Porting Guide

Given that the changes in the v9 API are quite extensive, this separate porting guide is provided to hopefully help plan the upgrade process.

v9 API Design background

We'll start with motivating the changes in v9.

Why is the v9 API a major breaking change?

The v8 API design was focused on providing a set of classes optimized for working with the WebGL2 API, and a significant part of the code was untyped, predating TypeScript introduction.

The v9 API design makes a number breaking changes in order to take full advantage of WebGPU and TypeScript.

Goal: A "WebGPU-first" API

Adding WebGPU support was the top priority for luma.gl v9. Some consideration was given towards keeping the existing WebGL2-centric API and providing a WebGPU implementation for that API, to avoid breaking applications. But ultimately that did not make sense. The WebGPU API is quite different from WebGL. WebGPU was designed to avoid the performance overhead that is unavoidable in WebGL APIs (e.g. avoid repeated validation of GPU objects, avoid repeated issuing of same commands, avoid constructs that prevent deep shader optimizations etc). WebGPU is clearly the future of GPU APIs in the browser (WebGL is no longer evolving). It seems doubtful that luma.gl would be able to remain relevant if it stuck to a WebGL-focused API.

Goal: A "TypeScript-first" API

As luma.gl continued to adopt TypeScript it become clear that modern TypeScript enables a number of simpler, more intuitive API constructions. One example is that in TypeScript we can now safely specify that an "enum type" argument must be one of a few specific strings. By using string values in types, we don't need to introduce enumerations or key-value object constants. As an example the Sampler minFilter property is now specified as either 'linear' or 'nearest', rather than GL.LINEAR or GL.NEAREST. This move to string constant values enabled luma.gl to align string constants with the WebGPU standard, avoiding the need to define additional mappings and abstractions on top of the WebGPU API.

Goal: Improved Maintainability

Another reason for the breaking changes in v9 is simply the removal and restructuring of legacy code. Over 8 releases, the luma.gl API had grown quite large. It exposed all the functionality offered by WebGL2, however many WebGL 2 functions were rarely used. luma.gl contained a lot of code for mutating WebGL resources, which would not work for an applications that also attempts to run on WebGPU, since WebGPU classes are (mostly) immutable. In addition, some core maintainers of luma.gl have moved on, so we took the opportunity to cut out some legacy code to make sure the code base remains accessible and easy to understand for the community. The new WebGPU compatible API provided the just the lens we needed to decide which particular pieces of functionality should be cut.

Effort Estimation

Suddenly having to upgrade an existing application to a new breaking API version is never fun. A first step for a developer is often to assess how much effort an upgrade is likely to require.

While it is impossible for us to assess here how much work will be required for your specific application, and the list of luma.gl v9 changes listed below is long, it probably looks worse than it is:

• While the entire API has been modernized, the overall structure and concepts of the classic luma.gl API have been preserved.
• The API abstraction level has not changed, and while constants and names etc will need to be updated, programmers should find themselves comfortably working with the same classes in luma.gl v9 as they did in v8, without having to re-learn the API.
• They key building block classes like AnimationLoop, Model, Buffer, Texture etc are still available.
• Many changes affect parts of the API that are not frequently used in most applications.
• In addition, the strong TypeScript typings in luma.gl v9 should create a strong safety net when porting. This means that the typescript compiler should be able to pinpoint most breakages in your application before you even run your code.

Quick v9 API overview

The luma.gl v9 API is designed to provide portable WebGPU / WebGL 2 API, ground-up TypeScript support, and strong support for working with both WGSL and GLSL shaders.

The new v9 GPU API is now an abstract Device API, meaning that the API itself is specified in terms of TypeScript interfaces and abstract classes that cannot be directly instantiates. Types such as Buffer, Texture etc can not be used on their own, but a subclass that implements the functionality of that class a specific GPU API must be requested from a Device (WebGLBuffer, WebGPUTexture).

