NVIDIA Cg 2.0 Toolkit

Archive: May 2008

The award-winning Cg Toolkit provides a compiler for the Cg 2.0 language, runtime libraries for use with both leading graphics APIs, runtime libraries for CgFX, example applications, and extensive documentation. Supporting over 25 different OpenGL and DirectX profile targets, Cg 2.0 will allow you to incorporate stunning interactive effects into your 3D applications.

The Cg Toolkit's components include:

• NVIDIA Cg Compiler Release 2.0
• Cg/CgFX Runtime libraries for OpenGL and Direct3D
• Cg User's Manual
• Documentation for the Cg Language Specification, runtime APIs, Cg standard library, CgFX states, and the Cg profiles.
• Cg examples

Cg 2.0 supports a broad range of desktop operating systems (Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS X for Tiger and Leopard, 32-bit and 64-bit x86 Linux, and x86 Solaris) so your shader-enabled applications can use the same shaders no matter your choice of operating system or graphics API.

We hope that you will enjoy the exciting world of Cg programming.

Latest Cg Toolkit Features

The 2.0 release of Cg introduces several new features and improvements:

• New OpenGL profiles (gp4vp, gp4gp, and gp4fp) for GeForce 8 extensions. These expose new DirectX 10-class features including geometry shaders, bindable constant buffers for uniforms, texture arrays, first-class integer support and more
• Support for Apple's new "Leopard" release of Mac OS X 10.5
• New DirectX 9 profiles (hlslv and hlslf) to cross-translate Cg to HLSL
• Documentation updates, including Cg Standard Library and standard CgFX states
• New examples demonstrating texture-space bump mapping setup via a geometry shaders, shadow volume generation via a geometry shader, bindable constant buffers, and more
• Improved compiler code generation
• Runtime performance improvements
• Compatibility with Cg 1.5

The May 2008 release of Cg 2.0 (2.0.0015):

• Contains major performance improvements to the runtime
• Fixes an assortment of bugs
• Includes three new examples

Please see the release notes for details, known issues, and more.

New Profiles

Name	Graphics API	Domain	Graphics hardware required
gp4vp	OpenGL	Vertex	GeForce 8 series NV_gpu_program4 + NV_vertex_program4
gp4gp	OpenGL	Geometry	GeForce 8 series NV_gpu_program4 + NV_geometry_program4
gp4fp	OpenGL	Fragment	GeForce 8 series NV_gpu_program4 + NV_fragment_program4
hlslv	DirectX 9c	Vertex	Multi-vendor DirectX 9c GPUs
hlslf	DirectX 9c	Fragment	Multi-vendor DirectX 9c GPUs

Existing Profiles

The Cg Tutorial Book

Update! Now available in both print and free, online-readable versions.

The Cg Tutorial: The Definitive Guide to Programmable Real-Time Graphics takes a tutorial-based approach to teaching Cg and high-level shading, and it comes complete with a standalone application that allows you to try out and modify the book's examples. To learn more about The Cg Tutorial or for information on discounted print copies, please visit the book's home page.

Downloads

Documentation
[Download] Cg Release Notes
[Download] Cg 2.0 Features
[Download] Cg Reference Manual
[Download] Cg Specifications (PDF)
[Download] Cg Users Manual (English) (old, not updated)
[Download] Cg Users Manual (Japanese) (old, not updated)
[Download] Cg Bumpdemo Tutorial (old, not updated)
[Download] CgFX Bumpdemo Tutorial (old, not updated)

Install Packages
[Download] Windows
[Download] Mac OS X (Leopard and Tiger) Installer
[Download] Linux X86 (gzipped tar)
[Download] Linux X86-64 (gzipped tar)
[Download] Linux X86 (RedHat RPM)
[Download] Linux X86-64 (RedHat RPM)
[Download] Solaris X86 (gzipped tar)

Cg Redistributable Binaries
Cg redistributable binaries package contains the libraries and executables for all supported platforms of a Cg release in a single zip file.
Go to the Cg Redistributable Binaries Page.

Current Version:
Current Cg Toolkit

Previous Versions
Cg Toolkit 2.1 Beta