optimizing jit.gl.render

Hi all,

I was wondering if someone could kindly help me figure out another
[trivial?] OpenGL question. As I embark on optimization of the rendering
system, I happen to remember reading somewhere that some optimizations may
be performed on 3d scenes by avoiding rendering stuff that is off-screen
and/or occluded by other objects. Now, jit.window has depthbuffer option
which should allow for removing occluded surfaces, but I wonder if this
actually improves framerate at all or is this simply a way to avoid visual
artifacts of 3D objects. By the same token, is there any other option that
may have escaped my googling/surfing jitter docs, which could further
improve framerate, assuming that everything is done within opengl using
basic jit.gl.model, jit.gl.sketch, jit.gl.mesh, and a couple instances of
jit.gl.videoplane (in other words let's assume it's a simple scene with a
number of objects, some of which have larger poly counts and as such would
benefit if GPU did not have to deal with occluded surfaces that may have
large poly counts in and of themselves). Apropos the same question, is it
safe to assume that these things are already optimized within the GPU
driver, Jitter, both or neither? If neither, I would greatly appreciate some
pointers where I can learn more about such optimizations.

Any help is most appreciated!

Best wishes,

Ivica Ico Bukvic, D.M.A.
Composition, Music Technology, CCTAD, CHCI
Virginia Tech
Dept. of Music - 0240
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(540) 231-1137
(540) 231-5034 (fax)
ico@vt.edu
http://www.music.vt.edu/people/faculty/bukvic/
http://ico.bukvic.net