The new Device class provides the access point to the new GPU interface. It creates and instruments the WebGL context or the WebGPU adapter, and provides methods to create all the implementation classes (WebGLDevice.createBuffer(... => WebGLBuffer, WebGPUDevice.createTexture(... => WebGLGPUTexture)

The new CanvasContext class handles context sizing, resolution etc.

The v9 API no longer accepts/returns GL constants, but instead uses the corresponding string values from the WebGPU standard (mapping those transparently under WebGL).

• The parameter API has been updated to more closely match the WebGPU API. Also parameters are specified on pipelines and render pass creation and are and not as easy to change per draw call as they were in luma.gl v8.

In progress

• Reading and writing buffers is now an async operation. While WebGL does not support async reads and writes on MacOS, the API is still async to ensure portability to WebGPU.

• Uniform buffers are now the standard way for the application to specify uniforms. Uniform buffers are "emulated" under WebGL.

A subset of the new interfaces in the luma.gl v9 API:

Interface	Description
Adapter	luma.gl exposes GPU capabilities on the device in the form of one or more as Adapters.
Device	Manages resources, and the device’s GPUQueues, which execute commands.
Buffer	The physical resources backed by GPU memory. A Device may have its own memory with high-speed access to the processing units.
Texture	Like buffer, but supports random access
GPUCommandBuffer and GPURenderBundle are containers for user-recorded commands.
Shader	Compiled shader code.
Sampler	or GPUBindGroup, configure the way physical resources are used by the GPU.

GPUs execute commands encoded in GPUCommandBuffers by feeding data through a pipeline, which is a mix of fixed-function and programmable stages. Programmable stages execute shaders, which are special programs designed to run on GPU hardware. Most of the state of a pipeline is defined by a GPURenderPipeline or a GPUComputePipeline object. The state not included in these pipeline objects is set during encoding with commands, such as beginRenderPass() or setBlendColor().

Porting Strategy

This is based on the porting strategy used to port deck.gl, which is the biggest luma.gl-dependent code base.

Step 1: Update Imports

• Change imports from @luma.gl/gltools to @luma.gl/webgl.
• Change imports from @luma.gl/core to @luma.gl/webgl.

Step 2: Replace WebGLRenderingContext with Device

The quickest way to start porting would be to start updating your application to consistently use the new Device class instead of directly working with .

• Feature Detection - At the end of this stage it is also possible to replace feature detection constants with the new device.features functionality.

Step 3: Replace canvas manipulation with CanvasContext

The handling of canvas related functionality (size, resolution etc) can be a messy part of WebGL applications.

Step 3: Replace parameter names

Recommended changes:

• Gradually reduce the number of imports @luma.gl/constants and start adopting string constants.

Upgrading GPU Parameters

• Parameters are set on Pipeline creation. They can not be modified, or passed as parameters to draw calls.
• Parameters can now only be set, not queried. luma.gl no longer provides a way to query parameters.

Depth testing

To set up depth testing

const value = model.setParameters({
  depthWriteEnabled: true,
  depthCompare: 'less-equal'
});

Upgrading to v9.0

luma.gl v9 is a major modernization of the luma.gl API, so the upgrade notes for this release are unusually long. This page primarily contains a reference list of API changes. To facilitate porting to the v9 release we have also provided a Porting Guide that provides more background information and recommended porting strategies.

Removed Functionality

Going forward, luma.gl will focus on leveraging the capabilities WebGPU, while maintaining a high-quality, compatible WebGL2 backend. To accelerate this roadmap, luma.gl v9 is dropping WebGL 1 support.

• WebGL1 is no longer supported. The @luma.gl/webgl backend now always creates a WebGL2 context.
• GLSL 1.00 is no longer supported. GLSL shaders need to be ported to GLSL 3.00.
• headless-gl integration for Node.js is no longer supported (as it only supported WebGL 1).

