Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 4, 2006. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Shortly after the announcement that the Khronos Group is now managing the development of OpenGL (DP reported), there is already the first piece of news: OpenGL 2.1 is just around the corner. The programming library for cross-platform 3D and 2D graphics was introduced in 1992 and, in contrast to Microsoft’s proprietary DirectX, is available on a wide range of platforms.
Like its predecessors, OpenGL 2.1 is backwards compatible, but now offers Pixel Buffer Objects, which allow fast exchange of pixels and textures between the frame buffer and GPU memory. For greater flexibility, textures can be manipulated in the sRGB colour space, and shader programming is more versatile. Matrices no longer have to be square and arrays are supported as first-class objects. The detailed list of all new features in version 2.1 is available on the OpenGL website, as are various development tools and extensive documentation.
The so-called “Graphic Remedy Academic Program” allows academic institutions to use gDEBugger free of charge for one year. A paid support contract is optionally available. This costs 45 dollars per licence or 950 dollars for the entire university. gDEBugger supports debugging and profiling of OpenGL and OpenGL ES programs.
Further Links:
- OpenGL 2.1
gDEBugger