Toolkit: Get Your Graphics On: OpenGL Advances with the Times

ABSTRACT

OpenGL, the decade-old mother of all graphics application programming interfaces (APIs), is getting two significant updates to bring it into the 21st century.

Accurately billed by its supporters as the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications, OpenGL comes equipped with a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects, and visualization functions.1 Faced with increased competition on the desktop from Microsoft’s DirectX and D3D offerings, however, OpenGL is getting a bit long in the tooth.

REFERENCES

• 1: 1. OpenGL: see http://www.opengl.org/.
• 2: 2. Silicon Graphics (SGI): see http://www.sgi.com/.
• 3: 3. The Khronos Group: see http://www.khronos.org/.
• 4: 4. Siggraph 2003: see http://www.siggraph.org/s2003/.
• 5: 5. Texas Instruments: see http://focus.ti.com/docs/pr/ pressrelease.jhtml?prelId=sc03095&prSection= overview.
• 6: 6. Symbian: see http://www.symbian.com/news/2003/ pr030429c.html.
• 7: 7. Fathammer: see http://www.fathammer.com/.
• 8: 8. Nokia N-Gage: see http://www.n-gage.com/R1/en/ home.html.
• 9: 9. Wolfe, A. "Java is jumpin', this time for real," ACM Queue 1, 10 (Feb. 2004), 17-19.
• 10: 10. Neil Trevett quotes come from a phone conversation with the author January 2, 2004.
• 11: 11. For presentations describing OpenGL 2.0, visit the 3Dlabs Web site: http://www.3dlabs.com/support/ developer/ogl2/presentations/index.htm.
• 12: 12. See reference 9.
• 13: 13. See reference 9.
• 14: 14. See reference 9.
• 15: 15. To download the OpenGL ES adopters' package, visit the Khronos Website: http://www.khronos.org/ opengles/become_opengles_adopter.html.
• 16: 16. To view sample code, visit the ATI Web site: http: //www.ati.com/developer/indexsc.html#opengl.
• 17: 17. The specifications for the OpenGL Shading Language are available on the OpenGL Website: http://www.opengl.org/documentation/ oglsl/ShaderSpecV1.051.pdf.
• 18: 18. OpenGL group forums: http://www.opengl.org/ discussion_boards/cgi_directory/forumdisplay.cgi?acti on=topics&number=7.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.4 Graphics Utilities
          Subjects: Application packages

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.4 Graphics Utilities
          Subjects: Virtual device interfaces; Graphics editors

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Performance