Non-API changes

luma.gl v9 upgrades tooling and packaging to latest JavaScript ecosystem standards:

• ES modules - luma.gl is now published as ES modules. This is the modern way of packaging JavaScript applications that fully embraces the static import/export syntax. While most bundlers and Node.js environments have added support for ES modules, they can introduce incompatibilities with code that uses legacy imports. Getting your build tooling and code base ready for ES modules may be a good first step before you start upgrading luma.gl.
• Dependencies - luma.gl v9 introduces major version bumps of its key vis.gl dependencies: math.gl v4, loaders.gl v4 and probe.gl v4. These upgrades ensures that all dependencies also use the same ES module packaging and follow latest typescript standards. Since the new libraries are more strongly typed, some new warnings or errors may result from this upgrade, however we expect that developers will welcome the increased type safety.

Module-level changes

Module	v8 Description	v9 Replacement
@luma.gl/core	The core module was re-exporting other modules.	Replace direct use of WebGL classes with @luma.gl/core device API. import directly from @luma.gl/shadertools.
@luma.gl/webgl	Exported WebGL classes meant for direct usage.	Now exports the WebGL backend for the @luma.gl/core module. @luma.gl/webgl-legacy now offers the legacy luma.gl v8 WebGL API.
@luma.gl/constants	Exported numeric OpenGL constants.	Do not use. The luma.gl v9 API uses strictly typed WebGPU-style strings instead of numeric constants.
@luma.gl/gltools	Contained WebGL context functionality.	Removed. WebGL context is now handled by the @luma.gl/webgl WebGLDevice and @luma.gl/core CanvasContext classes.

Core Modules

@luma.gl/core

• The core module is no longer an umbrella module that simply re-exports exports from other modules.
• It now provides the abstract luma.gl Device API (for which @luma.gl/webgpu and @luma.gl/webgl provide backends).

@luma.gl/engine

• The engine module is largely unchanged in that it provides the same classes as before.

@luma.gl/webgl

• While the webgl module still contains the WebGL 2 classes, these classes can no longer be imported directly. Instead the application should use Device create methods (device.createBuffer(), device.createTexture() etc to create these ojects in a portable way).

@luma.gl/constants (INTERNAL)

• The constant module remains but is now considered an internal luma.gl module, and is no longer intended to be imported by applications.
• In the external API, all WebGL-style numeric constants (GL. constants) have been replaced with strictly typed WebGPU style string constants.

@luma.gl/debug (REMOVED)

The debug module has been removed. Debug functionality is now built-in (and dynamically loaded when needed) so there is no longer a need to import a separate debug module.

@luma.gl/experimental

• Scene graph exports (ModelNode, GroupNode, ScenegraphNode) has been moved into @luma.gl/engine.
• glTF exports have been moved to @luma.gl/gltf.

@luma.gl/gltools (removed, no longer needed, see Upgrade Guide)

Detailed Upgrade Guide

@luma.gl/engine

AnimationLoop

v8 Prop or Method	v9 Replacement	Comment
Properties
props.gl	props.device	Now accepts a Promise<Device>.
props.glOptions	luma.createDevice(<options>)	See CreateDeviceProps
props.createFramebuffer	N/A	You will need to create framebuffers explicitly.
props.debug	luma.createDevice({debugWebGL: true}})	Device debug option naming improvements.
Methods
animationLoop.isContextLost()	device.lost, device.isLost()

luma.gl/core / @luma.gl/webgl

The core module was re-exporting the webgl classes.

A long list of changes, some required to make the API portable between WebGPU and WebGL, and many to accommodate the limitations of the more locked-down WebGPU API.

v8	v9	Comment
new Buffer(gl, props)	device.createBuffer(props)	WebGL classes such as Buffer, Texture2D etc can no longer be imported and instantiated with . Instead they must be created via a device methods.
Program	RenderPipeline	WebGPU alignment

@luma.gl/gltools (removed)

The WebGL context functions from @luma.gl/gltools(createGLContext etc), have been replaced by methods on to the new Device and CanvasContext classes.

