This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.
The WebGL2RenderingContext.drawElementsInstanced()
method of the WebGL 2 API renders primitives from array data like the gl.drawElements()
method. In addition, it can execute multiple instances of a set of elements.
Note: When using WebGL 1, the ANGLE_instanced_arrays
extension can provide this method, too.
Syntax
void gl.drawElementsInstanced(mode, count, type, offset, instanceCount);
Parameters
mode
- A
GLenum
specifying the type primitive to render. Possible values are:gl.POINTS
: Draws a single dot.gl.LINE_STRIP
: Draws a straight line to the next vertex.gl.LINE_LOOP
: Draws a straight line to the next vertex, and connects the last vertex back to the first.gl.LINES
: Draws a line between a pair of vertices.gl.TRIANGLE_STRIP
gl.TRIANGLE_FAN
gl.TRIANGLES
: Draws a triangle for a group of three vertices.
- count
- A
GLsizei
specifying the number of elements to be rendered. - type
- A
GLenum
specifying the type of the values in the element array buffer. Possible values are:gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE
gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT
- When using the
OES_element_index_uint
extension:gl.UNSIGNED_INT
- offset
- A
GLintptr
specifying an offset in the element array buffer. Must be a valid multiple of the size of the giventype
. - instanceCount
- A
GLsizei
specifying the number of instances of the set of elements to execute.
Return value
None.
Exceptions
- If
mode
is not one of the accepted values, agl.INVALID_ENUM
error is thrown. - If
offset
is a valid multiple of the size of the given type, agl.INVALID_OPERATION
error is thrown. - If
count
orinstanceCount
are negative, agl.INVALID_VALUE
error is thrown.
Examples
gl.drawElementsInstanced(gl.POINTS, 2, gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, 0, 4);
Specifications
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
WebGL 2.0 The definition of 'drawElementsInstanced' in that specification. |
Editor's Draft | Initial definition for WebGL. |
OpenGL ES 3.0 The definition of 'glDrawElementsInstanced' in that specification. |
Standard | Man page of the (similar) OpenGL API. |
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Desktop | Mobile | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
drawElementsInstanced | Chrome Full support 56 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 51 | IE No support No | Opera Full support 43 | Safari No support No | WebView Android Full support 58 | Chrome Android Full support 58 | Firefox Android Full support 51 | Opera Android Full support 43 | Safari iOS No support No | Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support