Retained mode

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In computing, retained mode rendering is a style for application programming interfaces of graphics libraries, in which the libraries retain a complete model of the objects to be rendered. With this approach, client calls don't cause actual rendering, but update the library's internal list of objects. The library can then control when actual rendering takes place (e.g. managing double buffering) and optimize the processing of related objects (e.g. with occlusion culling), and only data that changes from frame to frame needs to be transferred from the application to the library.

Immediate mode is the opposite approach, but the two styles can coexist in the same library and are not necessarily distant in practice. For example, OpenGL has immediate mode functions that can use previously defined server side objects (textures, vertex and index buffers, shaders, etc.) without resending unchanged data.

[edit] See also

• Scene graph