The v8 luma.gl API was designed to allow apps to work directly with the WebGLRenderingContext object. v9 enables applications to work portably with both WebGPU and WebGL, and accordingly it wraps the WebGL context in a Device instance.

v8 Prop or Method	v9 Replacement	Comment
WebGLRenderingContext	Device.gl	Contexts are created (or wrapped) by the Device class.
WebGL2RenderingContext	Device.gl	Contexts are created (or wrapped) by the Device class.
getWebGL2Context(gl)	device.gl2
assertWebGLContext(gl)	N/A	A device will always hold a valid WebGL context
assertWebGL2Context(gl)	N/A	Not needed. WebGL devices now always use WebGL2.
createGLContext()	luma.createDevice()	Will create a WebGL context if WebGLDevice is registered.
createGLContext({onContextLost})	device.lost	Promise that lets the application await context loss.
instrumentGLContext()	WebGLDevice.attach(gl)	Contexts are now automatically instrumented.
polyfillGLContext()	N/A
hasFeature(feature)	device.features.has(feature)	Note: Feature names now defined by WebGPU style strings.
getFeatures()	Array.from(device.features)
getGLContextInfo(gl)	device.info	Returned object is keyed with strings instead of GL constants.
getContextLimits(gl)	device.limits	Returns "WebGPU style" limits instead of WebGL style enums
canvas	device.canvasContext.canvas
resizeGLContext(gl, options)	canvasContext.resize(options)	Same options: {width, height, useDevicePixels}
getDevicePixelRatio()	canvasContext.getDevicePixelRatio()	Uses useDevicePixels prop on the CanvasContext
setDevicePixelRatio()	canvasContext.setDevicePixelRatio()
	canvasContext.getPixelSize()
	canvasContext.getAspect()
cssToDeviceRatio()	canvasContext.cssToDeviceRatio()
cssToDevicePixels()	canvasContext.cssToDevicePixels()
hasFeature(gl, ...)	device.features.has(...)	See feature constant mapping below

@luma.gl/constants

v8 Prop or Method	v9 Replacement	Comment
import GL from @luma.gl/constants	import {GL} from @luma.gl/constants	Changed to use a named export ( => ) for ES module compatibility.

@luma.gl/debug**

v8 Prop or Method	v9 Replacement	Comment
makeDebugContext()	luma.createDevice({debugWebGL: true, type: 'webgl'})	Khronos WebGL developer tools are dynamically loaded when needed.
Spector.js	luma.createDevice({debugSpectorJS: true}, type: 'webgl'})	Spector.js is pre-integrated. The Spector.js library will be dynamically loaded when needed and the canvas is "captured".

Constant Upgrade Guide

Features

Feature constants have been changed to match the WebGPU API and will need to be updated. The strong typing in the luma.gl v9 API means that TypeScript will detect unsupported feature names which should make the conversion process less painful.

luma.gl v8 FEATURE	v9 DeviceFeature	Comments
General WebGL Features
FEATURES.WEBGL2	webgl	True for WebGL Contexts
FEATURES.TIMER_QUERY	timer-query-webgl	[Query][/]ocs/api-reference/webgl/query) for asynchronous GPU timings
FEATURES.INSTANCED_RENDERING	N/A (always true)	Instanced rendering (via instanced vertex attributes)
FEATURES.VERTEX_ARRAY_OBJECT	N/A (always true)	VertexArrayObjects can be created
FEATURES.ELEMENT_INDEX_UINT32	N/A (always true)	32 bit indices available for GL.ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFERs
FEATURES.BLEND_MINMAX	N/A (always true)	GL.MIN, GL.MAX blending modes are available
FEATURES.FRAGMENT_SHADER_DRAW_BUFFERS	N/A (always true)	Fragment shader can draw to multiple render targets
FEATURES.FRAGMENT_SHADER_DEPTH	N/A (always true)	Fragment shader can control fragment depth value
FEATURES.SHADER_TEXTURE_LOD	N/A (always true)	Enables shader control of LOD
FEATURES.FRAGMENT_SHADER_DERIVATIVES	N/A (always true)	Derivative functions are available in GLSL
Textures and Framebuffers
FEATURES.TEXTURE_FLOAT	texture-renerable-float32-webgl	Floating point textures can be created / set as samplers
FEATURES.TEXTURE_HALF_FLOAT	float16-renderable-webgl	Half float textures can be created and set as samplers
FEATURES.MULTIPLE_RENDER_TARGETS	multiple-renderable--webgl1	Framebuffer multiple color attachments that fragment shaders can access
FEATURES.COLOR_ATTACHMENT_RGBA32F	rgba32float-renderable-webgl1	Floating point Texture in the GL.RGBA32F format are renderable & readable
FEATURES.COLOR_ATTACHMENT_FLOAT	webgl1	Floating point Textures renderable + readable.
FEATURES.COLOR_ATTACHMENT_HALF_FLOAT	webgl1	Half float format Textures are renderable and readable
FEATURES.FLOAT_BLEND	texture-blend-float-webgl	Blending with 32-bit floating point color buffers
TEXTURE_FILTER_LINEAR_FLOAT	float32-filterable-linear-webgl1	Linear texture filtering for floating point textures
FEATURES.TEXTURE_FILTER_LINEAR_HALF_FLOAT	float16-filterable-linear-webgl1	Linear texture filtering for half float textures
FEATURES.TEXTURE_FILTER_ANISOTROPIC	texture-filterable-anisotropic-webgl	Anisotropic texture filtering
FEATURES.SRGB	texture-formats-srgb-webgl1	sRGB encoded rendering is available
FEATURES.TEXTURE_DEPTH_BUFFERS	texture-formats-depth-webgl1	Depth buffers can be stored in Textures, e.g. for shadow map calculations

