SGI and OpenGL Architecture Review Board Announce OpenGL 1.5 Specification, Introducing Support for Revolutionary OpenGL Shading Language

New Features Enable Cinematic-Quality Graphics Realism and More Detailed Scientific Analysis

SIGGRAPH, SAN DIEGO, Calif. (July 28, 2003)—Suppose, instead of taking months to create, the breathtaking computer-graphics-generated scenes from any of this summer's blockbuster movies could be rendered with cinematic quality in real time. Suppose a car designer could model a car that's indistinguishable from a photograph. Or imagine a jet fighter training simulation that could look not "just pretty good," but be so exact that you couldn't distinguish the simulated scenery from the real thing. Or suppose a physician could see tumors one-third the size of what could previously be identified. These things are not only possible—they have already begun. The new frontier in graphics realism has been established with developments to the OpenGL® application programming interface (API), released by SGI (NYSE: SGI) and the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB).

The OpenGL® 1.5 specification includes the revolutionary OpenGL® Shading Language, official ARB extensions that are expected to form the foundation of the upcoming OpenGL® 2.0 version of this cross-platform, open-standard API for advanced 3D graphics. The OpenGL Shading Language will enable-for the first time-graphics cards from virtually any vendor on virtually any platform to use the same high-level shading language. This new specification will provide developers with the expressive power to enable a wide variety of graphics, imaging and compute applications to be accelerated by new-generation, highly parallel graphics hardware.

"OpenGL 1.5, and the OpenGL Shading Language in particular, does for the next generation of graphics what OpenGL did for the first generation in the early '90s. It will fundamentally change the industry," said Shawn Underwood, director of marketing, Visual Systems Group, SGI.

"OpenGL is the foundation for the development of high-quality real-time graphics applications," said Kurt Akeley, 3D graphics architect, NVIDIA Corporation. "With the addition of an innovative shading language, software developers now have OpenGL API-specific high-level access to the programmable features of modern GPUs. We are excited to be a part of this revolution in the cinematic quality of real-time 3D graphics."

Introduced 11 years ago by SGI, OpenGL is the premier environment used by software developers to create interactive 2D and 3D visual applications for computer systems ranging from consumer PCs to graphics workstations and supercomputers. OpenGL is the industry's only graphics API with support for virtually all operating systems. OpenGL 1.5 enables techniques that make rendering faster and will be supported by graphics card vendors in products being released later this year.

"3Dlabs pioneered the specification of the OpenGL Shading Language and we are already shipping preliminary implementations," said Neil Trevett, senior vice president of market development, 3Dlabs. "The OpenGL Shading Language is an open standard that enables direct compilation of high-level shader programs, we believe this will make OpenGL a vital foundation for innovation as the industry moves into the era of programmable graphics."

New Features of OpenGL 1.5
The OpenGL 1.5 specification evolved with input from the OpenGL ARB-an independent consortium-and interested participants to reflect predominant trends in the graphics industry. The ARB's process of enhancing OpenGL includes jointly developing specifications of features proposed by ARB members, to be incorporated and officially supported within the API. In OpenGL 1.5, several additional features and functions have been ratified, including the following:

• Vertex Buffer Object: vertex arrays for higher performance rendering
• Shadow Function: additional comparison functions for shadow mapping
• Occlusion Query: asynchronous occlusion test for better culling
• Non power-of-two Textures: for more efficient use of texture memory, including mipmaps
• OpenGL Shading Language v. 1.0: as official extensions more specifically, shader objects, vertex shaders, and fragment shaders, all for use of programmable shader hardware

"The continuing evolution and advancement of the OpenGL API is important to network computing and graphic applications," said Manish Bhuptani, director, Market Development, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "With Sun's commitment to open, standards-based technologies, we are excited to see this new specification and believe that it will lead to exciting changes in how people develop and use visual applications"

Most Widely Adopted Graphics Standard
With more than 60 hardware developer licensees, OpenGL has the broadest industry support of any openly licensed graphics API. In 1992, SGI formed the ARB that now governs the evolution and ongoing development of OpenGL, a technology originally created by SGI as an open, platform-independent standard for professional-quality 3D graphics.

"Collaborative efforts such as the OpenGL specification and the OpenGL Shading Language are the surest ways to advance the industry," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president of marketing and general manager, Desktop, ATI Technologies Inc. "As permanent members of the OpenGL ARB, we are committed to working with SGI and the other members to continue to advance 3D graphic standards. The adoption of these open interfaces enables ATI to deliver products that dramatically increase productivity and decrease production time for our professional customers."

The 12 voting members of the OpenGL ARB are 3Dlabs, Apple, ATI, Dell Computer Corp., Evans & Sutherland, Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Matrox Graphics, Inc., NVIDIA, Sun Microsystems, Inc. and SGI. Other ARB participants include Discreet, Id Software, NEC, Quantum 3D, SONICblue and the University of Central Florida. In addition to the voting members and participants, OpenGL is universally licensed throughout the graphics hardware developer community. More information on OpenGL 1.5 and its supporters will be made available on the OpenGL Web site at www.opengl.org.

About OpenGL
The OpenGL graphics system specification allows developers to incorporate a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects and other powerful visualization functions and provides a graphics pipeline that allows unfettered access to graphics hardware acceleration. Since its introduction by SGI in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 3D and 2D graphics API. OpenGL is supported on all major computer platforms, including AIX®, HP-UX®, IRIX®, Linux®, Mac® OS X, Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and Windows® XP and Solaris™. The OpenGL ARB governs the evolution and ongoing development of the OpenGL API. With broad industry support, OpenGL is the vendor-neutral, multiplatform graphics standard and is uniquely positioned to leverage the continuing improvements of graphics hardware.

About SGI
SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is the world's leader in high-performance computing, visualization and networked data storage for scientific, engineering and creative users. SGI is a global company with a global vision: to provide the technology leadership that enables the most significant scientific and creative breakthroughs of the 21st century. SGI's mission is to provide leading-edge solutions that are mission-critical to customers in the government and defense, sciences, manufacturing, energy and media markets. SGI's innovative products provide a powerful, flexible, feature-rich and highly scalable data infrastructure that delivers greater efficiencies and productivity to meet the next class of challenges our customers will explore.

Silicon Graphics, SGI, OpenGL, IRIX and the SGI logo are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. 3Dlabs is a registered trademark of 3Dlabs Inc. ATI and ATI product and product feature names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. Nvidia is a registered trademark of Nvidia Corporation. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo and Solaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Mac is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.