San Francisco, Calif. - The Khronos Group has released the OpenGL 4.0 specification, an update to the most widely adopted 2D and 3D graphics API (application programming interface) that is deployed on major desktop operating systems. OpenGL 4.0 brings the latest in cross-platform graphics acceleration and functionality to personal computers and workstations, and the OpenGL standard serves as the basis for OpenGL ES, the graphics standard on virtually every shipping smart phone.
The OpenGL 4.0 specification has been defined by the OpenGL ARB (Architecture Review Board) working group at Khronos, and includes the GLSL 4.00 update to the OpenGL Shading language in order to enable developers to access the latest generation of GPU acceleration with significantly enhanced graphics quality, acceleration performance and programming flexibility. This new release continues the rapid evolution of the royalty-free OpenGL standard to enable graphics developers to portably access cutting-edge GPU functionality across diverse operating systems and platforms. The full specification is available for immediate download at
http://www.opengl.org/registry
OpenGL 4.0 further improves the close interoperability with OpenCL™ for accelerating computationally intensive visual applications. OpenGL 4.0 also continues support for both the Core and Compatibility profiles first introduced with OpenGL 3.2, enabling developers to use a streamlined API or retain backwards compatibility for existing OpenGL code, depending on their market needs.
OpenGL 4.0 has been specifically designed to bring significant benefits to application developers, including:
two new shader stages that enable the GPU to offload geometry tessellation from the CPU;
per-sample fragment shaders and programmable fragment shader input positions for increased rendering quality and anti-aliasing flexibility; drawing of data generated by OpenGL, or external APIs such as OpenCL, without CPU intervention; shader subroutines for significantly increased programming flexibility;
separation of texture state and texture data through the addition of a new object type called sampler objects;
64-bit double precision floating point shader operations and inputs/outputs for increased rendering accuracy and quality; performance improvements, including instanced geometry shaders, instanced arrays, and a new timer query.
Lastly, Khronos has released an OpenGL 3.3 specification, together with a set of ARB extensions, to enable as much OpenGL 4.0 functionality as possible on previous generation GPU hardware; providing maximum flexibility and platform coverage for application developers. The full OpenGL 3.3 specification is also available for immediate download at
http://www.opengl.org/registry
GDC attendees can learn about OpenGL 4.0 and Khronos APIs in Room 123, North Hall, Moscone Center, San Francisco:
COLLADA featuring WebGL :
Friday, March 12 : 1:30PM - 2:30PM
Mobile featuring WebGL :
Friday, March 12 : 3:00PM - 4:00PM