Disable backface culling by default for newton warp renderer

[huidongc]

Description

Disable backface culling by default for newton warp renderer. User can opt out if needed by setting NewtonWarpRendererCfg.enable_backface_culling.

Fixes OMPE-103486

Type of change

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)

Screenshots

Please attach before and after screenshots of the change if applicable.

State	Screenshot
Before
After

Dexsuite runtime benchmark

Performance and memory impact of disabling Newton Warp backface culling by default
(NewtonWarpRendererCfg.enable_backface_culling: True → False).

Comparison — before vs. after

Δ = after (afc3ebd9) − before (50a244ec / develop). Positive FPS Δ% means after is faster; negative GPU-mem / RAM Δ% means after uses less memory.

Variant	Envs	FPS Δ%	Env create Δ%	First step Δ%	GPU mem peak Δ%	RAM peak Δ%
homogeneous	4096	+2.98%	-1.14%	-2.87%	+4.15%	-0.24%

Takeaways:

• FPS change is within typical run-to-run noise for this single-config sample.
• GPU memory peak and host RAM peak are essentially unchanged.
• Env-creation / first-step times are also within noise for this setup.

Before — 50a244ec70a (develop)

Baseline with enable_backface_culling=True (previous default).

Item	Value
Commit	50a244ec70a Handle single-world coupled MPM resets (#6955)
Setting	NewtonWarpRendererCfg.enable_backface_culling = True
Results dir	huidongc/benchmarks/20260807_newton_bfc_before_develop/

Variant	Envs	FPS mean	FPS peak	Iter s mean	GPU mem mean (GB)	GPU mem peak (GB)	RAM mean (GB)	RAM peak (GB)	GPU util %	Env create s	First step s
homogeneous	4096	42192.8	48652.8	0.0971	4.82	4.82	4.14	4.14	87.9	35.9	0.8

After — afc3ebd9 (enable_backface_culling=False)

Same benchmark after disabling backface culling by default.

Item	Value
Commit	afc3ebd9 Disable Newton Warp backface culling by default
Setting	NewtonWarpRendererCfg.enable_backface_culling = False
Results dir	huidongc/benchmarks/20260807_newton_bfc_after_7a64e7b/

Variant	Envs	FPS mean	FPS peak	Iter s mean	GPU mem mean (GB)	GPU mem peak (GB)	RAM mean (GB)	RAM peak (GB)	GPU util %	Env create s	First step s
homogeneous	4096	43450.7	49929.3	0.0943	4.93	5.02	4.13	4.13	87.2	35.5	0.8

Setup

Item	Value
GPU	NVIDIA RTX A6000
Task	Isaac-Lift-KukaAllegro-Camera
Physics	newton_mjwarp
Renderer	newton_renderer
Homogeneous presets	rgb64,single_camera,cube
Seed	42
Iterations	1000 (after warmup)
Command	huidongc/benchmark_dexsuite.sh

Checklist

• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines
• I have run the pre-commit checks with ./isaaclab.sh --format
• I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
• My changes generate no new warnings
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works
• I have added a changelog fragment under source/<pkg>/changelog.d/ for every touched package (do not edit CHANGELOG.rst or bump extension.toml — CI handles that)
• I have added my name to the CONTRIBUTORS.md or my name already exists there

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

Changes the Newton Warp renderer’s default to preserve back-facing triangles while retaining an explicit opt-in for the previous culling behavior.

• Sets NewtonWarpRendererCfg.enable_backface_culling to False by default.
• Adds a changelog fragment documenting the new default and compatibility setting.

Confidence Score: 5/5

The PR appears safe to merge.

No blocking failure remains.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
source/isaaclab_newton/isaaclab_newton/renderers/newton_warp_renderer_cfg.py	Changes the backface-culling configuration default from enabled to disabled as intended.
source/isaaclab_newton/changelog.d/huidongc-disable-backface-culling-on-newton-warp-by-default.rst	Accurately documents the renderer default change and how to restore the previous behavior.

_{Reviews (2): Last reviewed commit: "Disable Newton Warp backface culling by ..." | Re-trigger Greptile}

[isaaclab-review-bot]

Isaac Lab Review Bot

Reviewed the Newton Warp renderer’s backface-culling default change and its package changelog. The change makes double-sided surfaces visible by default while preserving explicit opt-in to the previous behavior.

• Design and architecture: The behavior remains isolated to NewtonWarpRendererCfg; shared renderer infrastructure and backend selection are unchanged. This is an appropriate renderer-specific configuration decision.
• API: The public field name and type remain stable, but its default behavior changes from enabled to disabled. The changelog clearly documents the compatibility surface and explains that setting enable_backface_culling=True restores the prior behavior.
• Implementation: The implementation is a direct default-value change, accompanied by a correctly located and formatted changelog fragment. The supplied benchmark indicates no clear throughput regression, with a modest observed GPU-memory increase remaining as a non-blocking tradeoff.

No blocking issues. No inline issue met the actionable-evidence threshold; the assessment above records the review feedback.

Automated review; human maintainers own approval decisions.