaneous programming
    SGI audio FAQ - Audio applications and programming
    SGI diffs FAQ - Changes to the other FAQs since the last posting
    SGI graphics FAQ - Graphics and user environment customization
    SGI hardware FAQ - Hardware
    SGI impressario FAQ - IRIS Impressario
    SGI inventor FAQ - IRIS Inventor
    SGI misc FAQ - Introduction & miscellaneous information
    SGI movie FAQ - Movies
    SGI performer FAQ - IRIS Performer
    SGI pointer FAQ - Pointer to the other FAQs
    SGI security FAQ - IRIX security

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Topics covered in this FAQ:
---------------------------
   -1- ================ General Topics ==================
   -2- What is IRIS Performer?
   -3- Where can I get more technical information about IRIS Performer?
   -4- Where can I get more product information about IRIS Performer?
   -5- The IRIS Performer mailing list
   -6- The IRIS Performer FTP Archives
   -7- The IRIS Performer WWW Pages in Silicon Surf
   -8- The IRIS Performer Technical Report
   -9- How does IRIS Performer relate to IRIS Inventor?
  -10- What version of IRIS Performer should I use?
  -11- What patches should be used with IRIS Performer?
  -12- What version of IRIS Performer am I currently running?
  -13- What are all of the released versions of IRIS Performer?
  -14- Does IRIS Performer use IRIS GL or OpenGL?
  -15- Is there a IRIS Performer file format?
  -16- What database file formats can IRIS Performer read?
  -17- Is there an IRIS Inventor file reader for IRIS Performer?
  -18- What are the .tlf files used by the Performer Town and Village?
  -19- What are the minimum requirements for using IRIS Performer?
  -20- Binary Compatibility on different machines
  -21- Binary Compatibility on different releases
  -22- Guaranteeing Real Time performance
  -23- How do I make GL calls from within a IRIS Performer program?
  -24- How do I overlay graphics on top of my Performer scene?
  -25- What is the difference between phases FREE, FLOAT, and LOCK?
  -26- Use of PFTMPDIR to configure shared memory
  -27- Which rendering primitives does IRIS Performer support?
  -28- How do I do triangle meshes in Performer?
  -29- ================= Known Problems =================
  -30- Video Rate sometimes reported incorrectly
  -31- Problems with Performer Town or Village demos
  -32- Antialiasing
  -33- Coplanar Polygons & pfDecal on certain platforms
  -34- Networked graphics (DGL & GLX)
  -35- Transparency
  -36- Gangdraw and cursor loading
  -37- Frame control on low- and mid-range machines
  -38- Timing on pre-1992 platforms
  -39- 2.0 Warnings from ld when building on IRIX 6.2
  -40- 2.0 Bug OpenGL functions missing when building static executables
  -41- 2.0 Bug Z buffer problems when moving windows on 5.3 EXtreme
  -42- 2.0 Bug Use of more than 512 simultaneous textures
  -43- 2.0 Bug IRIS GL on dual-head systems
  -44- 2.0 Bug Resizing of pfPipeWindows in MP X apps
  -45- 2.0 Bug Applying frustums transformed by pfOrthoXformFrust
  -46- 2.0 Bug pfFlatten with pfCycleBuffer attribute arrays
  -47- 2.0 Bug Sorting lights with pfChanBinSort()
  -48- 2.0 Bug OpenGL disables back material modes
  -49- 2.0 Bug CPU statistics in IRIX 6
  -50- 2.0 Bug pfdLoadFile_flt FLT loader in IRIX 6
  -51- 2.0 Bug hello sample program in IRIX 6
  -52- 2.0 Bug Forked X input handing in IRIX 6.2
  -53- 2.0 Bug Intersections with pfBillboard nodes
  -54- 2.0 Bug Channel fade LOD attributes & mixed gfx configs
