OpenGL 3 Updates

[pudman]

The OpenGL working group is meeting regularly and the activity level is high.

I see the Blizzard PR is in affect.
"It'll be done when it's done."
"Can't give more details now, everything subject to change."

Why not. If Blizzard's level of polish gets incorporated into GL3 then that would be a Good Thing. Still, however, OpenGL isn't a product with trade secrets that must be protected so the silence still seems unjustified.

[Sik the hedgehog]

" And thus we really don't mind 24fps movies. "

Yes and no. The reason why films at 24 Hz look so good is this:
At 24 Hz we do have 24 different images PLUS each image is captured at 1/24th of a second, thus each image is the integral of a whole time-frame. Even at fast motion in the images the brain cannot distinguish the individual frames, because of the smearing.

Now play a fast-paced (any) match of Quake 3 locked at precisely 24 Hz. It will look like an animation, because 24 fps is still too much for the brain to process COMPLETELY, but still it won't be as pleasant as a fast-paced movie, because you CAN see the staggering animation steps from frame to frame. I don't say it is unplayable, i only say that you DO notice a difference at fast paces, whereas in films it doesn't matter how fast the motion is, 24 Hz is always enough to fool you.

Jan.

Honestly it's really a matter of custom. I play Sonic Action (my fangame) at 100FPS and it seems normal. Then I play a game at 30FPS, and looks ugly to me. I play for a while, then I switch back to Sonic Action at 100FPS, and it looks extremely smooth to me, sometimes to the point it starts being annoying (yes, I'm serious).

As long as the framerate isn't too low, actually it doesn't matter that much. The brain seems to process any framerate gracefully, just give it time to get accustomed.

[Jan]

Yes, that's basically what i meant. 30 FPS is definitely enough for playing any game (even Quake 3 or Sonic or whatever), but without the motion-blur you CAN see a difference (therefore it looks ugly to you, after you became used to 100 FPS). Though one gets used to it pretty fast, such that it doesn't annoy you very long.

What i wanted to point out was, that in games you CAN see a difference sometimes (depending on the game) however in films you NEVER have that not-smooth-enough effect, even at fast paces, because of the additional smearing.

Now if only our brains were a bit slower at processing images and we could get away with 15 FPS....

Jan.

[MZ]

Still, however, OpenGL isn't a product with trade secrets that must be protected so the silence still seems unjustified.

To be honest, this kind of mystery is infact a norm in OpenGL world. It's not like the standards have suddenly dropped. Remember old mysteries?

why the arb-meeting-notes lag keeps growing at exponential rate?
why the original (3dLabs) OGL2.0 ended in fiasco?
why Ati implementaion isn't on pair with D3D in terms of exposed features?
why IHVs can't agree on common vertex array extension?
why IHVs can't agree on common SM1.1-SM1.4 extension?
why another year have passed and FBO spec still isn't ready?

This builds man's character.

[bobvodka]

A little while ago, couple months or so, I did a job interview at one of the companies on the ARB for a DirectX development position. The lab I worked in through grad school required me to use linux so I did my work in OpenGL, and haven't touched DirectX that often.

So during the interview process I was talking about OpenGL and how I was irritated with the status of 3.0. The guy interviewing me said that the spec that they initially we're releasing info on was pretty much scrapped. ARB's goal was to talk about it at this SIGGRAPH, but whether that happens is anyone's guess.

(source)

Discuss.

[Sik the hedgehog]

I love how the reason is probably one of the most obvious, and you all starting making weird speculations about IP issues and such :P

Right now, the only thing that worries me is that I wouldn't like there being any incidents at the SIGGRAPH. I know it sounds extremist, but the enviroment isn't the best, and almost anything gets a lot of people angry. A mistake, and it may be no good... My personal opinion though.

[Zengar]

I am looking forward to headlines like "Massaker at SIGGRAPH! Angry mob slaughters the ARB representatives!"

[zed]

Hopefully the initial spec has been scrapped, as I didnt think it was that forward thinking.
Perhaps they are going the more futureproof route like Ive suggested, if so then perhaps silence is justified ( imagine the hue + cry, if word got out ), to quote 'the dub' use 'shock and awe'.
In saying that though the lack of information from the ARB is still very poor, even if its someone like Rob Barris saying each week 'yes theyre still working + yes there will be something at siggraph2008'.
Even if theres no fresh details supplied it acts as a moral booster.
Just 40 sleeps to go

[knackered]

I'm not sure if I believe that gamedev post, to be honest. It's so very easy to lie, to get attention.
If it is true, and they scrapped the original spec then we're doomed to at least another 2 years of waiting for the keystone cops to draw up a new one.

[Sik the hedgehog]

I would believe it merely because it seems to be more than reasonable, I mean, seems simple enough and very possible. Secondly, not necessarily it would take more time. Maybe they just scrapped the implementation, not the ideas, so there you save a lot of time