Implementing a particle system using transform feedback

In this recipe, we will implement a simple particle system using the transform feedback mechanism. In this mode, the GPU bypasses the rasterizer and, later, the programmable graphics pipeline stages to feedback result to the vertex shader. The benefit from this mode is that using this feature, we can implement a physically-based simulation entirely on the GPU.

Getting ready

The code for this recipe is contained in the Chapter8/TransformFeedbackParticles directory.

How to do it…

Let us start this recipe by following these simple steps:

1. Set up two vertex array pairs: one for update and another for rendering. Bind two vertex buffer objects to each of the pairs, as was done in the previous two recipes. Here, the buffer objects will store the per-particle properties. Also, enable the corresponding vertex attributes:

     glGenVertexArrays(2, vaoUpdateID);
     glGenVertexArrays(2, vaoRenderID);
     glGenBuffers( 2, vboID_Pos);
     glGenBuffers(...