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Website 2009, Website

TechARP has just released version 9.0 of their Mobile GPU comparison Guide, which includes detailed lists for GPU’s from NVidia, ATI, XGI, Intel, and S3.

These days, there are so many mobile GPU models that it has become quite impossible to keep up with the different configurations. Therefore, we decided to compile this guide to provide an easy reference for those who are interested in comparing the specifications of the various mobile GPUs in the market as well as those already obsolescent or obsolete.

Currently covering 190 mobile GPUs, this comprehensive comparison will allow you to easily compare 17 different specifications for each and every GPU! We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly so do check back for the latest updates!

The lists, unfortunately, are available as giant PNG images which makes searching difficult, but includes details like process, shaders, speeds, fill rates, memory bus widths and speeds, and much more.

via Tech ARP – Mobile GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 9.0.

Hardware ati, benchmark, gpu, mobile, nvidia

Another great animated short from the French Supinfocom Arles, “StopMo” tells the tale of an archaeologist that rediscovers a long long Visual Effects studio buried in the ice.  While attempting to recover a film reel she accidentaly awakens the machines in the studio, and Old fights New as a stop-motion Gorilla fights a CG & Animatronic Dinosaur.

An interesting mix of old and new technology as they actually composite stop-motion photography with CG scenes and characters, see it after the break.

Read more…

Graphics animation, short, supinfocom, vfx

The BBC has an article on the European Space Agency’s GOCE satellite being used to map the variations in gravity. What! You thought that gravity was just 9.8 meters/sec²? That was the value we used in all of our engineering classes (unless we had to use English units and use 32.2 ft/sec²). Actually, gravity varies from 9.78 meters/sec² at the equator to 9.83 meters/sec² at the poles. (The newest weight loss regimen will be to move to one of the dark blue areas, I suppose.)

One other item makes this map interesting. Take a look at the sinusoidal orange-colored marks across the world. These marks are best seen over the Pacific Ocean. Those sinusoidal marks are the track of the satellite as it orbits the earth. This is because GOCE has only been in operation for only 47 days, which means that not areas of the earth are covered equally. Thus, this data is preliminary, but still cool.

Via BBC: Europe’s Goce satellite probes Earth’s gravity

Science GOCE, satellite

Popular Mechanics has published a list of their Top 10 VFX scenes in cinema of 2009, with the list beginning with the massive antimatter bomb explosion from “Angels & Demons” and going through 2012, Transformers, Terminator Salvation, and winding up with (what else) Avatar and District 9.

In the year of the great recession, Hollywood blockbusters went bigger. There were taller Transformers, wider tidal waves, and, in the case of Avatar, more dimensions with which to pummel your brain. The running times were bigger, too—of the ten movies we selected for their landmark visual-effects (VFX) scenes, five were more than two-and-a-half hours long. Call it the year of the VFX epic, or maybe the year of the director’s cut. We watched every bloated minute of it, arguably more on-screen carnage than any other year at the movies. And after crawling out from under the digital wreckage of one antimatter bomb, two destroyed aircraft carriers, countless leveled cities and no less than three planets painstakingly torn apart, we’re happy to report that CGI can sometimes conjure up some swell-looking alien faces, too. Here are the best VFX scenes of 2009 (about half of which are spoilers, so consider yourself alerted).

Get the whole list on a single page with the Print Version.

via Top Movies Visual Effects of 2009 – Top 10 VFX Scenes of 2009 – Popular Mechanics.

Graphics list, movie, vfx

Looks like it’s the final chapter for Verari, and it’s all coming to a close on January 7th, 2010.  Contrary to the previous CEO statements, if you hit the website you’ll see the large banner (to the right) from CMA, Credit Management Association, the same guys behind that flyer in the doorway.

CMA is soliciting competing offers for a premier developer of energy efficient data center and desktop consolidation platforms utilizing independent blade-based compute and storage solutions.  All assets will be sold by CMA as Assignee for the Benefit of Creditors.

As usual in a situation like this, the hard-working employees get the shaft as the CEO’s and Investors get the chance to sell off all the assets and get their money back (or at least a piece of it).  We hope all of you former Verari Folks find more respect and better conditions elsewhere.  Good luck @VerariGuy, @ExVerari, and all you VerariAlumni.

Verari Systems – The Leader in Blade Based Solutions for the Data Center.

