Microsoft’s latest Agility SDK packs cutting-edge graphics features

Microsoft has released the latest version of its Agility SDK, packed with innovative graphics features that will be showcased at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2024.

The SDK 1.613.0 introduces Work Graphs, Shader Model 6.8, GPU Upload Heaps, and several other enhancements aimed at empowering game developers to create more efficient, flexible, and creative experiences.

Work Graphs: Unlocking the full potential of GPUs

The highlight of the Agility SDK is Work...

12 March 2024 | Developer

Asahi Linux’s OpenGL support leapfrogs Apple’s on M-chip Macs

The team behind the Asahi Linux project, which aims to support Linux on Apple Silicon Macs, has achieved a major milestone: its open-source graphics driver now fully supports up to OpenGL 4.6 and OpenGL ES 3.2, surpassing the OpenGL 4.1 support currently offered in macOS.

Asahi developer Alyssa Rosenzweig announced the new driver in a blog post, noting it had to pass "over 100,000 tests" to be deemed officially conformant with the OpenGL standards. This was achieved despite...

15 February 2024 | Gaming

Google enables WebGPU by default in Chrome 121

Google has enabled WebGPU support by default in the latest version of its Chrome browser, Chrome 121. WebGPU is a new web standard that provides low-level access to GPU hardware for high-performance 3D graphics and general purpose computing using JavaScript APIs. 

WebGPU support is now enabled on devices running Android 12 or later powered by Qualcomm and ARM GPUs. Support will expand to more Android devices in the near future, including those still on Android 11. The rollout...

19 January 2024 | Android

GitHub’s Mermaid support enables developers to quickly create diagrams

GitHub has added native support for Mermaid—enabling developers to quickly generate diagrams.

According to GitHub, both open-source and enterprise developers see a productivity boost of around 50 percent when provided with detailed documentation. Rich, visual formats often help to better present information.

Last month, GitHub added support for .svg files to comments in issues, PRs, discussions, and Markdown files like READMEs. However, GitHub says that it recognises...

15 February 2022 | Git

Cross-platform graphics API Vulkan is now ‘ray-tracing ready’

The Khronos Group has announced that Vulkan’s SDK, tools, and drivers are now “ray-tracing ready” for developers.

Vulkan is an open-source and interoperable alternative to graphics APIs like DirectX, OpenGL, and Metal. Ray-tracing, meanwhile, is touted as the next big advancement in the visual fidelity of graphics, especially for games.

“4A Games was one of the earliest adopters of hardware-level ray-tracing by developing the first real-time raytraced global...

16 December 2020 | API