What's New in OpenGL 3.2
OpenGL version 3.2, released on August 3, 2009, is the tenth revision since the original version 1.0. Despite incrementing the major version number (to indicate support for high-level programmable shaders).
OpenGL 3.2 and the companion OpenGL Shading Language 1.50 add many new features, while simultaneously simplifying the API and shading language by removing legacy fixed-functionality interfaces deprecated in OpenGL 3.0. OpenGL 3.2 defines a lean and mean base to build on for access to future programmable graphics hardware.
OpenGL 3.2 adds features for enhanced performance, increased visual quality, accelerated geometry processing and easier portability of Direct3D applications.
OpenGL 3.2 has been designed to run on a wide range of recent GPU silicon and provides a wide range of significant benefits to application developers, including:
- Increased performance for vertex arrays and fence sync objects to avoid idling while waiting for resources shared between the CPU and GPU, or multiple CPU threads;
- Improved pipeline programmability, including geometry shaders in the OpenGL core;
- Boosted cube map visual quality and multisampling rendering flexibility by enabling shaders to directly process texture samples.
API & GLSL specifications
- OpenGL 3.2 Core Profile Specification
- OpenGL 3.2 Compatibility Profile Specification
- OpenGL Shading Language 1.50 Specification
New ARB extensions
- GL_ARB_draw_buffers_blend
- GL_ARB_sample_shading
- GL_ARB_texture_cube_map_array
- GL_ARB_texture_gather
- GL_ARB_texture_query_lod
- WGL_ARB_create_context
- GLX_ARB_create_context