Create texture directly from volatileImage using Jogl

Question

I'm creating a java implantation of http://alteredqualia.com/visualization/evolve/, as a hobby project. I'm using HW-accelerated Graphics2D to draw the polygons on a volatile image, I then want to create a texture from the volatileImage so I can use glReadPixels to compare the generated image to the original (which is also a texture).

I spent the last 2 hours spitting through various Textures documentations, but there doesn't seem to an easy way to create a texture out of a volatileImage. Did I miss something here, or is this just not possible? I know you can convert the volatileImage to a BufferedImage and then create the Texture, but this method is very slow. Which is a bad thing considering performance is crucial for this program.

Answer 1

There is no direct way because a VolatileImage has no API for obtaining the image data, except by making a copy using snapshot().

In practice, simply use a BufferedImage from the start - there is some magic under the hood of BufferedImage that will make use of hardware acceleration where possible. One thing you must avoid is obtaining a reference of a BufferedImage's DataBuffer, that may break the acceleration.