VizWorld.com

Embedded systems get a huge graphics boost today courtesy of Imagination Technologies, who have just announced a new POWERVR SGX545 chip that offers DirectX10.1, OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenGL 3.2, and OpenCL1.0 all on one tiny embedded chip.

Says Tony King-Smith, VP Marketing, Imagination: “Combining our many years of experience in the embedded, mobile and PC-based DirectX graphics worlds, POWERVR SGX 545 takes the possibilities of hand-held graphics to a new level by delivering a full DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.x feature set as well as delivering GPU powered OpenCL heterogeneous parallel processing capabilities for the mobile and embedded markets. This makes POWERVR SGX545 a compelling solution for application processor SoC designers targeting the next generation of netbook and MID mobile products demanding exceptional graphics capabilities.”

If you’re wondering where you’ve heard the name “PowerVR” before, it’s the chip that gives the iPhone 3GS its boost over the iPhone 3G.  Could the iPhone 4 be seeing another big performance boost?

via Imagination Technologies announces POWERVR SGX545 graphics IP core with full DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 3.2 and OpenCL 1.0 capabilities.

Hardware chipset, embedded, opencl, opengl, powervr

I was just tipped off to a book that might be of interest to all of you Second Life & Virtual Worlds: Training & Collaboration in Virtual Worlds.

With the business landscape changing every day, companies need training solutions that are not only cost-efficient, but engaging, quantifiable and global. Learn how virtual worlds can help you create training and recruitment programs that attract quality talent, build great teams, and connect a global workforce – all for less than your current training budget. Training and Collaboration with Virtual Worlds walks you through the available technologies, helps you match virtual tools to your organizational needs, and shows why these programs have already taken off at leading companies.

Learn why leading companies like IBM, TMP Worldwide, Michelin, Intel, Microsoft and others are going virtual:

• Revitalize recruitment and new hire orientation to improve employee quality, productivity and retention
• Conduct worldwide training in real time, minimizing costs and time
• Reduce travel while efficiently managing geographically dispersed teams
• Break down dangerous or complex training procedures into manageable simulations

Experts agree that within five years, the 3D Internet will become as important to companies as the Web is today. Training and Collaboration with Virtual Worlds will put your company ahead of that curve – with great results.

Access the latest information and resources on www.TheVirtualWorldsBook.com

Find this book and others in the VizWorld Store.

Graphics book, secondlife, virtual worlds

Wondering how to create a resume for an infographics or graphic design position that stands out from the pack?  Well, how about turning your entire resume into a giant infographic?

CoolInfographics has compiled an impressive collection of 18 resumes that showcase the subject’s prowess with information representation, and give great backgrounds on the author.

A number of designers have attempted to design a visual, infographic resume, and while this is certainly not mainstream (yet), it is gaining some momentum.  I wanted to highlight some of the great examples available on the web, but the line between an infographic resume and a designer resume is tough not to cross.  I’ve tried to stay true to only infographic versions here, and didn’t include many good illustrated resumes that didn’t include any visualizations

Cool Infographics – Cool Infographics – 16 Infographic Resumes, A Visual Trend.

Graphics infographic, list

Remember a few weeks ago, the nasty rumor that Oak Ridge decided to kill the Fermi-based supercomputer they were buying?  The rumor was quickly debunked by both NVidia and ORNL, but after several weeks of digging deep, BSN found out that there is a tiny grain of substance behind the rumor, and it all comes down to George Bush’s Executive Order 13423 and inter-lab rivalries.

Just like police cars started to use Ethanol fuel, the world of governmental supercomputing laboratories had to change their approach. EO 13423 mandates that every new governmental project, including ORNL has to have 10% of their power grown from natural resources. You might guess where this is heading – the problem that ORNL has might significantly limit their future expansion, since the closest natural resource is none . other but the Mississippi river and the Southwest Power Pool As we all know, Oak Ridge is some 450 miles away – not exactly feasible to draw the power lines across states [one of our sources did state that new power lines would actually do good, given the state of power infrastructure around United States].

As the new computer is projected to consume 60,000 MWh (60 GWh?) annually, that makes 6000MWh’s that must come from renewable resources or 14,000 Metric Tons in Carbon Credits, which would put the electrical bill in the $8-10 Million annually.

The other solution is to work out a deal with one of the other similar labs, Sandia and LLNL come to mind, to “trade” credits.  Unfortunatey, both labs seem to be holding out for a ‘better’ deal in their favor.

Now, I’m rather uncertain about all of this.  ORNL already gets most of their power from TVA, and a Hydro dam is relatively close (5 miles?) to ORNL.  Wouldn’t that be considered renewable? BSN has the full scoop, read it there.  My sources are unable to corroborate everything in the article, but they do confirm it’s a possible explanation.

via The Real Story behind Fermi & Oak Ridge: Bushes’ legacy threatens progress? – Bright Side Of News*.

Hardware, Science fermi, hpc, nvidia, ornl

Another CES announcement, this time fro Vuzix, announces a new Stereo Augmented Reality headset that fits into a slim sunglasses form factor.

