Home » Archives for August 2009
I found Jim Smyth, self-proclaimed collector of the SGI Swag Legacy. He was kind enough to share images of his impressive collection of hats, mugs, t-shirts, and various other SGI-branded gadgets with me and I’ve uploaded them here for you to peruse. It’s a true testament covering 20 years of history from a company that pioneered the phrase “It’s not a Job, it’s a wardrobe”.
I’ve gone through and added an item of two from friends of mine, which you’ll see inside. If you have any SGI swag that you don’t see here, then send a pic into [email protected] and we’ll add them here. And if you have any of the legendary SGI Octane Lighters, then send us pics! And if you can, send us the lighter!
Read more…
Graphics, Hardware, Science feature, sgi, swag
Silicon Graphics, what a tangled web you wove.. From the old days of the Infinite Reality cards, you were the name in computer graphics. Seems that legacy has come to an end. I’m hearing from people within SGI that, as of Monday, the entire graphics division has been eliminated. That includes everyone from the Vice President of the graphics division on down to the engineers.
It’s a sad day for the people within SGI, as they scramble to find employment within their competitors like NVidia and ATI. It’s a sad day for fans of SGI, as the “G” has lost all meaning. What does this mean for the future? We don’t know yet. As we find out more, we’ll share with you.
If any of you within SGI have news or information to share, let us know via any of the means on our About page.
Update: 12:15pm I’ve just received word that PowerVUE, SGI’s hardware accelerated & distributed rendering system for OpenGL, is now dead.. RemoteVUE and SoftVUE (remote-visualization and software-emulation extensions to PowerVUE) are likely dead as well, but not confirmed. RIP PowerVUE (2008-2009). We hardly knew ye.
Update 8/19/09 : An official response from SGI..
Hardware feature, sgi
A rumor from Asia states that AMD’s newest DX11 chip, to be used in the RV870, could come with a 384-bit memory interface.
This could indeed be possible, concerning that the RV770 is already quite dependent on bandwidth and the RV870 is expected to have twice the computing power. Also the recent information that the chip would be bigger than 300 mm², affirms the theory of 384 Bit memory interface, because already the dimensions of the RV770 would have made it impossible there.
This would put it on-par with NVidia’s G80 chipset, and could double the memory bandwidth of the existing HD4870 card, increasing it to 240GB/s.
via AMD’s RV870 with 384 Bit memory interface? – News – Hardware-Infos.
Hardware amd, rumor
One of Syfy’s newest shows is Warehouse 13, a somewhat X-Files show where the two main characters go out in search of a new rare artifact each week, and mischief and mayhem follows. With any show like this, the VFX play a major part and for Warehouse 13, Keyframe Digital got the job. Film & Video sits down with the co-founders of KeyFrame Digital, Clint Green and Darren Cranford, to talk about some of the effects they’ve made for the show.
DC: This is the Tesla Gun. When she pulls the trigger, it takes a few seconds for the tubes inside to warm up. Once it charges, it disperses not just Ghostbuster electricity, but a plasma ball that shoots out with electricity behind it, hits the person, and knocks them back with a ball of electricity and smoke. So that’s part 2D and part 3D. We make a 3D electrical ball that shoots out and wraps around the character, and then paint out one side of the ball so that it looks like it’s on both sides of the character, and then use that 3D ball to make distortions on the background. And then we enhance it with a little bit of an electricity hit in 2D and a little bit of 2D smoke or 3D smoke, depending on the needs. If he falls back in a certain way, we want the smoke to trail the proper way, so we’ll use our particle system, FumeFX. Depending on the particle effect, we might even use another program, Frantic Films Krakatoa.
via Keyframe Digital Fills a VFX Warehouse for Syfy | Film & Video.
Graphics keyframe digital, syfy, tv, vfx
Kitware, renowned creators of scientific visualization tools such as VTK, ITK, and ParaView, have just announced a new “Professional Support” package called “ParaViewPro” available for customers.
The yearly subscriptions cover build and installation issues on the supported computational clusters, prioritized bug fixes, and usage questions for all supported end users.
The ParaViewPro support subscriptions are available for End-Users at $950 per year and as a cluster (Server) subscription for $1850 per year. The End-User Subscription covers all basic usage questions for ParaView, plus prioritized bug fixes and feature requests. The Server Subscription provides build and installation assistance for running the ParaView server on a single cluster.
For commercial organizations, the prices are miniscule (Less than $1k a year? Come on!) and support on client-server usage would be welcome in many organizations I’m sure.
via Kitware – News.
Science kitware, paraview, software
The Mill recently made a new commercial for Dell’s new Inspiron laptops named “Treats”, which you’ve probably already seen on TV. Now, some behind-the-scenes footage has cropped up on YouTube, thanks to Dell, showing the greenscreen work, the CG effects work, and the set design of the whole commercial.
See it after the break.
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Graphics commercial, dell, the mill, tv
Here’s the list of Pixels for today:
Graphics, Hardware, Science pixels
In this VizWorld Feature, Eugene Liscio of AI2-3D returns with an article discussing the power of Forensic Virtual Models in the Courtroom.
When virtual reality became popularized in the late 1980s and 1990s, it wasn’t long before people started to dream of fascinating concepts and uses for virtual environments in education, simulation, training and entertainment. However, at the time the progression of technology fell short in terms of processing power, responsive tactic input devices and the fundamental programming and logical techniques required to output a realistic looking environment.
Today, there have been large improvements in processing power as well as the techniques used to display cutting edge 3D graphics in real-time. By simply looking at the gaming, medical and engineering design markets, one will quickly realize that the developments in computer graphics in the last 20 years has been astonishing. Yet, even with the advancements in processing power and logical programming techniques, the use of virtual reality in the forensics and litigation fields has seen minimal use.
Read more after the break.
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Science feature, forensic, legal, liscio
GimmeTheScoop‘s recent graphic about Private Student Loans has gotten alot of publicity and mileage, but a detailed look at it gets a bit confusing. Neal Levene of SimpleComplexity takes a very in-depth look at it and finds numerous problems ranging from poor aesthetic choices to just plain misleading data. For example:
I don’t like that the left chart is per student data and the right is for the whole industry. How many students were there receiving loans? Is the issue that the number of students increased? Are loans to people at private colleges included in the data at the right? It is suggested by the graphic that the left and right are correlated, but there are many alternate hypotheses.
It’s an excellent critique, and towards the end he shows an alternate chart (made from data he derived from the existing graph) which does a far better job showing the information.
via Private Student Loans – A Critique — Simple Complexity.
Science critique, infographic
A new Google Maps mashup from Mentorn Media and Cimex Media, on behalf of the BBC, maps crime-patterns as a heatmap over Oxford.
In a map, that I am happy to see is not a Google mashup, select different kinds of crime (e.g. violent crime, burglary & theft), or if you live in the area, compare different neighborhoods by postcode. The interactive also provides three animations for a week in crime – street violence, street robbery, and rowdy behavior – complemented by narration and explanation.
The map covers data from November 2007 to November 2008, and uses data from several agencies such as the Thames Valley Police, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue, Domestic Abuse Services, Ambulance Services, and more. See it on “the truth about crime” site.
via Mapping Crime in Oxford Over Time | FlowingData.
Science crime, google, heatmap, maps, mashup, oxford
GimmeTheScoop
VizWorld.com 
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