OpenGL 2.x and 3.0 APIs - OpenGL gets a *makeover* for DX10-class HW

[apoppin]

post this in SW or Video ?


Video "wins" [and i hope it's not reposted]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39846

what is going on with OpenGL right now is nothing short of exciting. After all the mumble of OpenGL 2.0 and its delays, this year will see no less than two new versions of this venerable API. First one that is coming out soon is Longs Peak (OpenGL 2.x), which is a major clean-up of the code after almost a decade and a half of nothing else but stacking numerous extensions together.

This API is supposed to arrive in summer timeframe, most probably July. Approximately three months after that, Mount Evans (OpenGL 3.0) will run specifically on hardware born after November 8th, 2006. You've guessed it correctly, we are talking about DirectX 10-class hardware, bringing all the features of unified 3D architecture to the world of OpenGL. Mount Evans is compatible with Longs Peak, but of course - you will require OpenGL 3.0 class hardware to run everything.

OpenGL 3.0 offers features such as instanced rendering, stream out of vertex data to a buffer, texture buffer objects, numerous new texture formats and so on. What is most important here is that Khronos Group is linking OpenGL and OpenGL ES, a mobile 3D graphics API. This is done via Collada and glFX, so what is supported in OpenGL 3.0 will see the light of the day in ES version as well.

As far as OpenGL 3.0 goes, there isn't any bad news here, since this will be a first that a new revision of an API is supported top to bottom, from standard to most expensive ones and down to the 50-60 Euro range. Only problem? This shake-up of the API just might be too late, given the timeframe of next-generation titles. Then again, PlayStation 3 and Wii definitely do not use DirectX as programming interface

 

[Chadder007]

Then again, PlayStation 3 and Wii definitely do not use DirectX as programming interface

Sooo....do they use OpenGL??

 

[apoppin]

a "custom" API



i am not sure [exactly] either ... that's why i left theInq's comment in

--but it appears to be really good news about OGL

 

[SunnyD]

GLIDE!!!!

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
GLIDE!!!!

Wasnt there a rumor floating around a while back in the pre nv30 days that the geforce 5 was going to have support for "nvblur," basically legacy hardware accelerated glide support?


Would have been nice to play Deus Ex in GLIDE on a modern nvidia card.



What in the heck is keeping Nintendo and Sony from using OpenGL though? Seems like the developers would love them to have that instead of some proprietary API. It is not like it is stopping cross platform titles.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: SunnyD
GLIDE!!!!

Wasnt there a rumor floating around a while back in the pre nv30 days that the geforce 5 was going to have support for "nvblur," basically legacy hardware accelerated glide support?


Would have been nice to play Deus Ex in GLIDE on a modern nvidia card.



What in the heck is keeping Nintendo and Sony from using OpenGL though? Seems like the developers would love them to have that instead of some proprietary API. It is not like it is stopping cross platform titles.

they probably use a custom API designed to max out the hardware's capabilities.

 

[apoppin]

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40199

Carmack's love of the cross-platform OpenGL language is legendary (with all his titles back to Quake 2 running in the engine) and he recently told GameInformer that he couldn't envisage any reason he'd want to step up to the Vista-exclusive DX10 platform. "There's no massive pull for me for DX10," he told an eager audience.

Especially not, we suspect, when Nvidia is opening up DX10-hardware features for OpenGL just to placate him.

But that doesn't stop Microsoft from making decisions for him. Speaking to Gamastura, the Vole's Rick Wickham said that he thought a Carmack DX10 game was an inevitability. "Stay tuned... I will be shocked and amazed if id doesn?t build a DirectX 10 title some day... and I will suspect that it will be sooner rather than later," he commented, either knowing more than we do or being more optimistic than we are.

Of course, that doesn't stop multiple third parties licensing a Carmack engine and adding DX10 features to it, but that is a fair amount of work for a licensee.

Microsoft has come under fire for making DX10 Windows Vista only in what enthusiasts see as a cynical bid to drive OS upgrade sales.

It seems that, from Carmack's point of view, there's not much to belay the cynicism. The id Software chief technician is rumoured to be working on a new game engine as we speak

Nvidia is opening up DX10-hardware features for OpenGL just to placate him.

huh? ... really? ... interesting

 

[incompleteunit]

Carmack's definitely got some pull with the graphics card makers, but I think they would have done this anyway. They're responsible for their own OpenGL implementation on Windows, so why wouldn't they add extensions to expose the new features of their cards?

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: incompleteunit
Carmack's definitely got some pull with the graphics card makers, but I think they would have done this anyway. They're responsible for their own OpenGL implementation on Windows, so why wouldn't they add extensions to expose the new features of their cards?

Because they're out to screw the consumer...

 

[R3MF]

i really hope that Carmack will stay with OpenGL because if he doesn't then OpenGL on the desktop is dead, even if it survives on handhelds which i care nothing for.

 

[Todd33]

The PS3 was using Opengl ES last I heard.


http://www.khronos.org/opengles/