NVidia has just announced the new CUDA 2.2 beta, with several new features. Of particular note is the new debugger for linux, similar to gdb, that allows you to debug kernels as they run on the GPU. Some other features:
- Improved OpenGL interop performance
- Texture from pitch linear memory
- Zero-copy support for direct access to system memory
- Pinned shared system memory allows compute kernels to share system memory
- Asynchronous memcopy on Vista
Georgia Tech announced the “GPU VSIPL” recently at the High Performance Embedded Computing Conference. It’s a port of the familiar Vector Signal Image Processing Library to run on GPU’s via CUDA.
GPU VSIPL is an implementation of Vector Signal Image Processing Library that targets Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) supporting NVIDIA’s CUDA platform. By leveraging processors capable of 900 GFLOP/s or more, your application may achieve considerable speedup without any specialized development for GPUs. Our range-Doppler map application achieved a 75x speedup on the GPU simply by linking it with GPU VSIPL.
via GPU VSIPL.
A generous donor, Ernest Mario, has donated $500,000 to the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy to build a “visualization auditorium”.
The URI Foundation said the money would help pay for a 167-seat 3D “visualization auditorium ” which will use a projection system similar to an IMAX system to display molecular and anatomical images and data.
IEEE Spectrum sits down with Steve Perlman, the brains behind OnLive. They discuss some of the technology behind OnLive, and get into a few of the details of the service:
Spectrum: How many game developers are on board so far?
SP: We’ve partnered with 11 game companies so far, including Electronic Arts, Epic Games, and Warner Bros. Games. And we’re partnering with both major and private game developers.
Spectrum: How often will OnLive update its hardware to keep up with the latest in graphics technology?
SP: Every six months, which is more often than most hard-core gamers do now. So just as Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and ATI are upgrading processors, we’ll roll in new servers. That way you’ll always have the latest and greatest technology.
IEEE Spectrum: Steve Perlman on How OnLive Will Change Gaming.
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A beautiful and serene animation from Mathieu Gérard.
“STEEL LIFE is an experimental student short film by Mathieu Gérard based on aesthetics of visual effects. It was produced at university Paris 8 for the master thesis graduation in Arts et Technologies de l’Image. Mathieu’s goal was to achieve an onirical and aesthetic treatment of visual effects through CG art.”
via Video : Mathieu Gérard – Steel Life | One Eight Nine.
Steel Life from Mathieu Gérard on Vimeo.
The Mill recently won the 7th Annual Visual Effects Society Award for their work in a Doctor Who episode ‘Silence in the Library’ (One of my personal favorites). Then used the CINEMA4D system on Mac Pro’s to generate the images.
According to The Mill s Lead Digital Matte Painter Simon Wicker CINEMA 4D and its Advanced Render 3 module played a vital role “The results were amazing. I could render a 175 frame camera animation at widescreen PAL resolution overnight on a Mac Pro without a trace of GI flicker. Without that these shots would never have been completed on time. CINEMA 4D has always been bulletproof for my work.”
The picture above is not a photograph. It’s a rendered image from Viki Yeo, done with 3DSMax2009, ZBrush, Mental Ray and Photoshop. He details how he started with reference photographs from www.3d.sk and modeled the girl’s head, to render that image, in the latest tutorial on CGarena.
NCI, Inc has been awarded an extension to it’s task order to develop cutting-edge search & geospatial visualization technology for the Department of Defense & other federal agencies. Specifically, they’re connecting their databases and data-portals to Google Earth.
The NCI team will link and make searchable web applications and web-based portals with information from external databases and other enterprise data sources. These applications will use Google Earth Enterprise and Google Enterprise Search to integrate a customer enterprise data search capability linked to customized geospatial views and visualization for critical customer information.
Randy Thom
SIGGRAPH has announced another Keynote speaker, but this one’s a bit different:
“SIGGRAPH has long emphasized the world s best visual and interactive content and SIGGRAPH 2009 is adding a special focus on integrating audio ” stated Ronen Barzel SIGGRAPH 2009 Conference Chair. “Randy Thom is the world s leading advocate and practitioner in the art of integrating sound with visuals in storytelling. His vision is a perfect fit as SIGGRAPH extends its focus into this area.”
So I guess SIGGRAPH is moving away from Video & CG, and going to being incorporating Sound? This is SIG-GRAPH not SIG-SOUND right?
via Academy Award(R) Winner Randy Thom Selected as a SIGGRAPH Keynote Speaker – ShootOnline.
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