Just in time for the 10th anniversary of OpenGL, the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB) announced the ratification and release of the OpenGL 1.4 specification.
Developed to provide more realistic graphics with higher quality, the OpenGL 1.4 specification has new core features, including:
- support for depth textures and shadow textures, which enable real-time shadows and related image-based rendering techniques
- vertex programming framework, which the OpenGL ARB said sets the stage for user-defined geometry, lighting and shading programs, and also enables high-level general purpose shading languages
- automatic texture mipmap generation, thus providing rapid updates and high-quality texture filtering for dynamic textures
- a variety of other smaller enhancements, including multiple draw arrays, for higher geometry throughput, window raster position, for precise 2D and image rendering, user-defined fog coordinate, for advanced fog effects, user-defined secondary color, point parameters, texture level-of-detail bias, texture crossbar, and new frame buffer blending modes and stenciling functions for more flexible shading and rendering effects.