  -55- 2.0 Bug libpfui C API incomplete
  -56- 2.0 Bug libpfdb pfdLoadFile_dxf incomplete
  -57- 2.0 Bug libpfdb pfdLoadFile_sgo incomplete
  -58- 2.0 Bug IRIS GL perfly on Indy
  -59- 2.0 Bug pguide/libpf/C/pipewin sample program
  -60- 2.0 Bug pguide/libpf/C/lpstate sample program
  -61- 2.0 Bug pfInitClock() and Video Rate on 250MHz IMPACT
  -62- 1.2 Bug Billboard normals and intersections
  -63- 1.2 Bug Incompatibility with IRIX 6.1 XFS
  -64- 1.2 Bug Billboards with multiple pfGeoSets
  -65- 1.2 Bug Flattening transformation hierarchies
  -66- 1.2 libpf Bug Hang on Exit, 5.2 VGX
  -67- 1.2 libpf Cull with overlapped draw latency
  -68- 1.2 libpf Cull with overlapped draw hang
  -69- 1.2 libpf Transparency Sorting
  -70- 1.2 libpf Multiple EarthSky fog
  -71- 1.2 libpf Bug Limit Phase
  -72- 1.2 libpr Highlighting when using wireframe
  -73- 1.2 libpf APPCULLDRAW does not honor LIMIT/FLOAT/LOCK phases
  -74- 1.2 libpf Phase toggling overlapped cull and draw
  -75- 1.2 libpf pfDataPool warning on exit
  -76- 1.2 libpf Multi-channel stats warning messages
  -77- 1.2 libpf Video warnings on Indy when multiprocessed
  -78- 1.2 stats Frame statistics for lightpoints
  -79- 1.2 stats Pixel fill statistics under 4.0.5 on RealityEngine
  -80- 1.2 libpr Directional pfLightPoints
  -81- 1.2 libpfutil pfuCollide is jerky
  -82- 1.2 libpfutil pfuSaveImage broken
  -83- 1.2 libpfsgi pfLoadDxf loader is incomplete
  -84- 1.2 libpfsgi pfLoadIv loader is incomplete
  -85- 1.2 GLX Overlay text with GLX on 4.0.5
  -86- 1.2 GLX Toggling antialiasing with GLX on 4.0.5 RealityEngine
  -87- 1.2 GLX Toggling antialiasing with GLX on any RealityEngine
  -88- 1.2 GLX on 4.0.5 Indigo, sample programs hang on startup.
  -89- 1.2 samples smallfly drive models broken
  -90- 1.2 samples pickfly drops core under abuse
  -91- 1.2 samples detail example broken on 4.0.5
  -92- 1.2 friends Belvis makefile requires pmake
  -93- 1.2 friends Toon has bad models and textures
  -94- 1.2 docs pfuGetGLXWin wrong on reference page
  -95- 1.2 docs pfuLockDownApp gives the incorrect location
  -96- 1.1 Bug with FP underflow
  -97- 1.1 Bug with Multipipe Onyx
  -98- 1.1 Bug Installing on Indy or Indigo2 XL
  -99- 1.1 Bug Unable to determine Indy graphics type
 -100- 1.1 Bug perfly cannot find libpf.so on Indy running 5.1
 -101- 1.1 Bug perfly FP error messages in 5.0.1
 -102- 1.1 Bug Installation on IRIX 5.2 - missing prerequisites
 -103- 1.0/1.1 Bug intersections with pfSwitch'es
 -104- 1.0/1.1 Bug with pfTexture()
 -105- 1.0/1.1 Bug with pfAntiAlias()
 -106- 1.0/1.1 Bug with pfFlatten()
 -107- 1.0/1.1 Bug with pfSequences
 -108- 1.0/1.1 Bug with pfClosestPtOnPlane()
 -109- 1.0/1.1 Bug on ELAN/XS with wireframe PFGS_QUADS
 -110- 1.0/1.2-IRIX4 Bug Z buffer configuration on 4.0.5 RealityEngine
 -111- 1.0 Bug pfInit(): mmap failed for /dev/zero
 -112- 1.0 Doc Bug in pfMakePolarSeg() man page
 -113- 1.0 Doc Bug in pfDispList() man page
 -114- 1.0 Doc Bug in PFPG (simple.c)
 -115- 1.0 Bug in pfGetTime()
 -116- 1.0 Bug in pfNodeBBox()
 -117- 1.0 Bug in pfInitGfx() with Z-buffer on RealityEngine
 -118- 1.0 Bug in libpfflt combineLODs()
 -119- 1.0 Bug with two-sided material and pfMtlColorMode()
 -120- 1.0 Bug in pfFilePath()
 -121- 1.0 Bug in pfGetCurGState()
 -122- 1.0 Bug in pfGetCurState()
 -123- 1.0 Bug with cloned scenes
 -124- 1.0 Bug intersections in collide.c
 -125- 1.0 Bug with flattened pfLightPoints
 -126- 1.0 Bug intersections with pfSequences
 -127- 1.0 Bug intersections with non-indexed quads