Cogl: Having fun with GPU graphics

Robert Bragg

Cogl is a GPU graphics & utilities api which has evolved a lot since it was split into a standalone project in 2011. This session will give an update of what we are doing with Cogl today and where we want to take it. I'll give an overview of Cogl's capabilities and demonstrate some of the possibilities it enables. GPUs provide dedicated hardware that we can use to achieve a wide range of real time visual effects, more efficiently than with CPUs. I'd like to use this session to try and inspire more people to learn about GPU programming so we can continue to push the bar in how we utilize the GPU for more compelling UI visuals.

In this presentation I hope to:

  • Summarise how to draw with Cogl
  • Give an overview of what utilities Cogl offers to make programming the GPU fun, instead of a chore
  • Talk a bit about some of the projects where we?ve used Cogl, such as Clutter, Cairo, Evas, WebKit, Mutter [Wayland] and a new R&D project called Rig
  • Talk about recent developments such as cogl-gst, frame timing support, GPU fence support, Kernel Mode Setting support and our progress towards Cogl 2.0
  • Invite people to play with Cogl and give us feedback