OpenGL Headline News
Drafts of OpenGL ES 1.2 and OpenGL ES 2.0 with Shading Language available for review
Feb 28, 2005
The OpenGL ES development team is accepting applications from qualified developers who wish to preview the upcoming OpenGL ES 1.2 and the OpenGL ES 2.0 Draft Specification. The APIs are being developed in parallel. OpenGL ES 1.X specifications will continue to be evolved to support enable new generations of fixed function 3D accelerators while OpenGL ES 2.0 is the first embedded 3D API with full shading language programmability through the OpenGL ES Shading Language - a close derivative of the desktop OpenGL Shading Language. OpenGL ES 2.X specifications will be developed over time to expose the capabilities of evolving programmable hardware.
Category: Developers • Permalink
3 sample chapters from GPU Gems 2
Feb 28, 2005
Three sample chapters (Per-Pixel Displacement with Distance Functions, Dynamic Ambient Occlusion and Indirect Lighting, and Streaming Architectures and Technology Trends) as well as other sample material have been posted on the NVIDIA developer web site for the upcoming GPU Gems 2 book. These samples will help how to make the most of GPUs with OpenGL, Cg, and the OpenGL Shading Language. The book will be released at the upcoming Game Developers Conference (March 7 - 11, 2005).
Category: Developers • Permalink
OpenGL ES Coding Challenge entries due today by 5PM PST
Feb 28, 2005
If you are taking part in the OpenGL ES Coding Challenge, the entries are due today (Mon Feb 28, 2005) before 5PM PST. The Coding Challenge is intended to generate a library of open source code and tutorials to help other developers learn how to use OpenGL ES (OpenGL for embedded systems such as mobile phones, PDAs, game devices, as well as industrial uses, telematics and avionics). Prizes for winning entries include hardware, software, education, and travel. The winning entries will be announced at Game Developers Conference on March 10th.
Category: Developers • Permalink
Iupiter Java 3D engine adds support for OpenGL Shading Language Vertex and Pixel shaders and shade
Feb 28, 2005
Iupiter is a Java 3D engine using JDK 1.4, JVM, and Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL) to support the OpenGL and OpenAL APIs, or OS services for interfacing to mouse, keyboard and joypad. The new v0.3 adds support for OpenGL Shading Language Vertex and Pixel shaders and shader programs, new materials using Vertex and Pixel shaders, Blinn and Phong shading, lighting system based on hardware-accelerated stencil shadows and initial support for key-frame animation.
Category: Developers • Permalink
Cel Shading demo using the OpenGL Shading Language
Feb 25, 2005
This demo implements one of the most common cel-shading algorithm using the OpenGL Shading Language. Do simple lighting, then look up in a grayscale texture with a few colors. It also draws the outline of the object as well as internal edges. The idea is similar to shadow volume extrusion on the GPU. You extract all edges on the model and store the face normals from the both triangles the edge connects. When one is front-facing and the other backfacing, it’s a silhuette edge.
Category: Developers • Permalink
Sh V0.7.6 high-level GPU metaprogramming language adds opengl:state metatag
Feb 25, 2005
Sh is a metaprogramming language for modern programmable GPUs with a special “retained” mode, which collects a sequence of Sh operations into a program (at run time), optimizes it and generates intermediate code for any particular GPU. The intermediate code can then be passed on to a backend OpenGL ARB_{fragment,vertex}_program extensions and transformed into actual GPU assembly. This lets you write programs for graphics cards in C++ itself. The latest v0.7.6 adds a new “opengl:state” metatag in the OpenGL backend. This allows uniforms to be bound to existing OpenGL state, such as modelview matrices or light positions.
Category: Developers • Permalink
OpenGL ES SDKs available for PowerVR MBX chipset
Feb 25, 2005
The SDKs for the PowerVR MBX chipset using OpenGL ES provide a set of documentation, a wide range of source code demos, and tools. The PC Emulation SDK lets you write 3D code using OpenGL ES on PCs, and then port directly onto their target platforms. The PocketPC SDK (with support for the Dell Axim X50v) allows for immediate development and testing on supported PocketPC systems.
Category: Processors • Permalink
Particle Effects demo using GLUT and the OpenGL API
Feb 25, 2005
Particle effects can be used to simulate fire, fireworks, water fountains, snow, rain, explosions and many other things. The demo project explains how to create a simple object-oriented framework for creating particle effects using the OpenGL API.
Category: Developers • Permalink
Ogre v1.0 OpenGL API-accelerated 3D graphics engine support hardware pixel buffers and HDR
Feb 24, 2005
OGRE is an open-source 3D graphics engine with support for the OpenGL API. The new v1.0.0 features direct access to all hardware pixel buffers including mip levels, cube surfaces and volume slices, ◦ High Dynamic Range (HDR) support, a more extensible particle systems
Category: Developers • Permalink
VMD v1.8.3 molecular visualization tool adds support for OpenGL Shading Language, new representation
Feb 23, 2005
VMD is an open source molecular visualization program (Windows, Mac OS X , & Unix) for displaying, animating, and analyzing large biomolecular systems using 3D graphics and built-in scripting. The new v1.8.3 adds initial support for OpenGL Shading Language for high-quality fragment-rate lighting of space-filling molecular representations, and atomic Van der Waals spheres rendered via ray tracing within the fragment shader. It also adds support for a new volumetric file formats, 3D texturing of molecular geometry by potential maps, and density maps. A new caching system accelerates interactive rotation of static molecular structures on tiled display walls and other network-connected display systems with limited bandwidth and nomrally high latency.
Category: Applications • Permalink

