Can triangle strips act as triangle fans?

OpenGL Development JOGL Development
#1

I’m trying to design a general stripification algorithm for my triangular meshes. I read one document that described creating a triangle strip where you can incorporate fans into strips by repeating a vertex in the strip. This is done by including ‘null’ triangles in the strip. For example, a strip formed of verticies 1 2 3 4 5 4 6 would form triangles 1 2 3, 4 3 2, 3 4 5, 5 4 6, with the ‘null’ 4 5 4 triangle being skipped.

Is this good practice in OpenGL?

Also, if I’m using VBOs, is there an advantage to stripifying my meshes?

#2

What you read is a standard trick that minimizes triangle strip counts and improves render batching. Since it’s a common technique, the GPUs are able to detect and skip such triangles, but you should make sure that your algorithm doesn’t generate too many (they’re not entirely free).

[quote=“kitfox,post:1,topic:25145”]
Yes, it is.

[quote=“kitfox,post:1,topic:25145”]
Yes, stripification helps vertex processing in general (not just non-VBO geometry, if that’s what you mean).

#3

Only disadvantage (somebody correct me if I’m wrong) is that LOD algoritham can’t go along with strips.