Hardware deadpool, verari

Several sites have begun publishing desktop wallpaper with integrated calendars for the new year, and I thought I’ld share a few of the best with you.  First up is the tree calendars from CGArena: One of cars, one of people, and one of random images.

We want to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you the best of times. We live in a beautiful world of computer graphics where every day many artworks are made but only some of them stand out to be the best. Here you will find some cool and free CG wallpaper calendar for your desktop. This calendar featured the artworks of Weilin Ke, Kyle Lambert, Raphael Baldini, Marta Dahlig, Mahmoud Salah Ali, John Strieder, Wang Shiyong, Antonio Bonora, Jorge Suarez, Damir G. Martin, David Moratilla Amago, Gabriel Figuera, Jomar Machado, Mark Meszaros, Paul Wesley, Mortezanajafi, Vladimir, Emre Goran, Farkas Adam, Kiran Naidu, Sameer Baloch, Syed Umair Ali, Adrian Guerra, Christopher Adajar, Antonio Peres Vieira Filho, Barnali Bagchi, Eder Carfagnini, Mitsuk Dmitry, Tamas Gyerman, Ney Lisboa, Ghassem Farhany and Pasquale Giacobelli.

The other great pair of calendars comes from CGTantra, one showing the CGTantra Gallery images and another showing the Matte Painting Challenge winners.

Go check em out now, and if you know of any more share them in the comments!

Graphics calendar

The 3D scanning effect that brought us radiohead’s “House of Cards” video is now within the realm of us mere mortals thanks to the work of Kyle McDonald.  In a new project on Instructables, he shows how to connect a projector and 3 cameras together to great a great low-cost 3D scanner.

You’ll need a camera, a projector, and some open source software to process the image data. Using these simple tools, [Kyle] turned out much better video than before. Take a look after the break to see his results from scanning at 60 fps using a PS3 Eye. The trick to this setup is getting the correct synchronization between the projector and the camera, something that could be improved with a bit of extra hacking.

The trick is that the projector casts a cosine pattern onto the field which can then more easily be picked up by the 3 cameras and triangulated to create geometry.  It requires a very detailed synchronization between the projector and the cameras & software, but the results are impressive.

See some demonstration results after the break.

Structured Light 3D Scanning. via HackaDay

Read more…

Hardware, Science 3d, projector, scan

Here’s the links for today:

• Updated our VizWorld 2010 Predictions with some more details on BluRay 3D
• 40 Amazing Winter Photo Manipulations
• 2 Essential Photoshop Plugins for Black & White Photographers (Silver Efex Pro and Virtual Photographer)
• dinoRig - free dinosaur model rigger for Maya 2010
• Balancer 1.0.2 update

Also a small update to the VizWorld Store, I added a new “Resource Of The Week” category as the default, where you can see all of our recommendations!

Graphics, Hardware pixels

This week’s Recommended Resource is Jack Jame’s “Fix It In Post“.

This book provides an array of concise solutions to the wide variety of problems that are faced by postproduction artists in the post process. With an application-agnostic approach, it gives proven, step-by-step methods to solving the most frequently encountered postproduction problems. Also included is access to a free, password-protected website that features application-specific resolutions to the problems presented, with fixes for working in Apple’s Final Cut Studio suite, Avid’s Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as other applications.

Lessons are enhanced through eye-catching 4 color illustrations throughout. Solutions are provided for common audio, video, digital, editorial, color, timing and compositing problems, such as, but not limited to:

• automated dialogue replacement, adjusting sync, and correcting pitch
• turning SD into HD (and vice-versa) and restoration of old film for video
• removing duplicate frames, repairing corrupt frames, and anti-aliasing
• maintaining continuity, removing soft cuts, and troubleshooting timecodes
• adding vignettes, removing color casts, and legalizing color
• speeding shots up or slowing shots down, and smoothing timelapse
• reframing shots, sky replacement, and object addition or removal

The book is presented in a “cookbook” format, allowing you to reference your exact problem in the TOC or index, go to that section, and immediately implement the solution featured.

• Concise solutions to a broad range of problems commonly encountered in postproduction, with solutions for problems with video, audio, compositing, color, editing, timing, and more
• 4-color presentation engages and provides vibrant visual guidance to solutions
• Application-agnostic approach provides solutions to problems regardless of the software being used

Don’t forget, you can buy this book and many others in the VizWorld Store!

Graphics resource of the week