AMD will publish the Mantle programming guide and API reference later this month. It is doing so as it "fundamentally believes in technologies unfettered by restrictive contracts, licensing fees, vendor lock-ins or other arbitrary hurdles to solving the big challenges in graphics and computing". It also fulfils AMD's promise of openness.
In a blog post discussing the future of graphics APIs and Mantle in particular, Raja Koduri, Vice President of Visual and Perceptual Computing at AMD, said that he is proud of the achievements of Mantle thus far. In its first year Mantle has gained support from five advanced game engines and 10 premium applications allowing AAA content to be produced in record time. AMD claims that the example of Mantle has paved the way for future APIs and specifications to be successful – with an eye on DirectX 12 and the Next-Generation OpenGL Initiative. It says that it is actively helping in developing those two graphics standards and leveraging the GCN architecture.
Transitionary year as DirectX 12 and glNext hit the big time
2015 is expected to be a transitional year for Mantle and AMD will be embracing the transition by; continuing to work with partners on Mantle projects like Battlefield Hardline, making Mantle more open beyond the publishing of a public Mantle SDK, and taking on new innovative capabilities for select partners with custom needs. AMD's Koduri rounds off his year-ahead projections by suggesting that developers interested in Mantle functionality should "focus your attention on DirectX 12 or glNext".
AMD disclosed its fondness of Direct3D 12 at last year's GDC
As this story is headlined, a 450-page programming guide and API reference for Mantle will be published later this month. Documentation will "provide developers with a detailed look at the capabilities we've implemented and the design decisions we made, and we hope it will stimulate more discussion that leads to even better graphics API standards in the months and years ahead," says AMD. You will be able to find the documentation here.
AMD is presenting at the GDC 2015 this week and it teases that we will see "not just the future of Mantle, but the future of PC graphics itself".
