Google to bung next-gen Vulkan 3D graphics spec into Android

Also on Monday, Imagination Technologies showed off video demonstrating how its Vulkan driver outperforms its OpenGL ES 3.0 driver running on an Intel-based Nexus Player Android device, which includes Imagination’s PowerVR G6430 GPU. Once Google integrates the new Vulkan APIs, developers can choose to use them or stick with the tried and true OpenGL ES. The Gnome Horde is specifically designed to showcase the capability of Vulkan, and “meet the needs of Andriod graphics developer community”.

The goal of Vulkan is very similar to that of Apple’s Metal API for iOS and OS X. Vulkan is a low-overhead graphics API that gives developers more direct access to the graphics processor and control over how their graphics are rendered.

“This will enable Khronos to test Vulkan drivers across platforms and hardware, and improve the 3D graphics ecosystem as a whole”, Google’s Android group said in a blog post.

When Khronos unveiled its Vulkan API – OpenGL’s successor – at March’s Games Developer Conference in San Francisco, it was touted as being the ultimate low-level API, one that will work wherever games are. Google has not mentioned details as to when Android Vulkan will be made available to developers, but we can say for certain that this is going to happen before 2015 ends.

On Wednesday at SIGGRAPH, attendees are invited to the “Khronos 3D Graphics API BOF”, taking place from 5pm to 7pm at the JW Marriott LA Live in the Platinum Ballroom Salon F-I. The standard OpenGL standard and the mobile OpenGL ES standard have been growing closer together for years as mobile GPUs have grown more capable, and as a result it’s getting easier to port OpenGL desktop code to mobile devices. It’s unlikely to be ready in conjunction with the Android M launch later this year. The API also works with the device’s CPU in order to help with the distribution load among the various cores. “We look forward to the migration of efficiency improvements from Vulkan to the other widely used APIs from Khronos”, Seetharamaiah added. All Khronos members are enabled to contribute to the development of Khronos specifications, are empowered to vote at various stages before public deployment, and are able to accelerate the delivery of their cutting-edge media platforms and applications through early access to specification drafts and conformance tests.