Imagination delivers latest version of leading tools for game development at GDC 2013

Major upgrade of free PowerVR Graphics SDK includes support for latest mobile operating systems and APIs; improved performance analysis tools

Game Developers Conference, San Francisco -- Calif., 25th March 2013 -- Imagination Technologies (IMG.L), a leading multimedia, processor, communications and cloud technologies company, announces the release of the latest version of its industry-leading PowerVR Graphics SDK (software development kit) v3.1.

The new PowerVR Graphics SDK v3.1 fully supports the development of applications using the Khronos OpenGL® ES 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0 APIs on devices integrating Imagination’s PowerVR Series5, Series5XT and Series6 GPUs.

The free and fully-featured PowerVR Graphics SDK v3.1 is available for download now.

The previous version of the PowerVR Graphics SDK has already been downloaded more than 75,000 times by developers in the PowerVR Insider community and PowerVR tools have been downloaded over half a million times. Imagination’s PowerVR Graphics SDK is the leading toolset for mobile and embedded graphics development and key PowerVR tools have also been included in other leading SDKs from Imagination’s partners.

Version 3.1 of the PowerVR Graphics SDK includes:

• New features in PVRTune Performance Analyser
• support for PowerVR Series6 GPUs
• renderstate override
• an improved UI
• improved counter descriptions
• Added functionality to the PVRTrace API Tracer
• full support for OpenGL ES 3.0
• pixel picker
• shader analysis
• trace file editing and splitting
• platform playback
• and more

The SDK includes tutorials, source code, extensive documentation, platform abstraction frameworks and a highly integrated suite of tools. Developers can join the PowerVR Insider programme, download the PowerVR Graphics SDK for free, and interact with the community through dynamic online forums at www.powervrinsider.com.

Says Bryce Johnstone, senior marketing manager for ecosystems, Imagination: “Imagination provides the industry’s most popular tools for mobile graphics development, backed up by extensive technical support, co-marketing and education efforts. The PowerVR Graphics SDK is consistently ranked by developers as better than competing solutions thanks to our complete, fully featured set of performance analysis, development and asset optimization utilities which are continually improved and updated.

“We are delighted to be back again at GDC in 2013 alongside developers who are using the PowerVR SDK to deliver the best gaming content for smartphones, tablets, embedded devices, mobile computing, and handheld games consoles incorporating our PowerVR GPUs.”

For a full list of changes and updates, please visit the corresponding article on the PowerVR developer’s blog.

GDC 2013

In Imagination's booth at the GDC Conference (Moscone Center, San Francisco, 25th – 29th March, South Hall, booth #512) Imagination will feature demonstrations of the PowerVR Graphics SDK v3.1 and the latest demos from PowerVR Insider partners; and an array of new PowerVR-enabled devices.

Imagination will also demonstrate the Caustic Series2 R2500 and R2100 ray-tracing acceleration boards and the accelerated Caustic Visualizer family of plugins which bring the world's first fully interactive real time ray tracer to the working viewports of the industry's premier 3D design and animation packages revolutionising workflows with fully-interactive ray traced viewports.

Imagination is also organizing a series of sessions on the PowerVR hardware architecture for mobile graphics; optimizing render using the PowerVR Graphics SDK; and accelerating look development with the Caustic Visualizer and Series2 hardware acceleration boards. All PowerVR sessions take place in Esplanade 302.

About Imagination Technologies

Imagination Technologies - a global leader in multimedia, processor and communication technologies - creates and licenses market-leading processor solutions including graphics, video, vision, CPU & embedded processing, multi-standard communications, cross-platform V.VoIP & VoLTE and cloud connectivity. These silicon and software intellectual property (IP) solutions for systems-on-chip (SoC) are complemented by an extensive portfolio of software, tools and ecosystems. Target markets include mobile phone, connected home consumer, mobile and tablet computing, in-car electronics, networking, telecoms, health, smart energy and connected sensors. Imagination's licensees include many of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEM/ODMs. Corporate headquarters are located in the United Kingdom, with sales and R&D offices worldwide. See: www.imgtec.com.