After watching some videos on their website I was completely amazed. The opportunities that this API creates are amazing. I can't wait to see some 3D games for the browser.
Adobe is pushing the limits again by incorporating some very low level graphics APIs. Recently it also updated the Flash player with stage video that also takes use of the GPU.
Flash has always been just that, it brought to the user what the browser alone did not.
Some parts can, some not, some are better in HTML5 / WebGL, some are better in Flash / Molehill.
GPU bottlenecked things should be more or less similar, CPU bottlenecked things are currently faster in Flash.
Flash has more troubles integrating with the rest of the browser stack (DOM layers compositing).
According to sparse info so far, Molehill will be limited by DirectX 9 capabilities, which is also the case for WebGL with ANGLE rendering backend on Windows but not for WebGL with OpenGL rendering backend on Windows / Linux / OSX (these should have capabilities of OpenGL ES 2.0).
Which means if you have a high-end graphics card, you should be able to squeeze out more from it with WebGL. Also work-in-progress are WebGL extensions, which will expose even more GPU capabilities.
Can anyone find online documentation? I want to know how it compares to WebGL. Is it OpenGL-like, DirectX-like, or a wacky new API? What shader language is supported? Is GPGPU possible? What's their story on extensions? Do they support compressed textures, floating-point textures, non-power-of-two textures, vertex texture fetch?
Edit: the best thing I've found so far is here: http://www.bytearray.org/?p=2555
Apparently Adobe invented their own wacky new API and shader language, which seems like a questionable decision. Still looking for something more detailed.
GPGPU is useless for mass gaming. The underpowered GPUs that will run most of the in-browser games will have trouble rendering the game itself, much less help with other tasks.
This is true for gaming applications in general, even on consoles and PCs with powerful cards. Game developers need the GPU to do graphics, and can find enough work for it.
It's probably a good decision. OpenGL is full of legacy baggage, even ES, and its shader language is modeled after C. Flash developers don't have the same skills to leverage as game developers, so they might as well start fresh.
Advanced 3D in Flash has been an attractive idea for some time. I'm surprised Adobe didn't release this earlier in advance of WebGL as a possible competitor.
I view this development very positively. Flash is being positioned as being the cutting edge in browser gaming. With Linux support too!
It will take years for browsers to catch up and in the meanwhile we have the capability of hosting games as complex as MMOs like World of Warcraft within a browser all with one fairly universal browser plugin.
It's time for browser games to move past sprites and tiles.
Flash has always been great for experimental games. In a few hours you can make a functioning prototype, upload it to a big website and let people see your work. I look at Kongregate and Newgrounds as the programmer's equivalent of deviantART.
I would love to see HTML5 catch up with this one day, but until that I'll be using Flash to play with. And now with more liberty!
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 65.1 ms ] threadGPU bottlenecked things should be more or less similar, CPU bottlenecked things are currently faster in Flash.
Flash has more troubles integrating with the rest of the browser stack (DOM layers compositing).
According to sparse info so far, Molehill will be limited by DirectX 9 capabilities, which is also the case for WebGL with ANGLE rendering backend on Windows but not for WebGL with OpenGL rendering backend on Windows / Linux / OSX (these should have capabilities of OpenGL ES 2.0).
Which means if you have a high-end graphics card, you should be able to squeeze out more from it with WebGL. Also work-in-progress are WebGL extensions, which will expose even more GPU capabilities.
Edit: the best thing I've found so far is here: http://www.bytearray.org/?p=2555 Apparently Adobe invented their own wacky new API and shader language, which seems like a questionable decision. Still looking for something more detailed.
This is true for gaming applications in general, even on consoles and PCs with powerful cards. Game developers need the GPU to do graphics, and can find enough work for it.
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flash_Player_Incubator#...
"Mere mortal" developers probably will probably use the Molehill APIs through one of the many 3D frameworks for Flash:
http://www.bytearray.org/?p=2810
It will take years for browsers to catch up and in the meanwhile we have the capability of hosting games as complex as MMOs like World of Warcraft within a browser all with one fairly universal browser plugin.
It's time for browser games to move past sprites and tiles.
Flash has always been great for experimental games. In a few hours you can make a functioning prototype, upload it to a big website and let people see your work. I look at Kongregate and Newgrounds as the programmer's equivalent of deviantART.
I would love to see HTML5 catch up with this one day, but until that I'll be using Flash to play with. And now with more liberty!