***QuickNews
RenderGL in LightWave 3D
This week at the Video Toaster User Expo '96, Intergraph gained a further
foothold in the professional authoring market when they released a joint
announcement with NewTek, in which it was revealed that future versions
of LightWave 3D will incorporate Intergraph's RenderGL (see WAVE #609,
9/27/96) as a standard feature. RenderGL is layered on top of the OpenGL
API and uses many of the OpenGL's functions, as well as offering more
advanced options not present in OpenGL such as Phong shading, bump maps,
procedural 3D textures and shadows. The announcement is not only an
important step for the two companies, but also for the burgeoning PC
market, which continues to encroach on the workstation market for
professional 3D authoring.
www.intergraph.com and http://www.newtek.com
Judgment Day II Postponed
Microsoft has announced that Judgment Day II has been postponed from its
original date of November 22-23, 1996 to April 1997. It will coincide
with the Computer Game Developer Conference being held in Santa Clara,
CA. No other information is available at this time.
www.microsoft.com
Hitachi America's SPHERIX
On October 31, Hitachi America announced the SPHERIX 3D graphics sub-
system for Windows NT (Intel and Alpha) systems. It is an external tower
cabinet that can be configured with 1-4 rendering engines and 1-4
geometry engines. SPHERIX will be available in Q1 1997 through Hitachi's
OEM channels (pricing not yet decided). The system has these
specifications:
Performance: Up to 3M polygons/sec
Up to 320M pixels/sec
Features: Trilinear texture filtering, perspective correction,
alpha blending, fog, up to 64 light sources
API: OpenGL
Output: Up to HDTV non-interlaced
Target: Professional NT workstation market, including animators,
mechanical designers and simulation developers
www.hitachi.com
Derwent & Microsoft Patents Technology
Derwent, one of the world's leading patent information providers,
announced an agreement with Microsoft to develop international patent
database solutions based on technology using Windows NT. This technology
will allow patent searchers to access a full patent database including
text and images through client-server technology. Products are expected
to be announced in Dec. of 1996.
www.derwent.com and http://www.microsoft.com
Trident's 3DImage
On October 14, Trident announced their latest entry to the 3D accelerator
market, the 3DImage. With capabilities including not only 3D (with an on-
chip setup engine), but DVD, TV-out, 2D graphics and video acceleration,
the chip is being touted as more of a "media processor" rather than as
just a 3D accelerator. The 3D Image 975 will sell for $25 in volume and
the 3DImage 975DVD will sell for $32.50 in volume, beginning production
in Q1 1997. Here's the performance parameters:
Performance: Up to 1.2M polygons/sec
Up to 60M pixels/sec
3D: Bi-linear filtered texture mapping, OpenGL support,
Gouraud shading
DVD: (3DImage 975DVD only) full-motion 30 fps w/ AC-3
Surround Sound, works with MMX
Video: MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, TrueVideo image enhancement hardware
2D: 24-bit packed True Color acceleration, 265 ROPS
Resolutions: Up to 1600x1200 x256
www.trid.com
Update: Real 3D R3D/100
The prototype R3D/100 chipset from Real 3D will be first
shown at COMDEX Fall '96. Real 3D is currently tuning its
OpenGL installable client driver for Windows NT. To support
the R3D/100, Real 3D and Chips and Technologies have reached
an agreement were Chips and Technologies will sell and distribute the
chipset. Chips and Technologies will be responsible for
sales and first tier customer support, through its 120
person worldwide sales network, and Real 3D will be
responsible for sales promotion activities and second tier
technical support. Real 3D will retain responsibility for
sales of the R3D/100 to other markets, such as traditional
workstation OEMS, while Chips will focus on sales in the PC
marketplace including PC manufacturers, PC graphics card
vendors, and PC OEM's.
www.real3d.com
Wave Issue 9612 11/8/96 Article 1-01