This year at GDC Khronos announced the latest version of the OpenGL® ES API. OpenGL ES 3.1 is taking a step up from OpenGL ES 3.0 to enable new, fascinating mobile graphics content. With headline features such as compute shaders and indirect drawing, which Tom Olson, chair of the OpenGL ES Working Group, describes in detail in this very interesting blog Here comes OpenGL® ES 3.1!, application developers can now use this new API to deliver an even higher quality of graphics within the power constraints of mobile platforms. Here at ARM, we are fully committed to enabling our GPUs with the latest graphics and GPU Compute APIs as soon as possible. Today, Khronos finalised the conformance criteria less than three months after the official OpenGL ES 3.1 announcement and ARM is submitting for OpenGL ES conformance.
Conformance has just been submitted for the highly successful and market proven Mali-T604 and Mali-T628 GPUs as well as for the latest released high-end GPU, the Mali-T760. The first two power the graphics capabilities of bestseller products such as, but not limited to, the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 3, Google Nexus 10 and Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, while the Mali-T760 is expected to become available in commercial products within the next few months. Conformance will soon be submitted for our latest mid-range GPU, the Mali-T720 as well.
One of the key features of OpenGL ES 3.1 is the support for compute shaders. Developers can now use the compute capabilities of the GPU without having to use a different compute API and worry about the interoperability between graphics and compute. Seamlessly integrated in a single API, compute shaders can post-process the frame buffer output and implement astonishing visual effects with higher efficiency and lower complexity. It is also worth mentioning here that ARM has adopted GPU Compute from its very first steps and is creating a vibrant ecosystem of developers who are providing a number of innovative applications for Mali GPUs and establishing them as the de facto architecture for mobile GPU Compute.
A very good example of the life-like effects that can be implemented using the horsepower of OpenGL ES 3.1 running on Mali GPUs can be seen in the video below. In this demo, you can see the advanced physics simulation reflected in the motion of a hanging piece of cloth that gets blown by various shaped objects:
For interested readers, there is a blog Get started with compute shaders, which provides a complete background to this demo written by Sylwester Bala, one of ARM’s Senior Demo Developers.
OpenGL ES 3.1 is backwards compatible with OpenGL ES 3.0 and 2.0 making sure that the developer’s investment is protected, while a new set of features are provided such as enhanced texturing functionality that includes texture gather, multisample textures and stencil texture. Texture gather allows faster access to neighbouring texels while texture multisampling and stencil textures allow applications the same flexibility in texture processing as in render targets. These extra texture processing features enable crystal clear graphics to be smoothly displayed on a high resolution screen much more efficiently, which means longer battery life for mobile devices without any compromises in quality.Moreover, the enhanced shading language provides more built in functions to the developers, making their life simpler and increasing their productivity.
ARM is one of the first Khronos members to submit conformance for OpenGL ES 3.1 and we are dedicated to supporting our customers and ecosystem partners with the latest and greatest features that graphics technology has to offer. The power and flexibility of the Midgard architecture ensure our partners and developer ecosystem are always enabled with cutting edge technology that delivers best in class graphics within the tight power and area budget required for mobile devices.