SCIENCE

3Dlabs Inc., Ltd., a leading innovator in professional visual processing, today announced that it has released a driver that supports OpenGL 2.0 for Wildcat Realizm professional graphics accelerators. OpenGL 2.0 integrates the OpenGL Shading Language into its core so that software developers can create advanced shader programs and easily port them to any OpenGL 2.0-enabled platform. By shipping these highly anticipated drivers and a compelling set of OpenGL Shading Language development tools, 3Dlabs drives the adoption of OpenGL 2.0 and leads open standards-based innovation in the workstation graphics market. The free drivers are available, click here for download. 3Dlabs is a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd. "3Dlabs continues to lead the workstation graphics industry in OpenGL 2.0 implementation and development," said Neil Trevett, senior vice president of market development at 3Dlabs. "Designed to accelerate the next generation of professional applications, Wildcat Realizm graphics accelerators beat the competition in raw performance and are the industry's most comprehensive platform for OpenGL 2.0-based application development and deployment." OpenGL is the only non-proprietary and open graphics Application Programming Interface (API), which is used by most professional graphics application developers. Released in September 2004, OpenGL 2.0 was ratified by the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB), which controls the progression of the leading graphics API. Graphics professionals who use a Wildcat Realizm graphics accelerator with OpenGL 2.0 will be able to process large, complex datasets and highly realistic scenes with full 32-bit floating-point precision. "3Dlabs led the OpenGL Shading Language effort from the beginning and was instrumental in helping us complete our latest software release, LightWorks 7.5, which brings the power of the LightWorks shading architecture and LightWorks Archive material formats to next-generation programmable graphics hardware," said Woll Newall, product manager at LightWork Design. "By sharing its OpenGL expertise with its software partners, 3Dlabs propelled the evolution of OpenGL 2.0, which has enabled LightWorks to become a practical solution for CAD software developers who want to take full advantage of the OpenGL Shading Language." In addition to making OpenGL 2.0 drivers available for the Wildcat Realizm product family, 3Dlabs has also released several OpenGL Shading Language development tools. The tools below are available for download from the 3Dlabs Developer website. -- An OpenGL Shading Language shader viewer enables the user to interactively control shader parameters, model geometry, textures, animation and see the results in real time; -- The ShaderGen software program provides developers a way to compare fixed-function renderings to OpenGL 2.0's programmable shader renderings through an easy-to-use interface. Using this tool, developers will realize how easy and flexible OpenGL 2.0 is; -- Through the shader validation tool, a shader author can quickly validate whether vertex or fragment shaders meet the OpenGL Shading Language specification; and -- A parser testing application helps a developer determine how accurately a graphics compiler matches the OpenGL Shading Language specification. General information about OpenGL 2.0 and the 3Dlabs Wildcat Realizm product family can be found at www.3dlabs.com.