The stereo camera pair delivers a single 1504 x 480 side-by-side image that can be viewed in 3D stereoscopic video, while the video eyewear provides an unprecedented 67-inch display as seen from 10 feet. The Wrap 920AR also includes a 6 Degree-of-Freedom Tracker, which allows for absolute accuracy of roll pitch and yaw and also X, Y and Z positioning in 3D space. Selected as a 2010 CES Innovations Award winner and a semifinalist for the “Last Gadget Standing” competition, the Wrap 920AR will be the highlight of Vuzix’ display at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show.

So, it’s a bit of an odd offering, as it records stereo imagery via the cameras and display it right back to you, as tho it’s not even there.  Hopefully, some interesting applications will come out utilizing the integrated tracking.

via Vuzix to Introduce Revolutionary Augmented Reality Wrap 920AR Video Eyewear at 2010 International CES – Yahoo! Finance.

Hardware augmented reality, ces, vuzix

The battle between OpenGL & DirectX is a holy way in the gaming community, usually with DirectX winning because it is supported by most games.  When working in cross-platform environments, however, OpenGL is the clear winner.  Wolfire games, creator of several games for multiple platforms, has a new blog post detailing their choice of OpenGL over DirectX, and it gets beyond the “Well, DirectX doesn’t work on Mac or Linux” and gets into some good technical reasons why OpenGL still hangs around.

It’s common knowledge that OpenGL has faster draw calls than DirectX (see NVIDIA presentations like this one if you don’t want to take my word for it), and it has first access to new GPU features via vendor extensions. OpenGL gives you direct access to all new graphics features on all platforms, while DirectX only provides occasional snapshots of them on their newest versions of Windows. The tesselation technology that Microsoft is heavily promoting for DirectX 11 has been an OpenGL extension for three years. It has even been possible for years before that, using fast instancing and vertex-texture-fetch. I don’t know what new technologies will be exposed in the next couple years, I know they will be available first in OpenGL.

The conclusion of his article is particularly powerful, stating how DirectX only really exists to prevent games from leaving Windows Platforms.

via Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX – Wolfire Games Blog.

Graphics, Science directx, opengl

The Third Floor, well known previsualization experts, recently turned to StudioGPU’s real-time 3D workflow features in MachStudio Pro for their recent work in stereoscopic 3D production.

“Finding MachStudio Pro was like finding the Holy Grail,” says Chris Edwards, founder and CEO of The Third Floor. “You can literally convert previs assets or final assets and port them to MachStudio Pro to create a real-time light sculpting experience. As the previsualization pipeline evolves people are trying to figure out how to compete in a global marketplace,” continues Edwards. “We see MachStudio Pro playing a key role in the future of virtual cinema.”

Stereoscopic films, in particular, require much more planning than traditional films.  Some of this is due to inexperience in the field, but largely it’s due to the additional requirements brought on by working in an environment where the relative depth of objects suddenly becomes much more important.  Full release after the break.

Read more…

Graphics machstudio, previs, studiogpu, third floor

If you’ve ready any coverage of CES, then you know that everyone there is pitching 3D in the home in some fashion.  3D Displays, 3d Glasses, 3D BluRay, seems everyone has something.  The New York Times takes a position similar to mine (It’s neat stuff, but not gonna be big anytime in 2010), and summarizes it at such:

So here’s the C.E.S. 2010 pitch for your living room: Imagine sitting back on your couch with a big bag of popcorn, watching the movie “Avatar,” a football game or two great white sharks voraciously attack each other on the Discovery Channel, all in 3-D.

Here’s the reality: Imagine having to pay another two or three thousand dollars to replace the crystal-clear high-definition flat-panel television you just bought for Christmas (for a third of the price). Then imagine having to watch any of those aforementioned shows or movies while wearing a pair of $50 3-D glasses. Then having to buy another five or more pairs of $50 3-D glasses for family members or friends to watch with you.

via Do Consumers Really Want 3-D TVs? – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com.

Hardware 3d, nytimes, stereoscopic

In Intel’s booth at CES, you can see two giant double-HD screens showing a realtime visualization of web news stories.

The entire setup is apparently powered by a single i7 processor, and it’s easy to see how you could shrink an application like this down for use on oh, say, a tablet of some sort. Is it an efficient way to sort through information? No, no it is not. But it sure is engaging, and that’s gotta count for something.

See video of the setup on Gizmodo’s site.

Intel’s Double-HD MultiTouch Wall Is Incredible – Intel – Gizmodo.

Hardware displaywall, intel

Managed to find an interesting video showing, very briefly, the capabilities of the NVidia GF100 in DirectX11 via Unengine.  While the site is in Italian, the translation reads:

We managed to track exclusively for you from a Chinese website on the first video of the new series of graphics cards Nvidia Without dealing with the benchmark Unigine DirectX 11.

To you after the jump to preview the video GF100 in action.

See the video after the break.

Update: Found another better, longer video with narration showing not only the Unengine demo, but video of the open computer case showing the Card & Connections.  After the break.

Original Links, via Google Translate.

Read more…

Hardware benchmark, ces, directx11, fermi, gf100, nvidia