jeff_rigby said:
"re-architected display model and backend based on Cairo evolving toward supporting COLLADA". COLLADA is an open source standard file format for game assets.
The above is a BIG statement, re-architected means they are going to change the way they display from what they use now to Cairo based. Back end means low level PSGL, so the basic backbone for graphics on Sony products will be built on the upper level cairo SVG library rather than low level GPU calls.
And they expect that upper level Cairo to evolve to support the feature set needed by games. PSGL is not OpenGL and Cairo may be a way to standardize graphics/GPU by supporting Cairo with Sony developed PSGL. The end result is Cairo on any platform be it PSGL supported or OpenGL will produce the same results. PS Suite may use cairo.
The Cairo SVG library is in the PS3 NOW.
1)
Cairo SVG was required for the HTML5 javascript engine in firmware 3.5
2) is being used by GT5 for the Infinite Zoom picture database of cars
3) Home's Lua client is now using Cairo (results in a smaller application size, more shader features and resolution/platform independence)
The strength of the PS3 Cell SPU is VECTOR calculations as in Cairo SVG graphics! "Play up to your strengths."
There is supportable speculation that all applications on the PS3 will be/are now being rewritten to use Cairo instead of low level GPU. This is a lock for the coming webkit port for the PS3 which we were told would be Cairo based. Using Cairo SVG with Pango (coming/required for the webkit port) for system fonts will allow EASY PS3 support for ALL languages and character sets.
IBM Article on Cross platform graphics with Cairo
Using Cairo SVG with Pango for system fonts will allow EASY PS3 support for ALL languages/character sets.
Both Android and Apple iOS use SVG graphics. Now the PS3 will follow. Why; to support WebGL and SVG graphics in the browser.
Sony is going to support SVG graphics and WebGL games. For this reason (see article below) Sony is providing Chrome browsers on their PC platforms. Chrome as do most browsers (non-microsoft) supports SVG graphics and WebGL.
ie9-good-for-microsoft-bad-for-developers
any of you remember, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) was introduced as a standard in 1999. Everyone except for Microsoft adopted the new technology. Rather than adopt the new SVG standard, Microsoft decided to create its own standard called VML. Because of this, you, as a developer, couldnt rely on native SVG support. Sure, users could easily download a plugin for Internet Explorer but it wasnt something you could count on. As a result, the new (at that time) SVG format never really became the new cutting edge graphics standard on the web that it should have been. Ever wonder why HTML 5 has two standards for graphics (canvas and SVG)? You can thank Microsoft.
Now, 11 years later, Microsoft has finally adopted native SVG support in its latest browser. At least that revolution can finally begin. There is however, a new elephant in the room and its name is WebGL.
For those of you who may not know, WebGL is an extension of the OpenGL 3D graphics library. Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari all support it. Can you guess which new browser doesnt? If you guessed Internet Explorer 9, you are correct and deserve a cookie! Now, technically WebGL isnt an HTML 5 standard so some might say Microsoft is justified in not supporting it. But, everyone else is and us web developers are eager to start putting out some awesome 3D web applications.
The strength of the PS3 Cell SPU is VECTOR calculations as in Cairo SVG graphics! The PS3 webkit port is based on Cairo and will support 3D and WebGL 3D games with the SVG standard.
It's almost as if the PS3 was designed to be a webGL game platform.
Comparison of web technologies
(old news)
..............Chrome.......Firefox......Internet Explorer........Opera......Safari....PS3 Netfront
SVG........Yes.............Yes...........No.............................Yes..........Yes.......No
Canvas....Yes............ Yes...........No.............................Yes.......... Yes.......No
WebGL.....Yes............Yes[9].......No.............................No............No........No
Firefox uses Cairo as it's SVG library, Chrome uses Skia. There was an effort to insure compliance with the SVG standard with both and Open Source Skia SVG code was ported to the Cairo SVG library. Opera uses it's own SVG library.
News by date:
PS3 gets HTML5 javascript engine with cairo bindings Sept 2010 (more to come)
New Home client 1.4 released with smaller size but more features (Cairo) Nov 2010
GT5 released with infinite Zoom Car database (Cairo) Nov 2010
Cairo Stable release Jan 2011
Webkit based on Cairo Stable release Feb 2011
Kronos group announces final WebGl standard March 2011
Future news but no date
PS3 WebGL HTML5 webkit browser announced when, released when?
E3? Oct?
?Complete? rewrite of PS3 applications to use Cairo
on going
The above chart will soon become:
Comparison of web technologies
New
..............Chrome.......Firefox......Internet Explorer.....Opera....Safari...PS3 Webkit....NGP
SVG........Yes.............Yes...........yes.........................Yes.......Yes.......Yes...............Yes
Canvas....Yes............ Yes...........yes.........................Yes.......Yes.......Yes...............Yes
WebGL.....Yes............Yes...........No..........................yes.......Yes.......Yes...............Yes
khronos-group-launches-final-webgl-spec/
March 7, 2011 The Khronos Group has released the final WebGL 1.0 specification to enable hardware-accelerated 3D graphics in HTML5 web browsers, such as Safari, without the need for plugins.[/B]
WebGL has the support of major silicon and browser vendors including Apple, Google, Mozilla and Opera, with multiple browsers already shipping with WebGL implementations, including the beta releases for Mozilla Firefox 4.0, all channels of Google Chrome 9.0, an Opera preview build and Apple Mac OS Safari nightly builds.
WebGL defines a JavaScript binding to OpenGL ES 2.0 to allow rich 3D graphics within a browser on any platform supporting the industry standard OpenGL or OpenGL ES graphics APIs.
The ability for web developers to directly access OpenGL-class graphics directly from JavaScript, and freely mix 3D with other HTML content, will enable a new wave of innovation in web gaming, educational and training applications and graphically rich user interfaces.
There is already a thriving middleware ecosystem around WebGL to provide a wide diversity of web developers the ability to easily create compelling 3D content for WebGL-enabled browsers. These tools include: C3DL, CopperLicht , EnergizeGL, GammaJS, GLGE, GTW, O3D, OSG.JS, SceneJS, SpiderGL, TDL, Three.js and X3DOM.
Firefox webGL video
firefox4beta FlightDemo.mp4
The above is a demo of Firefox WebGL using Cairo and Gstreamer with cairo bindings not native to the platform. The PS3 will have native Cario and Gstreamer support (optimized). Notice the multiple codec video screens (gstreamer) and the perspective changes (gstreamer with cairo bindings) for those screens while video is playing. It's slightly rough with AA issues thus the beta designation.
The backend of Firefox (partial webkit jit code)/cairo/gstreamer/pango-HarfBuzz should be exactly the same as the Sony PS3 GTKWebkit cairo/gstreamer/Pango-HarfBuzz backend port. The front end, implementation and hardware it runs on will create differences.