CGLX: A Scalable, High-Performance Visualization Framework for Networked Display Environments

The Cross Platform Cluster Graphics Library (CGLX) is a flexible and transparent OpenGL-based graphics framework for distributed, high-performance visualization systems. CGLX allows OpenGL based applications to utilize massively scalable visualization clusters such as multiprojector or high-resolution tiled display environments and to maximize the achievable performance and resolution. The framework features a programming interface for hardware-accelerated rendering of OpenGL applications on visualization clusters, mimicking a GLUT-like (OpenGL-Utility-Toolkit) interface to enable smooth translation of single-node applications to distributed parallel rendering applications. CGLX provides a unified, scalable, distributed OpenGL context to the user by intercepting and manipulating certain OpenGL directives. CGLX's interception mechanism, in combination with the core functionality for users to register callbacks, enables this framework to manage a visualization grid without additional implementation requirements to the user. Although CGLX grants access to its core engine, allowing users to change its default behavior, general development can occur in the context of a standalone desktop. The framework provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) and tools to test, setup, and configure a visualization cluster. This paper describes CGLX's architecture, tools, and systems components. We present performance and scalability tests with different types of applications, and we compare the results with a Chromium-based approach.