VizWorld.com

The NVidia Quadro line has long been a staple of high-end Visual Effects and Designers, but many people still ask “What does a Quadro offer over a GeForce?”  Both are based on the same chipsets, but the Quadro is usually 5x-10x more expensive.  A new press release from NVidia talks specifically about the benefits to AutoCAD users, and gives some concrete numbers:

Designers running AutoCAD 2011 on Quadro professional GPUs can also realize significant performance increases. AutoCAD benchmarks show Quadro delivering:

• Up to 6x higher performance in ‘3D Hidden’ visual style
• Up to 3x faster interactive manipulation of models in ‘Conceptual’ visual style
• Up to 2x gains in speed with the ‘Realistic’ and new ‘Shades of Gray’ visual styles^†

The main feature of the Quadro line is the various specific application optimizations they’ve integrated into the hardware and the drivers that really don’t impact gamers, but offer significant improvements to features used by designers.  Things like improved antialiasing, improved transparency support, and slightly more accurate computations in the depth field.  Financially, it offers some benefits as well:

“For designers who spend a portion of their day working with AutoCAD, Quadro is a smart, cost-effective investment that increases productivity,” said Jeff Brown, NVIDIA general manager, Professional Solutions Group. “Streamlined workflows can easily save a designer 30 minutes a day, and for a firm with five designers, this translates to a benefit of more than $100,000 over three years.††”

via AutoCAD 2011 Designers Achieve Maximum Productivity with NVIDIA Quadro Certified Graphics.

Hardware autocad, nvidia, quadro

A new partnership between MAXON and Alioscopy will bring the power to create the amazing auto-stereoscopic images used on the Alioscopy displays inside Cinema4D.

“MAXON is continually seeking ways to offer value for its customers who create 3D content—whether for entertainment, design, architectural and medical visualization, or advertising purposes,” said Paul Babb, president and CEO, MAXON USA. “As the market for displaying auto-stereoscopic 3D content continues to gain traction, we’re excited that CINEMA 4D artists now have this new capability to easily create Alioscopy-ready content and take advantage of this exciting trend in display technology.”

The Alioscopy display is an auto-stereoscopic (eg. No Glasses) display that, unlike most other displays, uses Vertical interlacing to display the 2 images, or even more than 2 allowing the user limited access to “walk around” the object.  I saw one at SIGGRAPH and the effect is impressive, if not a bit creepy at first.  With the multiple-viewpoint support, it really does offer the feeling of looking into a box rather than looking at a TV, unlike any of their competitors.  This new plugin brings the same functionality to all CINEMA4D users, and will be demonstrated at NAB in the Maxon Booth.

Full press release and details after the break.

Read more…

Graphics alioscopy, cinema4d, maxon

What is that little white dot in the dark side of the moon? Why, it is the International Space Station. This is just one of those cool shots that makes you wonder how they did it. The International Space Station flew across the face of the moon on April 5th. It does not take long for the ISS to cross the face of the moon, so this shot had to be set up in advance, and well timed.

Kudos to Fernando Echeverria for pulling off this great shot. You can click on the picture to see a high resolution version of the image.

The International Space Station flew across the face of the moon over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida approximately 15 minutes before the launch of space shuttle Discovery on the STS-131 mission. Discovery successfully launched on April 5 and is now docked with the station. STS-131 will deliver the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, filled with supplies, a new crew sleeping quarters and science racks that will be transferred to the International Space Station’s laboratories. The crew also will switch out a gyroscope on the station’s truss, install a spare ammonia storage tank and retrieve a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior.

via NASA – Flying Across the Moon.

Image Credit: Photo courtesy of Fernando Echeverria

Science nasa

Wanted to let everyone know about a few changes you may not been aware of here on VizWorld.  I’ve upgraded to a bigger slice, and tweaked a few server parameters that should both drop page loadtimes and improve performance all around.  Also, I’ve changed the Ad-Serving system to something a little less invasive and easier for me to manage.

Most notably there are a few changes to Comments. After some prodding by ‘Anon’, I’ve modifying how Comments are handled here on VizWorld.  I’ve been using the services of BackType to import tweets, reddit comments, and others as comments here on Vizworld.  Several other major sites do this under the heading of ‘Reactions’, while I left them integrated into the Comment stream.  It proved a bit misleading, so I’ve finally succeeded in making similar changes here.  Comments imported via BackType will not appear in the “Recent Comments” block on the sidebar, nor will they appear by default in the comment thread.  There is a new ‘tab’ labeled ‘Reactions; where you can see all of that traffic, if you like.  Here’s an example:

Also, I’ve integrated the RPX Social Widget.  As you already know, RPX powers the ability for you to login and post comments using your Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, and OpenID credentials (amongst many more).  Now, after you post a comment, you’ll see a popup allowing you to share your comment and a link to the story on your social networks with the simple click of a button.

