WebGLRenderingContext: hint() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The WebGLRenderingContext.hint() method of the WebGL API specifies hints for certain behaviors. The interpretation of these hints depend on the implementation.

Syntax

js
hint(target, mode)

Parameters

target

Sets which behavior to be controlled. Possible values:

gl.GENERATE_MIPMAP_HINT

Quality of filtering when generating mipmap images with WebGLRenderingContext.generateMipmap().

When using the OES_standard_derivatives extension:

ext.FRAGMENT_SHADER_DERIVATIVE_HINT_OES

Accuracy of the derivative calculation for the GLSL built-in functions: dFdx, dFdy, and fwidth.

When using a WebGL 2 context, the following values are available additionally:

gl.FRAGMENT_SHADER_DERIVATIVE_HINT

Same as ext.FRAGMENT_SHADER_DERIVATIVE_HINT_OES

mode

Sets the behavior. The default value is gl.DONT_CARE. The possible values are:

  • gl.FASTEST: The most efficient behavior should be used.
  • gl.NICEST: The most correct or the highest quality option should be used.
  • gl.DONT_CARE: There is no preference for this behavior.

Return value

None (undefined).

Examples

The following example hints that the quality of filtering when generating mipmap images should be most efficient instead of the best quality.

js
gl.hint(gl.GENERATE_MIPMAP_HINT, gl.FASTEST);

Specifications

Specification
WebGL Specification
# 5.14.3

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
hint
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 9 (Release date: 2011-02-03)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 4 (Release date: 2011-03-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 12 (Release date: 2012-06-14)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 5.1 (Release date: 2011-07-20)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 25 (Release date: 2013-02-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 4 (Release date: 2011-03-29)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 12 (Release date: 2012-02-25)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 8 (Release date: 2014-09-17)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1.5 (Release date: 2013-09-25)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4.3 (Release date: 2014-06-02)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 8 (Release date: 2014-09-17)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also