Library brings PC-type 3D rendering to handsets

A new software library brings sophisticated 3D graphics capabilities to the SH-Mobile3 application processor.

Renesas Technology Europe today announced the OpenGL ES Library 3D graphics software for the SH-Mobile3 application processor.

The library offers a development solution for a wide variety of 3D graphics applications for mobile phones that improves application development efficiency and reduces development time.

It conforms to a standard API for 3D rendering and is designed to maximise the capabilities of the PowerVR MBX-Lite high performance 3D accelerator built into the SH-Mobile3.

The library conforms to the OpenGL ES 3D graphics programming interface standard, which is a subset of OpenGL, the industry defacto-standard API for 3D rendering on PCs and workstations, codified by the Khronos Group.

OpenGL ES is designed for applications for embedded devices such as mobile phones.

The library is OpenGL ES V1.0 compliant and fully supports both Common-Lite Profile and Common Profile.

This enables application developers to make use of programming technology developed for the PC when creating applications for mobile phones, providing substantial gains in terms of application development efficiency and portability.

The OpenGL ES Library is optimised to extract the full performance of the PowerVR MBX-Lite 3-D accelerator built into the SH-Mobile3, realising a rendering performance of 500,000 polygons per second or better when the accelerator is operating at its maximum frequency of 54MHz.

This rendering capability delivers excellent 3D graphics on a QVGA-size screen and makes it easy to develop a wide variety of sophisticated 3D applications featuring rapid and smooth movement of graphical elements.

The library runs on the uItron 4.0 operating system and comprises five principal components: an operating system dependent component; an MBX-Lite driver component; display driver components for LCD panels, for example; window manager components; and the main OpenGL ES component.

Both the display driver and window manager components are customisable so that they are compatible with a variety of different display systems.

This makes it easy to implement changes to accommodate a specific display system and enhances development efficiency.

The OpenGL ES Library will be distributed as a software development kit (SDK) combining user-defined segments and library segments in order to allow Renesas Technology's HEW (High-performance Embedded Workshop) integrated development environment to be used.

This enables users to get started with application development immediately after installing the SDK.

The OpenGL ES Library will be available from December 2004.

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