Last Updated: 02 / 23 / 2011

Cg Toolkit - GPU Shader Authoring Language

The award-winning Cg Toolkit enables software developers to add the latest interactive effects to real-time applications with a comprehensive solution that works across platforms and graphics APIs containing:

Compiler for the Cg 3 language
Cg/CgFX Runtime libraries for OpenGL and Direct3D
User’s Manual and documentation on the Cg Language, Runtime APIs, Cg Library, CgFX States, and Cg Profiles
Numerous Cg examples

Supporting dozens of different OpenGL and DirectX profile targets, Cg allows you to incorporate stunning, interactive effects within your 3D applications and share them between other Cg applications, across graphics APIs, and most operating systems (Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, Mac OS X for Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard, x86 Linux 32-bit & 64-bit, x86 Solaris 32-bit & 64-bit) and balance effect complexities wth client GPU capabilities.

Cg 3 Toolkit Features

Version 3 of the Cg Toolkit adds capabilities and profiles to fully support all currently shipping graphics boards from NVIDIA.

The February 2011 version of Cg 3.0 added these improvements:

Improved DX11 tessellation support
Resolved an issue with nearly identical user defined types
Resolved an issue with default values from unreferenced uniform parameters
Support setting matrices beyond 96 float constants in the vp30 profile
Application supplied compilation options now override those set by cgGLSetOptimalOptions
Improved support for 'const' variables in the GLSL profiles
Added sampler state documentation

The November 2010 version of Cg 3.0 added these improvements:

Vertex shaders aren't disabled by tessellation shader state assignments
DirectX feature levels 9 and 10 now work with cgD3D11
cgCombinePrograms respects the auto compile flag
The hlsl10g profile now supports structures in AttribArray
cgCopyProgram works once again!
Fixed a bug when compound-assignment operators (+=, *=, etc.) were used on column major matrices
tex2Dsize will now work for shadow samplers
Resolved a problem with geometry shaders on OSX
Corrected the OSX Framework executable path
Fixed crash when connecting API created parameters to precompiled (CG_OBJECT) program parameters
No longer try to use typedef keyword in generated GLSL code
Fixed a problem in the modf routine
Various documentation updates

The July 2010 version of Cg 3.0 added these improvements:

OpenGL GPU Program5 profiles
DirectX11 Shader Model 5 profiles
Support for tessellation programs for OpenGL and DirectX 11 hardware such as NVIDIA's new Fermi GPU architecture
Numerous examples for new Direct3D and OpenGL capabilities
Support for up to 32 texture units
Unbind routines for D3D programs
CgFX buffer routines
Dependent parameter routines for CgFX shader arrays
Shadow versions of texBLAHproj functions in the hlsl10f profile
Improved evaluation engine for expressions in CgFX files
Updated reference manual for new profiles and entry points

See the release notes for a complete list of changes.

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