Khronos Group Launches OpenML Open Source SDK

April 18, 2005, Las Vegas - The Khronos Group today announced that its implementation of the OpenML® API is to be made available as open source on Sourceforge. The OpenML specification provides software and hardware developers with a professional-grade, cross-platform, standardized media framework for the capturing, processing, synchronizing and playing of digital media content - including video, audio and 3D graphics - for authoring and content creation systems. The open source SDK is based largely on SGI's implementation of dmSDK and contains: libraries and utilities to enable OpenML applications to run on Linux, IRIX® and Windows systems; source and header files for the libraries to enable new OpenML applications to be built; source code for example OpenML applications and audio and video device modules and full documentation. The source is expected to available on Sourceforge within two weeks under a derivative of the SGI FreeB license which permits full commercial use of the code for building commercial applications.

Khronos is also pleased to announce that Skymicro, a leading manufacturer of digital video equipment for the TV industry, has joined the Khronos Group as a Contributing member in order to participate in the ongoing evolution of the OpenML API. Skymicro will be demonstrating on booth #SL3761 an OpenML application that records and plays uncompressed video through a Merlin board.

"The ground-breaking technology of SGI's dmSDK is not only a key component of the OpenML standard - but is now available as part of the OpenML open source as a significant enabler to many companies creating media creation tools and platforms," said Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group and senior vice president of market development at 3Dlabs. "Khronos believes that open source is the most effective vehicle to drive the continued adoption of OpenML as it will foster a community of developers that can work together to extend platform and device support for the good of the industry."

"SGI is delighted to see the accelerating deployment of OpenML-based systems," said Frank Bernard, OpenML working group chair and technical lead at SGI. "As the creator of OpenGL, and the first implementer of OpenML, SGI is firmly committed to the development of open standards. When fragmented, proprietary APIs are replaced by broadly supported industry standards, customers will be the ultimate winners."

"The OpenML SDK brought to the open source community is another exciting step forward that will build momentum behind the standard and benefit all manufacturers of graphics and video applications" explains Jean-Luc Dery, product development manager at Autodesk MED/Discreet. "Whether working on a video or film production, developing a game, or simply streaming multimedia content, creators and their end users will benefit alike from the SDK which provides a more coherent way to orchestrate multiple media applications and hardware peripherals."

About Khronos
The Khronos Group is a member-funded industry consortium creating open standard APIs such as OpenGL® ES, OpenMAX™, OpenML™ and OpenVG™, to enable the creation and playback of dynamic media on a wide variety of platforms and devices, including 3D graphics on mobile phones. Khronos members are able to contribute to the development of Khronos API specifications, vote at various stages before public release, and are able to accelerate the delivery of their cutting-edge media platforms and applications by having early access to specification drafts and conformance tests. Please go to www.khronos.org for more information.

What's OpenML?

Here's a general idea about the OpenML:

OpenML is actually the API for prossesing, capturing and transporting the audio, video and graphics data. To create a window, you need to use another language such as VC++.OpenML isn't a driver, it's just an API. it *can* use from the windows drivers to create it's modules-- the ML SDK can comes with a sample module that simply uses the Windows drivers.The ML module is not really a driver, it is simply an app-level emulation.So for final integration and performance tests, you need to find a card that has a native ML module.

OpenML creates a module from the video and audio card--And also any card that supprts the OpenML. You can allocate some empty buffers and construct your files.Then you Open one *input* jack and path of that module and start the transfer.If anything goes correct, OpenML receives the data from the input path and then fills the buffers with these data and delivers the buffers to the application.Now you can copy these buffers to the suggested file.Note that there are some discrete buffers.OpenML deals with each buffer independent of the other buffers.

There's an inverse manner.You can open the output jack and path and then construct some buffers .You copy the data of that files in the buffers and then you start the transfer. If successful, OpenML transfers the data to the output path.

There are some good news about the OpenML. it is going to be completely Open Source.So there aren't the previous problems as i know--But at the time that i'm writing the letter, you need to fax the agreement page to Elizabeth.

More information?
Register your name on the khronos group and discuss with the other people on the OpenML message board:
http://www.khronos.org/cgi-bin/ubb/u...cgi?category=2

-Ehsan Kamrani-