News Archives

Vivid3D C++, is a brand new 3D engine and IDE from Vivid Software.

It is 100% open source, and funded through public means. It has a custom UI called “Resonance2”. It supports scripting through Python, which is unique as most engines use C++ or C#. Click here to be taken to the GitHub page, where you can clone the engine. VIVID3D uploads updates frequently.

The engine uses AssImp 5.0 to allow it to import over 40+ 3D formats, including texture maps.

https://github.com/pysgames/Vivid3D

The GSN Composer is a free online tool for node-based visual programming. It is especially intended for educational purposes, such as computer graphics courses and tutorials.

The built-in shader editor allows rapid prototyping of GLSL shaders. Importantly, the created GLSL code is generic and can be used directly in other OpenGL/GLSL applications. Custom data for the shader’s UNIFORM and IN variables can be easily supplied via the visual interface, which is the main advantage compared to other web-based shader editors.

The shader editor was now upgraded to WebGL2 and supports GLSL ES 3.0 code. WebGL2 allows shaders with multiple render targets (MRT). For each additional OUT variable in the shader code, the interface automatically creates a corresponding output image. This facilitates G-buffers and deferred shading. Furthermore, examples for physical-based rendering (PBR) and HDR environment lighting are provided.

In a previous blog, Naivi discussed porting the NAP framework from OpenGL to Vulkan using the MoltenVK layered implementations and released it as NAP 0.4. In this blog, Naivi discusses how they ported Habitat, a data-driven installation that documents and visualizes natural growth based on 3d scans, to NAP 0.4, and the performance improvements resulting in the move.

Collabora has been working with Microsoft on their D3D12 mapping layer. We’re excited to share that we have recently passed the OpenGL 3.3 conformance tests and have upstreamed the code in Mesa 3D! Also, I’m happy to report that Microsoft has released their compatibility pack that uses our work to provide OpenGL (and OpenCL) support. Photoshop can now run on both Windows on ARM CPUs! This is exciting to see high-profile applications like that benefit from our work!

Microsoft has announced Microsoft Mesh, a connective fabric for mixed reality collaboration. Microsoft Mesh leverages Azure to allow people in different physical locations using different types of devices to join and collaborate in a shared holographic space. Microsoft Mesh is designed to be device and operating system agnostic. And yes, while AltspaceVR is one of the first applications to support Mesh, there will be more cross-platform Microsoft productivity applications and 3rd party applications soon with Mesh in Preview.

Microsoft is one of the biggest supporters of the OpenXR standard, which means that the company wants to help the industry standardize around a certain level of agreed-upon ways of handling common XR functions and APIs and critical inputs like hand tracking and eye-tracking. Adopting OpenXR as Microsoft has helped solve the XR fragmentation problem and benefit Microsoft’s desire to support as many XR devices simultaneously.

Intel is looking to contribute a proper LLVM backend that targets Khronos’ SPIR-V, and is looking for comments/questions/guidance. Read more for Intel’s thoughts on design, implementation, current problems, testing and open questions.

Focused on accelerating the adoption of AR in the enterprise, AREA brings a deep understanding of AR use cases and requirements. Khronos develops open standards, tool chains, and best practices for AR that benefit a wide variety of industries. AREA will actively support Khronos’ consensus-based processes for developing interoperability standards to ease integration of AR-enabling components into powerful products and services. This collaboration offers members of both Khronos and AREA, as well as the enterprise AR community at large, an opportunity to contribute to industry-wide discussions that will positively impact the future of AR-enabled user and customer experiences.

During an AREA-hosted webinar beginning at 11 AM Eastern Wednesday 3rd March 2021, Khronos members will present initiatives on which they are working to reduce barriers to adoption of AR for enterprise and 3D Commerce. To join, please visit: https://www.khronos.org/events/area-webinar-2021.

The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) are working with Codeplay Software to enhance the LLVM SYCL GPU compiler capabilities for NVIDIA A100 GPUs. The collaboration is designed to help NERSC and ALCF users, along with the HPC community in general, to produce high-performance applications that are portable across compute architectures from multiple vendors.

LunarG released new Windows, Linux, and macOS SDKs for Vulkan header 1.2.170.0. These SDKs include support for Vulkan Synchronization2 and several other new extensions. The prior SDK supported Vulkan API revision 1.2.162. Read on for information about the new extensions.

Valheim’s announcement of Vulkan API support is a really significant step in further optimizing the game for a variety of PCs. The biggest advantage most PC games have over console games is just how customizable they are in terms of performance. While Valheim isn’t a super demanding game, this update will allow players with Vulkan to have an even smoother experience if they so choose.

Android is enabling a host of useful new Vulkan extensions for mobile.These new extensions are set to improve the state of graphics APIs for modern applications, enabling new use cases and changing how developers can design graphics renderers going forward. VK_KHR_buffer_device_address is a monumental extension that adds a unique feature to Vulkan that none of the competing graphics API support. This blog describes the extension in detail and how it is used in mobile.

In the latest update of SteamVR, version 1.16, full support for OpenXR 1.0 is included. SteamVR’s support for OpenXR 1.0 is a huge step forward towards industry adoption of the standard. SteamVR is the leading platform for PC VR thanks to its wide ranging support for every major PC-compatible headset. Full support for OpenXR 1.0 will make it easier for developers to create applications that work seamlessly across a variety of headsets.

Android is enabling a host of useful new Vulkan extensions for mobile. These new extensions are set to improve the state of graphics APIs for modern applications, enabling new use cases and changing how developers can design graphics renderers going forward. VK_EXT_descriptor_indexing landed in Vulkan 1.2 as a core feature. This blog describes the extension in detail and how it is used in mobile.

The Khronos Group and Web3D Consortium have entered into a liaison agreement to advance Web-based 3D visualization, modeling and streaming. The liaison is designed to foster interoperability and synergy between the X3D and glTF open standards. The organizations will begin collaborating with a shared goal to integrate glTF 2.0 into X3D V4 to improve visualization and streaming of 3D data.

The Khronos Group and the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA), the leading European industry association dedicated to vision technology, jointly announce the formation of an Embedded Camera API Exploratory Group, open to all at no cost, to explore industry interest in the creation of open royalty-free API standards for controlling embedded cameras and sensors. All participants will be able to discuss use cases and requirements for new interoperability standards to accelerate market growth and reduce development costs in embedded markets using vision and sensor processing and associated acceleration. If the Exploratory Group reaches significant consensus then Khronos and EMVA will work to initiate the proposed standardization projects at the appropriate organizations. Learn more about this new exploratory group and how you can participate.