The Khronos Group has launched two initiatives to promote its open APIs for 3D graphics on handheld devices. The first is a global lecture series promising to present real-world, non-marketing-oriented information for developers. The second is a programming contest with categories for screensavers, how-to example code, and full-fledged interactive games.

The Khronos Group maintains OpenML (Media Library), a cross-platform API for capturing, processing, synchronizing, and playing digital media content, as well as OpenGL ES (Embedded Subset), a royalty-free open API for advanced 2D and 3D graphics such as dynamic media authoring and playback in embedded systems such as mobile and handheld devices. OpenGL ES is royalty-free and defines subset profiles of OpenGL to enable advanced graphics capabilities on small-footprint embedded applications. It has been widely adopted by the wireless and gaming industries, according to the Khronos Group.

Lecture series

The Khronos Developer University Lecture Series will tour North America, Europe, and Asia, presenting day-long classes on the OpenGL ES API and other open standard APIs promoted by the Khronos Group. The Series will begin with free sessions in London on Sept. 1 and Helsinki on Sept. 17, before moving on to Tokyo, Seoul, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. More details are available online.

OpenGL ES coding contest

The Khronos Group describes its OpenGL ES Coding Challenge as a “content development contest offering a series of prizes and widespread recognition to developers who wish to submit source samples that illustrate the expressive power of OpenGL ES on handheld devices.” An auxiliary goal of the contest, according to the Khronos Group, is to create a library or pool of shared source code for the developer community.

Contest entries will be divided into three main categories:

• self-running demos or screensavers
• educational “how to” sample code (such as the OpenGL Redbook Samples)
• full-fledged interactive games

Entries will be evaluated according to how effectively they demonstrate the power of 3D on a handheld platform. Winners will be selected by Khronos members in the OpenGL ES working group, and will be announced at GDC in San Francisco, in March, 2005.

Prizes include:

• A year-long subscription to JPR Tech Watch - a leading multimedia research publication valued at $2,500 and donated by Jon Peddie, the keynote speaker at Khronos DevU
• A Wildcat Realizm professional graphics card, donated by 3DLabs, a Promoter and original Founder of the Khronos Group

All entrants will receive a copy of a PC version of OpenGL ES developed by Hybrid, a Helsinki-based graphics technology company that developed the first OpenGL ES conformant graphics library, and which was recently named to the Khronos Group's governing body.

More contest details are available online.

"The mobile graphics and gaming industries need strong standards leadership to bring the market for handheld and embedded graphics to its full potential. We are convinced that enabling software developers to take advantage of OpenGL ES is the next key step in building the mobile 3D industry,” stated Jon Peddie, founder of Jon Peddie Research.

 
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