OpenSceneGraph-3.0.0 released!

Hi all!

A new version of OpenSceneGraph (OSG) has been released. OSG is the standard scenegraph for OpenGL Applications and we are using it extensively in our core library OSGVirtualPlanets (osgVP). We are proud to be contributors of OSG, and our last contribution was to add Android support to the library. Next releases of OSGVirtualPlanets will be built against OSG 3.0.0.

From here we'd like to thank the work done by the whole OSG community and specially to Robert Osfield, the leader of the library. 
 
FYI this is the OSG 3.0 Press Release: 

OpenSceneGraph 3.0 release adds support OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL 3.x to 4.0, support for Android and IOS platforms and much more

PERTHSHIRE, Scotland - 28th June 2011 - OpenSceneGraph Professional Services announces the release of OpenSceneGraph 3.0, the industry's leading open-source scene graph technology, designed to accelerate application development and improve 3D graphics performance. OpenSceneGraph 3.0 written entirely in Standard C++ and built upon OpenGL, offers developers working in the visual simulation, game development, virtual reality, scientific visualization and modeling markets - a real-time visualization tool which eclipses commercial scene graph toolkits in functionality, stability and performance. OpenSceneGraph 3.0 runs on all Microsoft Windows platforms, Apple OS/X, IOS, GNU/Linux, Android, IRIX, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX and FreeBSD operating systems.

Open-source development delivers industry-leading features and performance

The OpenSceneGraph 3.0 release is the culmination of 12 years of work by the lead developers and the open-source community that has grown up around the project. The real-time graphics industry and academia embraced it from the very beginning, deploying it in real-world applications, and actively participating in its development, testing and refinement. The end result is a high-quality library with a feature set relevant to application developers' needs.

Updates include:

• OpenGL ES 1.1, and OpenGL ES 2.0 support
• OpenGL 3.x and 4.x support along with associated OpenGL extensions
• Support for Android on tablets and phones
• Support for IOS on tablets and phones (end users applications have already been accepted on the App Store)
• New extensible serializers that provide new .osgb binary, .osgt ascii and .osgx xml file native formats
• New generalized serializable metadata architecture
• New osgQt library that makes it straight forward to integrate OpenSceneGraph with Qt
• new FBX plugin
• Improvements to osgVolume enabling high quality race traced volume rendering
• Improvements to osgManipulator making it more flexible
• Support for Cocoa and 64bit OSX build
• Improved thread safety and efficiency of database paging
• New Texture and buffer object pools for efficiently managing GL object resources

Downloads and Licensing

OpenSceneGraph is open-source, so full source code is provided, and can be copied, modified and used free of charge for commercial and non-commercial use. Access to the source allows end users greater flexibility in how they develop, debug and deploy their applications. They gain productivity and freedom by being able to leverage the tool chain in accordance with their own release cycles. Downloads of binaries and source can be found in the Downloads section of the openscenegraph.org website.
OpenSceneGraph is released under the OpenSceneGraph Public License, which is based on the Lesser GNU Public License (LGPL), permitting the software to be used free of charge across the full spectrum of commercial and open-source applications. Furthermore, it allows both static and dynamic linking of the OpenSceneGraph libraries without restricting the licensing of the user's software.

OpenSceneGraph Books now available

The new book dedicated to the OpenSceneGraph 3.0 is now available https://www.packtpub.com/openscenegraph-3-0-beginners-guide/book.

Professional support and services

OpenSceneGraph project is backed up with professional services by OpenSceneGraph Professional Services, based in Scotland, and Skew-Matrix and AlphaPixel both based in the USA, and a range of Contractors from around the world. Services available include:

• Confidential Professional Support
• Bespoke development
• Consultancy
• Training

Community support and contribution

The diverse and growing community of over 5000 developers is centred around the public osg-users mailing list/forum, where members discuss how best to use OpenSceneGraph, provide mutual support, and coordinate development of new features and bug fixes. Members of this community come from many different countries with backgrounds ranging from some of the world's largest aerospace companies, game companies, and visual simulation specialists to university researchers, students and hobbyists.
The OpenSceneGraph project owes a great deal to the community for its development and support, in particular we wish to thank the 464 individuals from around the world that have directly contributed to the development and refinement of the OpenSceneGraph code base.