OpenGL ES Reference vs Surface Explorer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
OpenGL ES Reference
This app provides offline access to detailed descriptions of all OpenGL ES commands and functions from the official Khronos Group website. It's designed to help developers easily reference graphics API information, even for beginners.
- Complete OpenGL ES 3.2 command descriptions
- Information from official Khronos Group website
- Offline access
- Systematic function listing
- Search bar and index
- Landscape mode support
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This application includes complete descriptions of all OpenGL ES commands and functions contained in the OpenGL ES 3.2 API and Shading Language Specifications. All the information is provided from the official Kronos Group Website. It helps to work easily. OpenGL ES is the industry's most widely used, supported and best documented 2D/3D graphics API. Purpose is very much clear from this document that developers need to refer functions, and obviously there are hundreds of functions, and it is really difficult to remember all of them. This application is developed to make things easy. Features: - Functions are listed in a very systematic manner. - All the information in this application is provided from the official Khronos Group website. So that it becomes easy to understand. - Search bar makes it easier to work with. - Search index list makes it easier to go through the sections. - Landscape mode is supported. - No Internet connection is needed. - OpenGL ES Notes for free! - It can also be used for beginners to learn the functions. - Information provided is used from the official website of Khronos Group. - No need to access internet for referring. Purpose is very much clear from this document that developers need to refer functions, and obviously there are hundreds of functions, and it is really difficult to remember all of them. OpenGL ES Reference application is developed to make things easy. OpenGL ES Reference is of course a non profit application. OpenGL ES Reference is free of cost. Purpose of this application is to provide knowledge about OpenGL ES for free. And also to make things easy. Because the content is online, this application gives the details offline.
Surface Explorer
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Surface Explorer is a high-performance visualizer for intricate mathematical surfaces — 2D manifolds embedded in three- or four-dimensional space, and 3D slices of four-dimensional hypersurfaces — bringing abstract geometry to life with real-time GPU rendering. KEY FEATURES • Cross Section — slice four-dimensional hypersurfaces and watch their 3D sections change shape as you rotate them in 4D or slide the cutting plane along the fourth axis, even along a 4D camera path. • Ray Marching Engine — real-time rendering of implicit surfaces and signed-distance fields, with procedural displacement, transparency, adjustable shells, and a precise mode for high-degree equations. • Multi-Mesh Surfaces — build figures from several independent grids, each with its own color, transparency, texture and domain. • Geodesic Flow — explore intrinsic geometry on curved manifolds (S³, H²×R, SL(2,R) and more), integrating geodesics from initial conditions. • 4D Spatial Exploration — dedicated controls for hyperspatial rotation (Omega, Phi, Psi), projection, and 3D and 4D camera paths. • 4D Lighting Models — Directional, Observer, and Slice lighting designed for hyperspace. • Dynamic GLSL Scripting — write custom shaders for procedural textures and surface logic in the built-in editor. • Backgrounds — images and procedural effects, fixed on screen or wrapped around the scene as a sphere, cylinder or cube. • Audio-Visual Synthesis — synchronize geometric parameters with a mathematical sound synthesizer. • Video Recording — capture your explorations directly in the app and save them to your device. A library of ready-made presets ships with the app, from classic parametric surfaces to black-hole ergospheres, curved-space tori and slices of the 3-torus, together with a searchable built-in manual. Built with Qt and Metal for smooth, native performance on iPhone and iPad.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: OpenGL ES Reference at 8.1 against Surface Explorer's 17.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | OpenGL ES Reference | Surface Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (3 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | — |
| Update frequency | — | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 62 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Saumya Lahera | GAETANO MOSCHETTI |
In-app purchases
OpenGL ES Reference
No in-app purchases
Surface Explorer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is OpenGL ES Reference free?
Is Surface Explorer free?
Do OpenGL ES Reference or Surface Explorer have ads?
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