Depth Buffer question

Yes I had that problem ! I my case, the solution was simple but I had to investigate a lot in order to understand what's going on.
When I am in 16 bits depth buffer, no problem, the glPolygonOffset does the job and when I use 24 bits, glPolygonOffset was not working (offset and bias has to be very large and I had allways the problem when the object is close to the observer).
The problem:
Imagine you want to draw 2 polygons that are absolutly co-planar. You want polygon 1 to be allways in front polygon 2.
When they are transformed in the world (view) coordinate, the polygon 1 came a little bit forward the polygon 2 (don't know why). Using a small value in PolygonOffset in 16 bits solve the problem, but using the same value (or bigger) in 24 bits doesn't because the 24 bits is much more precise close to the observer (exponential scale).

The solution:
Translate object 1 by a very small value in front of object 2 (let's say an invisible offset of 0.001 for example depending on what you are drawing) solves the problem for me.
[edit:
Here 2 small drawings if it's clearer ?: Imagine I want to draw a traffic light with 2 polygons
What we expect (perfect world):

what we have in 24 bits when the object come closer:
]

[Edited by - jmaupay on September 7, 2005 8:16:59 AM]