OpenCL on the CPU and why it can be useful
A few advantages to using OpenCL on the CPU are that results are on the CPU for further processing, CPU-code can be mixed with OpenCL and specific algorithms can be processed faster because there is no PCIe-overhead. Streamcomputing has a closer look at at why you may find OpenCL on the CPU useful for your own work.
VR Juggler version 3 released with OpenGL 3 support
VR Juggler 3 is now available. VR Juggler 3.0 has a totally redesigned cluster infrastructure based on a formal client/server model and support for OpenGL 3.0 contexts as well as many other fixes and updates. VR Juggler provides a platform for virtual reality application development allowing a user to run an application on almost any VR system.
ATI launches two new OpenGL 4.1 / OpenCL 1.1 ready mobile Radeon series GPUs
AMD just released Radeon HD 6000-series mobile model GPUs: the Radeon HD 6500M and Radeon HD 6300M. OpenGL 4.1 and OpenCL 1.1 support is included as well as DirectX compatibility.
Suggestions for OpenGL 4.2 and beyond
The Khronos Group did a great job in the last few years to once again prove that OpenGL is still in game and that it can become the ultimate graphics API of choice, if it is not that already. However, we must note that it is not quite yet true that OpenGL 4.1 is a superset of its competitor, DirectX 11. We still have some holes that still have to be filled and I think the ARB should not stop just there as there is much more potential in the current hardware architectures than that is currently exposed by any graphics API so establishing the future of OpenGL should start by going one step further than DX11. In this article I would like to present my vision of items of importance that should be included in the next revision of the specification and how I see the future of OpenGL.
OpenGL based ClanLib 2.2.5 toolkit library released
ClanLib is a cross platform C++ toolkit library based around OpenGL. It's primary focus is on games (free or commerical thanks to a BSD style license). Image, Sprite and Font drawing are optimised to give high frame rates by drawing in batches, reducing OpenGL state changes. If OpenGL v2.0 or above is not available, the library seamlessly provides OpenGL v1.3 or a high performance software renderer. Supports multiple windows with a full GUI framework for use in 2D or 3D applications. This latest version contains new examples demonstrating the ease of creating custom shaders. In addition, a HDR test has been updated to demonstrate using OpenGL floating point textures.
Hardware Video Decode and OpenGL Video Texturing for Linux
VDPAU (Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix) allows Linux systems to offload portions of video decode to the GPU. The resulting video can be post-processed with OpenGL, CUDA, or both. Watch Stephen Warren from NVIDIA explain VDPAU and demonstrate OpenGL texturing of hardware-decoded video frames. Slides (PDF) are also available.
GPU Pro 3: Call for Authors
After the success of the first seven entries to the ShaderX book series, of GPU Pro and the soon to be released GPU Pro 2, we are looking for authors for GPU Pro 3. The upcoming book will cover advanced rendering techniques that run on the DirectX or OpenGL run-times, or any other run-time with any language available. It will include topics on: Geometry Manipulation; Rendering Techniques; Handheld Devices Programming; Effects in Image Space; Shadows; 3D Engine Design; Graphics Related Tools; Environmental Effects and a dedicated section on General Purpose GPU Programming that will cover CUDA, DirectCompute and OpenCL examples. Proposals are due by March 17th, 2011. Contact details, an example proposal, writing guidelines and a FAQ can be downloaded from gpupro3.blogspot.com.
G-Truc update on OpenGL 4.1 driver status
After receiving feedback from AMD, G-Truc has written a follow-up article to his original post on the current status of OpenGL 4.1 drivers.
New OpenGL 3.3 and 4.0 examples on the nopper.tv website available
The nopper.tv website now contains one more OpenGL 3.3 and one OpenGL 4.0 example. The OpenGL 4.0 example is a simple tesselation implementation. There are now 13 different OpenGL source code examples available.
Texture and buffer access performance in OpenGL
Currently there are several ways to feed data to the GPU no matter of what API we use and what type of application we develop. In case of OpenGL we have uniform buffers, texture buffers, texture images, etc. The same is true for OpenCL and other compute APIs that even provide more fine-grained memory management taking advantage of the local data store (LDS) available on today’s hardware. In this article I’ll present the memory access performance characteristics of AMD’s Evergreen-class GPUs focusing on what this all means from OpenGL point of view. While most of the data is about the HD5870, the general principles and relative performance characteristics are valid for other GPUs, including ones from other vendors.