Is open GL no longer available in archicad 26?

[Vlad174]

The hardware acceleration option looks very unnatural and 

 

[AllanP]

Since Archicad 25 it has been called hardware acceleration.

it stills has the same settings.

Archicad 24

Archicad 25

Archicad 26

[Lingwisyer]

The change was just a UI simplification due to iOS moving to Metal.

[MinhNguyen]

Yes. From Archicad 26, Direct3D replaced OpenGL as 3D graphics API, similar to the change from OpenGL to Metal on macOS

[Steve Jepson]

Just one more of 1,000 reasons why we need to have Benchmark files.

How the program works on the equipment we have is a very important factor in evaluating the upgrades. 

Which is better - OpenGL or DirectX  depends on a lot of things that we may not be able to adjust in ArchiCAD, Windows, or with our Graphics Cards.   

And we could benefit from the results of other ArchiCAD users using similar systems on the same Benchmark file.    

[Steve Jepson]

So what is the effect on OpenGL performance with for an NVIDIA GPU Graphics card that we might be using for Rendering (Redshift for example) ?    Does DirectX make any difference? 

This is why it we need a Benchmark file.  

[MinhNguyen]

(since I no longer work for Graphisoft, please take this as unofficial information. I can only share what I can share/know)

OpenGL/DirectX is only active during navigation in 3D. If anything, DirectX should be better in terms of efficiency/performance. If you consider only the performance when navigating in 3D, basically any modern discrete GPU can handle most projects (given that it's cleanly modelled) with ease.

When it comes to rendering, Archicad uses Cinerender. Previously it only utilizes CPU calculation, however Redshift (part of Cinerender engine) now enables you to render with GPU, which should be faster/give better-quality images. Of course, this means that better GPUs take a shorter time to render, however, it will require you to have some knowledge of Cinerender to be able to fully utilize the power of Redshift.