VizWorld.com

NVidia is making a big push in the notebook graphics space, in stark contrast to their desktop space where all the cards are stacked up on Fermi.  In an interview with XBitlabs, they discuss some of their initiatives and get to the possibility of some type of external GPU adapter for video cards.

“I think it is a big opportunity. We have two strategies at NVIDIA: one is to put graphics everywhere, the other one is to integrate discrete chips into the box. I think there is definitely a place for [external graphics cards for notebooks], no question. We continue to look at wheather this is a GPU [docking stations] or external devices,” said Rene Haas, general manager of the notebook GPU business at NVIDIA

Then, almost destined, reporters found the Gigabyte M1405 at a trade show in Taiwan that comes with an integrated Intel GMA 4500 inside, but an external GeForce GT220.

via NVIDIA Sees Big Opportunity in External Graphics Cards for Notebooks – Expreview.com.

Hardware gigabyte, laptop, nvidia

Autodesk has named the recipients of their prestigious Masters awards for 2009, handing out 15 awards to 3ds Max, Softimage, and Maya experts.

Over the past few months we’ve asked you, as a member of the 3D Community, to nominate talented artists for Autodesk Maya® Master, 3ds Max® Master, and Softimage® awards for 2009.

All of the talented people nominated were recognized as exceptional people doing exceptional things with—and for—3D CG through the work they produce, through mentoring, and for their contribution to advancing the Autodesk tools they use. Then we asked you, 3ds Max, Maya, and Softimage artists, to vote—and vote you did—by the thousands.

Congratulations to all the winners!

via The Area :: Autodesk Masters :: Autodesk® Masters 2009.

Graphics 3dsmax, autodesk, maya, softimage

Fans of machinima and 3D modeling should check out the University of Western Australia’s campus in Second Life where they regularly hold Art & Design Challenges.  The most recent challenge has just completed and winners announced.

At a loss for words, Igor said, ‘I was genuinely surprised, I thought I got that one award, and was happy’. FreeWee helped him out, saying, ‘The UWA 3D Art & Design Challenge has rapidly emerged as one of the top showcases for virtual arts. I am grateful to the selection committee for selecting my Mutoscope project and to JayJay, Quadrapop and the UWA Imagine Challenge for providing such a stimulating venue for creative work. I never have any expectation of winning competitions. I’m more interested in just participating. To be selected for a prize among such a remarkable field of entries is both startling and truly humbling.’

Pictures of the entries and SLURL’s to their location inworld are available on their site.

via UWA in Second Life.

Graphics art, contest, secondlife

Felix, a renderer developed in partnership with Next Limit technologies (creaors of the Maxwell Renderer), aims to bring renderfarm power to everyone via the Cloud.  Similar in concept to vSwarm, you buy “credits” and then submit your job to be rendered on 40 to 160 cores in the cloud.

Unfortunately, it currently does not support Animation, only still renders, although that feature is coming soon.  The results are impressive tho, rendering the Benchwell scene in a mere 55 seconds.

felixrender.

Graphics cloud, felix, maxwell, renderer

CGenie has opened up this year’s “Big CG Survey”, where you can chime in on what you love and hate in all of the industry’s biggest software packages.

Head on over there and take the survey, and maybe your input will help to improve the next generation of these packages.

CG Software Survey 2010.

Graphics software, survey

MacUpdatePromo has a huge deal this weekend for all you graphics designers, you can get the Strata Design 3D CX package, which normally sells for $699, for a mere $99!

Better hurry tho, as the deal ends tomorrow night!

MacUpdate Promo – Buy Strata Design 3D CX for $99 (86% off) – Big discounts and great deals on Mac software every day.

Graphics mac, software, strata

The Artefact Group has posted a fairly comprehensive list and evaluation of several tools for designing in 3D, including the “Big fish” of the Autodesk Suite, all the way down to the implementation level like OpenGL and WebGL.  If you’re looking for some new tools, it’s a great list covering the pros and cons of several with links and screenshots.

Tools for building a 3D UX | Artefact | User Experience Design Blog.

Graphics list, software

Chyron will this weekend bring the world’s first live 3D Rugby match to the masses, and looks to be trying to improve on last weekend’s attempt to do the same for Soccer by Sky 3D.  Instead of TV’s in Bars, they will be presenting in 40 cinemas across the UK using their HyperX3 graphics system with Lyric PRO.

Wurmsers’ Managing Director Jeremy Tidy said, “The genuine anticipated excitement created throughout the country for this groundbreaking event bodes very well for the future of 3D productions of sporting and many other live events. It has been wonderful to work with such a professional and responsive team like Chyron for a high profile game. The 3D stereoscopic graphic capabilities of the HyperX3 are exceptional and go far beyond expectations.”

via Chyron’s HyperX3 Graphics Systems in First Ever Live Six Nations 3D Rugby Match — LONDON, England, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ –.

Hardware 3d, chyron, rugby, sports, stereoscopic

NVidia has announced the talks and presentations they’ll be giving at the upcoming GDC2010 in San Francisco, and it looks like it’s going to be full of the NVidia SDK’s (Apex, NSight, etc) along with several OpenCL and WebGL talks sponsored by Khronos.

Whether you’re a hardcore game developer looking into CUDA, or a visual artist looking for better ways to master shaders, we’ve got something for you at this year’s GDC. Bookmark this page to get the “last minute” updates on what NVIDIA has planned for GDC 2010. Below are the announced NVIDIA-sponsored sessions for GDC 2010, plus other recommended sessions and tutorials:

Looks March 11th is the day to go if you’re into NVidia gear.

via NVIDIA @ Game Developers Conference 2010.

Science conference, gdc, nvidia

Tony DeYoung frequently extolls the virtues of MachStudio Pro on his FireUser.com blog, and points to a review of the product on Renderosity which contains a few tidbits of what we’ll see in the upcoming new version:

• Raytracing using DX11 Compute Shaders – “I had a first-hand demonstration of what looks to be the first DirectX 11 “compute shade” raytracing prototype, which looked fantastic. I believe Yoni told me that this will be the first time raytracing will be applied using the GPU only.”
• Hair – “anything you can do in ‘Shave and a Haircut’ you can do in MachStudio Pro's hair mode.

While I’m happy to see some nice GPU-accelerated raytracing support, I’m disappointed to see it based entirely on the DirectX11 Compute systems.  This means that you won’t be seeing a Linux or Mac version of MachStudio anytime soon (no DirectX support), and that you won’t be using it on Windows XP or Windows Vista either.

via Renderosity reviews MachStudio Pro on the FirePro V8750 – the future of real time rendering | FireUser Blog.

Graphics machstudio, review, software, studiogpu