Table of Contents

OpenGL 4.5 has just arrived!

Since Siggraph 2014 is happening right now, we could expect a new version of OpenGL. And it happened! Khronos announced OpenGL 4.5! Not a major update, but still adds some nice features to the API. What about OpenGL 5.0? Is there any news here?

Changes  

As you can see, this list of changes is not that impressive. DSA is finally approved, so this is definitely a good sign. Additionally, there is an official support for explicit flushing control.


Image from the Khronos presentation

OpenGL 5.0?  

I was sure that the version 5.0 will not be announced yet. It’s just too early. But there is one, very positive, news about this case: Khronos Announces Next Generation OpenGL Initiative

Everyone is aware of the fact that OpenGL API become very heavy. Recent announcements of vendor specific APIs like Mantle, Metal and also DX12 made things even more complicated for OpenGL.

But it seems that the situation is not that bad! AZDO techniques prove that OpenGL can be also very fast and close to metal.

Khronos is now preparing a new design of a unified Graphics API - both for mobile and desktop GPUs. It will be a thin layer, and will definitely not have a compatibility profile! Works are underway, but the process will be probably quite hot and intensive. Maybe next time - August 2015 there will be a full spec available? Will it be OpenGL 5.0 or completely new API name? We will see… :)

Questions  

  • What do you expect from OpenGL 5.0?
  • Will it become one, ultimate GPU Api?