GPU Parameters

| setParameters | | Parameters can no longer be set on the WebGL context. They must be set on a RenderPipeline. | | setParameters || - RenderPipeline parameters cannot be changed after creation (though the Model class will create new RenderPipeline instances if parameters change).

• Some parameters are set on RenderPass.
• Constant attributes are no longer supported.
• clear can no longer be called directly. Instead attachments are cleared when a RenderPass is created and clear colors must be specified in beginRenderPass.
• Uniform buffers are required to run under WebGPU.

Parameter Mapping

The following table shows mappings from luma v8 WebGL parameters to luma v9 WebGPU style parameters.

luma v8 / WebGL Parameter	v9 Parameter	Values	v9 Values
polygonOffset	depthBias, depthBiasSlopeScale
depthRange	N/A
clearDepth
Rasterization Parameters
cullFace	cullMode	Which face to cull	'none', 'front', 'back'
frontFace	frontFace	Which triangle winding order is front	ccw, cw
polygonOffset	depthBias	Small depth offset for polygons	float
polygonOffset	depthBiasSlopeScale	Small depth factor for polygons	float
polygonOffset	depthBiasClamp	Max depth offset for polygons	float
Stencil Parameters
stencilMask / GL.STENCIL_WRITEMASK	stencilReadMask	Binary mask for reading stencil values	number (0xffffffff)
stencilFunc / GL.STENCIL_VALUE_MASK	stencilWriteMask	Binary mask for writing stencil values	number (0xffffffff)
stencilFunc / GL.STENCIL_FUNC	stencilCompare	How the mask is compared	always, not-equal, ...
stencilOp / GL.STENCIL_PASS_DEPTH_PASS	stencilPassOperation		'keep'
stencilOp / GL.STENCIL_PASS_DEPTH_FAIL	stencilDepthFailOperation		'keep'
stencilOp / GL.STENCIL_FAIL	stencilFailOperation		'keep'
stencilOpSeparate
Sampler Parameters
magFilter / GL.TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER *	magFilter, mipmapFilter, lodMinClamp, lodMaxClamp		'linear', 'nearest', ...
minFilter / GL.TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER *	minFilter, mipmapFilter, lodMinClamp, lodMaxClamp		'linear', 'nearest', ...

* Note that the magFilter, minFilter, and mipmapFilter parameters accept only 'nearest' and 'linear' as values. To disable use of mipmaps on a texture that includes them, set lodMaxClamp to zero.

