The new release of SimLab Composer 2013 gives designers, artists and architects the ability to export 3D models from different files formats (including STEP, SketchUp, SolidWorks, FBX, Inventor, OBJ and SolidEdge) as WebGL models that can be natively viewed on Chrome, Firefox and Safarai, and using chrome frame on Internet explorer.

If you are going to SIGGRAPH in a few days, be sure to bring along your COLLADA demo. COLLADA is inviting all to come up and show off their demo.

OpenGL Insights includes a detailed OpenGL 4.2 and OpenGL ES 2.0 pipeline map as a two-sided 14x18 inch detachable color poster. The map cross-references the OpenGL 4.2 and ES 2.0 specs. The ES pipeline is relevant to both ES and WebGL developers. You may also download a high resolution PDF version directly from the OpenGL Insights website.

Todd Roberts of AMD, discusses the key concepts and workflows behind the OpenCL execution model that incorporates both task and data parallelism. He also discusses the standard pattern for building an OpenCL program as well as offering sample code.

Watch Alina Alt explain compute API interoperability with OpenGL (using CUDA and OpenCL APIs) and delve into interoperability at a system level (or review the slides). Alina explains challenges and benefits of dedicating one GPU for compute and another for graphics, how different system configurations affect data transfer between two GPUs, and how it translates into application design decisions helping to enable an efficient, cross-GPU interoperability between compute and graphics contexts.

COLLADA digital asset schema specification for 3D visualization of industrial data has just been published as ISO/PAS 17506:2012 by the International Organization for Standardization.

You can find updated schedules for all Khronos Group BOFs online.

You are cordially invited to attend the OpenGL BOF on Wednesday 6-7pm in the Gold Ballroom in the JW Marriott hotel to celebrate 20 years of OpenGL with us. You’ll learn what is new and upcoming with the OpenGL API. We will also have two special guest speakers. Rich Geldreich from Valve will talk about their awesome project “Steam’d Penguins” that brings Steam and OpenGL games to Linux. Rich will be speaking about their challenges and successes porting Left 4 Dead 2 to OpenGL on Linux. Kurt Akeley, co-founder of SGI and of the OpenGL API will give his perspective on 20 years of OpenGL development. Right after the BOF we’ll open the doors for the OpenGL 20th anniversary party, with free drinks and various prizes to win. For more information, visit our Siggraph webpage.

Blender Foundation and Blender community members will be participating in Siggraph 2012 - Los Angeles. Starting on Sunday, August 5, 2:00pm, the Blender Community Meeting BOF, followed by the Blender Artist/Developer Showcase BOF at 4pm. You can always find Blender in the Convention Center, main hall, booth 212. Here you will find Blender artists and developers and Ton Roosendaal for three days. Drop by if you like to see the latest in Blender, or just to hang-out and chat with other Blender folks.

Net-tuts has a simple to following WebGL essentials tutorial online. A great place to start learning.

The Intel® SDK for OpenCL Applications 2012 provides a comprehensive development environment and tools for the build, debug, and tune stages of an OpenCL application. Join this webinar on Wednesday July 25th at 9am pacific time.

If used correctly, OpenCL images / textures can give you large speedups on GPUs. In this post, author Erik Smistad shows you a very short example of how to use OpenCL to blur/smooth an image. The goal is to show how images/textures are used in OpenCL and the benefits of using them.

We are excited that Jon Peddie and Kathleen Maher both from Jon Peddie Research, will be traveling with us and will be in our booth to help us meet and greet the Chinese game development community. Additional details of this event will be posted on our official Khronos Group China Joy event page.

Jon Peddie Research will be hosting an informational luncheon for press and analysts at SIGGRAPH 2012. The topic will be “Doing More with Multicore,” and we’ll have a distinguished panel to debate the different aspects of putting multiple CPU and GPU cores to work. What technology is best suited for what jobs? Or maybe a core is just a core, is just a core. The event will be held August 8, 2012 at 11:45 to 14:00 in the JW Marriott, L.A. Live - 900 W Olympic Blvd, in room PLAZA 1

Khronos member Kishonti has updated their CLBenchmark desktop edition software. CLBenchmark 1.1 Desktop Edition is an easy-to-use tool for comparing the computational performance of different platforms.