SCIENCE

AMD has announced wide-ranging support of OpenGL 4.1 for Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Linux across select ATI FirePro, ATI FireGL and AMD Radeon graphics cards. The new functionality is made possible with the release of the latest professional and consumer graphics drivers, ATI FirePro and ATI FireGL unified driver 8.801, and AMD CatalystTM 10.12,available on the AMD website.

“AMD has a long tradition of supporting open industry standards, and with the announcement of support for OpenGL 4.1, we continue to demonstrate that commitment,” said Janet Matsuda, general manager, AMD professional graphics.  “Maintaining OpenGL as a strong and viable graphics API is very important to AMD and we are proud to support the OpenGL development community.”

“The Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. R&D team is focused on offering the best user experience possible by enabling real-time OpenGL rendering,” said Ron Bates, Senior Manager, Graphical Applications, Dassault Systèmes.  “AMD, through its close collaboration with Dassault Systèmes, and its optimized OpenGL implementation and consistent support, presents SolidWorks users with an extraordinary graphics experience.”

AMD’s driver for OpenGL 4.1 includes:

• Full compatibility with the OpenGL 4.1 standard on AMD’s most recent graphics products including ATI FirePro V3800, ATI FirePro V4800, ATI FirePro V5800, ATI FirePro V7800, ATI FirePro V8800 and ATI FirePro V9800 and the AMD Radeon HD 6900 and AMD Radeon HD 6800 graphics cards:
  • Improved OpenCL interoperability for accelerating computationally intensive visual applications
  • Continued support for both the Core and Compatibility profiles first introduced with OpenGL 3.2, enabling developers to use a streamlined API or retain backwards compatibility for existing OpenGL code, depending on their needs
  • Easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms with full OpenGL ES 2.0 API compatibility
  • Ability to query and load a binary for shader program objects to save re-compilation time
  • Capability to bind programs individually to programmable stages for programming flexibility
  • Higher geometric precision with 64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs
  • Increased rendering flexibility with multiple viewports for a rendering surface
• Support for new ARB extension introduced with OpenGL 4.1:
  • Ability to set stencil values in a fragment shader for enhanced rendering flexibility
  • Callback mechanisms to receive enhanced errors and warning messages