In addition to that, another change you’ll see coming soon is new Categories!  Primarily, we will still have the 3 big categories of Science, Hardware, and Graphics.  Soon, I plan to create several “Sub-categories” under these three to further describe stories like Infographics, Video Cards, Displays, Algorithms, Research, VFX.  Hopefully this will all keep things more organized and make it easier for you to find what interests you most.

I hope you all enjoy the changes, and keep your eyes opened for several more in the coming weeks.  Post your thoughts in the comments, and try out the new RPX Social Widget features!

Website Website

No doubt the RED ONE camera has heavily impacted digital cinema, in ways that are still unfolding as we speak.  From the indie filmmaker to the professional mega-millions feature, the camera is becoming a standard part of filmmaker’s kit.  This week’s recommended resource is a book guaranteed to help you get up to speed on this amazing piece of hardware: Noah Kadner’s “RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera“.

Here are just a few things you’ll learn to do:
•Build a RED package that fits your budget
•Set up for sound recording and learn which audio tools to use
•Achieve the optimal exposure using RED’s onboard tools and external gear
•Edit your footage with step-by-step instructions for Avid, Final Cut Pro, and Premiere Pro
•Work color correction into your HD, film, or Web projects
•Prep your project for output and archive your footage
•Learn from pros such as Rodney Charters, ASC (DP, 24), Simon Duggan, ACS (DP, Knowing), Albert Hughes (Director, The Book of Eli), and many others using RED
•Stay up-to-date and download additional resources at the companion Web site at www.peachpit.com/red

Hardware red, resource of the week

ARRI will be revealing their new Alexa camera at NAB next week, showcasing the new Super 35 Format CMOS sensor they’ve integrated.

The Super 35 format CMOS Bayer sensor exhibits cinematic, shallow depth of field and allows the use of all 35mm PL mount lenses. The sensor’s 3.5K pixel count delivers an optimum in image sharpness, sensitivity and latitude for HD (1920 X 1080) and 2K DI workflows.

But that’s not all, and perhaps not even the most impressive.  The new camera records 1080p directly onto internal flash storage, in Apple Quicktime ProRes 422 or 444 formats along with audioio, metadata, and Final Cut Pro XML files.  This means you can shoot video then directly transfer everything into Final Cut Pro without having to reconvert or transcode anything.

The camera should be available in June, with pricing that starts at 45,000 €, making it not for the faint of heart or light of wallet.

via ARRI Alexa Camera: Digital Cinematic Bliss – Arri alexa – Gizmodo.

Hardware alexa, arri, camera

If you read “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” as a child and found your mind ablaze with visions of the underwater mechanical wonders that filled the Nautilus, then fire up your SecondLife viewer and travel to see the astonishing ‘Nemo’ created by Sextan Shepard.  Full of amazing details, working gears and clocks, and a startling level of geometric complexity, it’s guaranteed to reinvigorate your love for Steampunk Mechanation.

Visit the location with this SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/FRANCE3D%20futuna/91/148/21

Graphics secondlife, virtual world

Did you know that the United States government revamped the student loan program? It was included in the final health care package. What does the student loan program have to do with health care? Heck if I know, but that is how our government works.

The United States government has now forced commercial banks out of the federal student loan market. This will reduce the profits at the banks that used to offer this service, though they will still get some income by servicing the loans. Theoretically it should save the government money. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will save the American taxpayer some $61 billion over 10 years.

Financial Infographics has created a nice graphic explaining the changes.

via Revamping the Student Loan System @ Financial Infographics.

Read more…

Graphics infographic

Flickr user “sacks08” has a nice infographic up showing the brands of rackets players in the current Tennis Top 20 use.  An interesting “horseshoe” Design, he manages to pack in a lot of information:

• Left is Men, right is Women.
• The bars show the quantity in use by Top 20 players (transparent) and Top 10 (Solid)
• Player names are at the bottom, again separated by gender & Top 10/20 ranking

Looks like ‘Head’ is heavily preferred by men and Babolat preferred by Women, except the famous Williams Sisters that prefer Wilson.

Flickr Photo Download: Top 20 tennis players:which racquet brands are most popular:Infographic.

Graphics infographic, sports

NASA has released an image showing dust and smoke particles in the atmosphere for March 2010. The image to the right shows the concentration of these particles. Much of this concentration was due to dust storms, such as in Africa and Asia, as well as fires in Southeast Asia.

This image was made from data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite throughout March 2010. Areas where the sensor couldn’t collect aerosol measurements are gray. Since aerosols such as dust, smoke, and haze are often pale, it is difficult to record concentrations over bright surfaces like the deserts of Africa, Arabia, and Asia or the snow-covered landscape of North America, Europe, Asia, and Antarctica. Other gray areas show where clouds consistently blocked the sensor’s view of aerosols.

via Global Aerosols March 2010 : Image of the Day.

Science nasa, scientific visualization