---

caution

TODO - this section needs updating

WebGL Function	WebGL Parameters	luma.gl v9 counterpart
clearStencil	GL.STENCIL_CLEAR_VALUE
	[]	stencilWriteMask
stencilFunc	[GL.STENCIL_FUNC, GL.STENCIL_REF, GL.STENCIL_VALUE_MASK]	stencilCompare, stencilReadMask
stencilOp	GL.STENCIL_FAIL, `,	stencilPassOperation, `stencilFailDepth
stencilOpSeparate	[GL.STENCIL_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_FAIL_DEPTH_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_FAIL_DEPTH_PASS, GL.STENCIL_BACK_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_BACK_FAIL_DEPTH_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_BACK_FAIL_DEPTH_PASS]	N/A
GL.STENCIL_TEST	false	Enables stencil testing
GL.STENCIL_CLEAR_VALUE	0	Sets index used when stencil buffer is cleared.
GL.STENCIL_WRITEMASK	0xFFFFFFFF	Sets bit mask enabling writing of individual bits in the stencil planes
GL.STENCIL_BACK_WRITEMASK	0xFFFFFFFF	Sets bit mask enabling writing of individual bits in the stencil planes
GL.STENCIL_FUNC	GL.ALWAYS
GL.STENCIL_REF	0
GL.STENCIL_VALUE_MASK	0xFFFFFFFF	Sets bit mask
GL.STENCIL_BACK_FUNC	GL.ALWAYS
GL.STENCIL_BACK_REF	0
GL.STENCIL_BACK_VALUE_MASK	0xFFFFFFFF	Sets bit mask enabling writing of individual bits in the stencil planes
GL.STENCIL_FAIL	GL.KEEP	stencil test fail action
GL.STENCIL_PASS_DEPTH_FAIL	GL.KEEP	depth test fail action
GL.STENCIL_PASS_DEPTH_PASS	GL.KEEP	depth test pass action
GL.STENCIL_BACK_FAIL	GL.KEEP	stencil test fail action, back
GL.STENCIL_BACK_PASS_DEPTH_FAIL	GL.KEEP	depth test fail action, back
GL.STENCIL_BACK_PASS_DEPTH_PASS	GL.KEEP	depth test pass action, back
Blending
blendColor	GL.BLEND_COLOR
blendEquation	[GL.BLEND_EQUATION_RGB, GL.BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA]
blendFunc	[GL.BLEND_SRC_RGB, GL.BLEND_SRC_ALPHA]
blendFuncSeparate	[GL.BLEND_SRC_RGB, GL.BLEND_SRC_ALPHA, GL.BLEND_DST_RGB, GL.BLEND_DST_ALPHA]
GL.BLEND	GLboolean	false
GL.BLEND_COLOR	Float32Array(4)	[0, 0, 0, 0]
GL.BLEND_EQUATION_RGB	GLenum	GL.FUNC_ADD
GL.BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA	GLenum	GL.FUNC_ADD
GL.BLEND_SRC_RGB	GLenum	GL.ONE
GL.BLEND_SRC_ALPHA	GLenum	GL.ZERO
GL.BLEND_DST_RGB	GLenum	GL.ONE
GL.BLEND_DST_ALPHA	GLenum	GL.ZERO

• Depth Bias - Sometimes referred to as "polygon offset". Adds small offset to fragment depth values (by factor × DZ + r × units). Usually used as a heuristic to avoid z-fighting, but can also be used for effects like applying decals to surfaces, and for rendering solids with highlighted edges. The semantics of polygon offsets are loosely specified by the WebGL standard and results can thus be driver dependent.

After the fragment shader runs, optional stencil tests are performed, with resulting operations on the the stencil buffer.

V8/WebGL Function	Description	Values
Stencil Parameters
stencilReadMask	Binary mask for reading stencil values	number (0xffffffff)
stencilWriteMask	Binary mask for writing stencil values	number (0xffffffff)	gl.frontFace
stencilCompare	How the mask is compared	always, not-equal, ...	gl.stencilFunc
stencilPassOperation		'keep'	gl.stencilOp
stencilDepthFailOperation		'keep'	gl.stencilOp
stencilFailOperation		'keep'	gl.stencilOp

Action when the stencil test fails

• stencil test fail action,
• depth test fail action,
• pass action

Remarks:

• By using binary masks, an 8 bit stencil buffer can effectively contain 8 separate masks or stencils
• The luma.gl API currently does not support setting stencil operations separately for front and back faces.

