Graphics library
A graphics library is a program library designed to aid in rendering computer graphics to a monitor. This typically involves providing optimized versions of functions that handle common rendering tasks. This can be done purely in software and running on the CPU, common in embedded systems, or being hardware accelerated by a GPU, more common in PCs. By employing these functions, a program can assemble an image to be output to a monitor. This relieves the programmer of the task of creating and optimizing these functions, and allows them to focus on building the graphics program. Graphics libraries are mainly used in video games and simulations.
| OS | Vulkan | Direct X | GNMX | Metal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 | Free, Nvidia and AMD | Free, MS | no | no |
| Mac | Free, MoltenVK | no | no | Free, Apple |
| GNU/Linux | Free | no | no | no |
| Android | Free | no | no | no |
| iOS | Free, MoltenVK | no | no | Free, Apple |
| Tizen | in Development | no | no | no |
| Sailfish | in Development | no | no | no |
| Xbox One | no | Free | no | no |
| Orbis OS (PS4) | no | no | Free | no |
| Nintendo Switch | Free | no | no | no |
Some APIs use Graphics Library (GL) in their name, notably OpenGL and WebGL.
Examples
- MIT X Window System
- Display PostScript
- Apple Macintosh QuickDraw
- Cairo (graphics)[1]
- Clutter[2]
- DirectX[3] (a library created by Microsoft, to run under Windows operating systems and 'Direct' Xbox)
- emWin[4] An Embedded Graphics Library
- FLTK[5] A GUI Toolkit and Graphics Library
- Mesa 3D[6] (a library that implements OpenGL)
- MiniGL[7] (a range of incomplete OpenGL implementations)
- Open Inventor[8]
- Qt[9] A cross-platform application framework
- SFML[10]
- Simple DirectMedia Layer[11]
- Allegro
- Skia Graphics Library[12]
- SIGIL[13] (Sound, Input, and Graphics Integration Library)
See also
- Anti-Grain Geometry
- Software development kit (SDK)
- OpenGL ES (Android Developers)
- Graphical Widget toolkit graphical control elements drawn on bitmap displays
References
- ↑ "cairographics.org". cairographics.org. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
- ↑ "Clutter Project – Have fun!". clutter-project.org. Retrieved 2016-01-03.
- ↑ "DirectX". DirectX Graphics and Gaming (Windows) - MSDN - Microsoft.
- ↑ "emWin Graphics Library | www.LPCware.com".
- ↑ "FLTK GUI and Graphics Library | www.fltk.org".
- ↑ "The Mesa 3D Graphics Library".
- ↑ "victords/minigl".
- ↑ "Open Inventor® | Open Inventor 3D SDK".
- ↑ "Qt - Home".
- ↑ "SFML".
- ↑ "Simple DirectMedia Layer - Homepage".
- ↑ "Skia Graphics Library".
- ↑ "SIGIL: Sound, Input, and Graphics Integration Library". www.libsigil.com. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
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