To achieve this goal, the working group removed any redundancy from the OpenGL API. The OpenGL API is very large and complex, and the goal of the OpenGL ES working group was to create an API suitable for constrained devices.The working group used the following criteria in the definition of the OpenGL ES specification(s): In the earlier versions of OpenGL ES (1.0, 1.1, and 2.0), the device constraints that were considered in the design included limited processing capabilities and memory availability, low memory bandwidth, and sensitivity to power consumption. It is a widely accepted standard 3D API that has seen significant real-world usage.ĭue to the widespread adoption of OpenGL as a 3D API, it made sense to start with the desktop OpenGL API in developing an open standard 3D API for handheld and embedded devices and then modify it to meet the needs and constraints of the handheld and embedded device space. The Khronos Group also manages OpenGL, a cross-platform standard 3D API for desktop systems running Linux, various flavors of UNIX, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. The Khronos Group, founded in January 2000, is a member-funded industry consortium that is focused on the creation of open standard and royalty-free APIs. OpenGL ES is one of a set of APIs created by the Khronos Group. OpenGL ES 3.0 is backward compatible with OpenGL ES 2.0, meaning that applications written for OpenGL ES 2.0 will continue to work with OpenGL ES 3.0.

Indeed, OpenGL ES 3.0 is already supported on devices using Android 4.3+ and on the iPhone 5s with iOS7. It is almost inevitable that every handheld platform that continues to evolve will support OpenGL ES 3.0. The current edition focuses on OpenGL ES 3.0, the next revision of OpenGL ES. The first edition of this book covered OpenGL ES 2.0 in detail.

Since the release of the iPhone 3GS in June 2009 and Android 2.0 in March 2010, OpenGL ES 2.0 has been supported on iOS and Android devices. OpenGL ES also underpins WebGL, a web standard for browser-based 3D graphics. The list of platforms supporting OpenGL ES includes iOS, Android, BlackBerry, bada, Linux, and Windows. OpenGL ES is the dominant graphics API in today’s smartphones and has even extended its reach onto the desktop. OpenGL for Embedded Systems (OpenGL ES) is an application programming interface (API) for advanced 3D graphics targeted at handheld and embedded devices.

OpenGL ES 3.0 Programming Guide, 2nd Edition

Opengl es 2.0 shader example