WebGL Function	WebGL Parameters	luma.gl v9 counterpart
clearStencil	GL.STENCIL_CLEAR_VALUE
stencilMask	[GL.STENCIL_WRITEMASK]	stencilWriteMask
stencilFunc	[GL.STENCIL_FUNC, GL.STENCIL_REF, GL.STENCIL_VALUE_MASK]	stencilCompare, stencilReadMask
stencilOp	GL.STENCIL_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_PASS_DEPTH_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_PASS_DEPTH_PASS	stencilPassOperation, `stencilFailDepth
stencilOpSeparate	[GL.STENCIL_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_FAIL_DEPTH_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_FAIL_DEPTH_PASS] *	N/A

* GL.STENCIL_BACK_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_BACK_FAIL_DEPTH_FAIL, GL.STENCIL_BACK_FAIL_DEPTH_PASS

• In WebGL, setting any value will enable stencil testing (i.e. enable GL.STENCIL_TEST).

• In WebGL, setting any value will enable stencil testing (i.e. enable GL.STENCIL_TEST).

Clear Color

Function	Sets parameters
clearColor	GL.COLOR_CLEAR_VALUE

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.COLOR_CLEAR_VALUE	new Float32Array(4)	[0, 0, 0, 0]	.

Color Mask

Function	Sets parameters
colorMask	GL.COLOR_WRITEMASK

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.COLOR_WRITEMASK	[GLboolean, GLboolean, GLboolean, GLboolean]	[true, true, true, true]	.

Dithering

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.DITHER	GLboolean	true	Enable dithering of color components before they get written to the color buffer

• Note: Dithering is driver dependent and typically has a stronger effect when the color components have a lower number of bits.

PolygonOffset

Add small offset to fragment depth values (by factor × DZ + r × units) Useful for rendering hidden-line images, for applying decals to surfaces, and for rendering solids with highlighted edges.

Function	Sets parameters
polygonOffset	[GL.POLYGON_OFFSET_FACTOR, GL.POLYGON_OFFSET_UNITS]

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.POLYGON_OFFSET_FILL	GLboolean	false	.
GL.POLYGON_OFFSET_FACTOR	GLfloat	0	.
GL.POLYGON_OFFSET_UNITS	GLfloat	0	.

• Note: The semantics of polygon offsets are loosely specified by the WebGL standard and results can thus be driver dependent.

Rasterization (WebGL 2)

Primitives are discarded immediately before the rasterization stage, but after the optional transform feedback stage. gl.clear() commands are ignored.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.RASTERIZER_DISCARD	GLboolean	false	Disable rasterization

Sampling

Specify multisample coverage parameters

Function	Sets parameters
sampleCoverage	[GL.SAMPLE_COVERAGE_VALUE, GL.SAMPLE_COVERAGE_INVERT]

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL_SAMPLE_COVERAGE	GLboolean	false	Activates the computation of a temporary coverage value determined by the alpha value.
GL_SAMPLE_ALPHA_TO_COVERAGE	GLboolean	false	Activates ANDing the fragment's coverage with the temporary coverage value
GL.SAMPLE_COVERAGE_VALUE	GLfloat	1.0
GL.SAMPLE_COVERAGE_INVERT	GLboolean	false

Scissor Test

Settings for scissor test and scissor box.

Function	Sets parameters
scissor	GL.SCISSOR_BOX
scissorTest	GL.SCISSOR_TEST

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.SCISSOR_TEST	GLboolean	false
GL.SCISSOR_BOX	Int32Array(4)	[null, null, null, null]), // TBD

Viewport

Specifies the transformation from normalized device coordinates to window/framebuffer coordinates. The maximum supported value, is defined by the GL.MAX_VIEWPORT_DIMS limit.

