Voxel Space | Hacker News

A Hacker News comment explains a y-buffer optimization for front-to-back voxel rendering.

The y-buffer stores the highest drawn pixel in each column, letting later voxels skip hidden writes and reducing overdraw.

Because only visible gaps above the geometry need filling, the sky can be drawn without first clearing the whole screen.

The technique improves performance in software voxel graphics and can remove a separate screen-clear step.