Function	Parameters
viewport	GL.VIEWPORT

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.VIEWPORT	Int32Array(4)	[...] TBD	Viewport

Example:

// Set viewport to maximum supported size
const maxViewport = getLimits(gl)[GL.MAX_VIEWPORT_DIMS];
setState(gl, {
  viewport: [0, 0, maxViewport[0], maxViewport[1]]
});

Remarks

GPU State Management can be quite complicated.

• A large part of the WebGL API is devoted to parameters. When reading, querying individual values using GL constants is the norm, and when writing, special purpose functions are provided for most parameters. luma.gl supports both forms for both reading and writing parameters.
• Reading values from WebGL can be very slow if it requires a GPU roundtrip. To get around this, luma.gl reads values once, caches them and tracks them as they are changed through luma functions. The cached values can get out of sync if the context is shared outside of luma.gl.
• luma.gl's state management enables "conflict-free" programming, so that even when setting global state, one part of the code does not need to worry about whether other parts are changing the global state.
• Note that to fully support the conflict-free model and detect changes done e.g. in other WebGL libraries, luma.gl needs to hook into the WebGL context to track state changes.

---

Depth testing

To set up depth testing

const value = model.setParameters({
  depthWriteEnabled: true,
  depthCompare: 'less-equal'
});

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.STENCIL_TEST	GLboolean	false	Enables stencil testing
GL.STENCIL_CLEAR_VALUE	GLint	0	Sets index used when stencil buffer is cleared.
GL.STENCIL_WRITEMASK	GLuint	0xFFFFFFFF	Sets bit mask enabling writing of individual bits in the stencil planes
GL.STENCIL_BACK_WRITEMASK	GLuint	0xFFFFFFFF	Sets bit mask enabling writing of individual bits in the stencil planes
GL.STENCIL_FUNC	GLenum	GL.ALWAYS
GL.STENCIL_REF	GLint	0
GL.STENCIL_VALUE_MASK	GLuint	0xFFFFFFFF	Sets bit mask
GL.STENCIL_BACK_FUNC	GLenum	GL.ALWAYS
GL.STENCIL_BACK_REF	GLint	0
GL.STENCIL_BACK_VALUE_MASK	GLuint	0xFFFFFFFF	Sets bit mask enabling writing of individual bits in the stencil planes
GL.STENCIL_FAIL	GLenum	GL.KEEP	stencil test fail action
GL.STENCIL_PASS_DEPTH_FAIL	GLenum	GL.KEEP	depth test fail action
GL.STENCIL_PASS_DEPTH_PASS	GLenum	GL.KEEP	depth test pass action
GL.STENCIL_BACK_FAIL	GLenum	GL.KEEP	stencil test fail action, back
GL.STENCIL_BACK_PASS_DEPTH_FAIL	GLenum	GL.KEEP	depth test fail action, back
GL.STENCIL_BACK_PASS_DEPTH_PASS	GLenum	GL.KEEP	depth test pass action, back

Blending

Function style	Sets parameter(s)
blendColor	GL.BLEND_COLOR
blendEquation	[GL.BLEND_EQUATION_RGB, GL.BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA]
blendFunc	[GL.BLEND_SRC_RGB, GL.BLEND_SRC_ALPHA]
blendFuncSeparate	[GL.BLEND_SRC_RGB, GL.BLEND_SRC_ALPHA, GL.BLEND_DST_RGB, GL.BLEND_DST_ALPHA]

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
GL.BLEND	GLboolean	false	Blending enabled
GL.BLEND_COLOR	Float32Array(4)	[0, 0, 0, 0]
GL.BLEND_EQUATION_RGB	GLenum	GL.FUNC_ADD
GL.BLEND_EQUATION_ALPHA	GLenum	GL.FUNC_ADD
GL.BLEND_SRC_RGB	GLenum	GL.ONE	srcRgb
GL.BLEND_SRC_ALPHA	GLenum	GL.ZERO	srcAlpha
GL.BLEND_DST_RGB	GLenum	GL.ONE	dstRgb
GL.BLEND_DST_ALPHA	GLenum	GL.ZERO	dstAlpha