3Dlabs Announces GLINT 3D Hardware Accelerator Certified for Softimage 3D 3.51; All GLINT board and system OEMs to provide Softimage-certified 3D hardware acceleration; Softimage customers on Windows NT will have a wide range of high-performance, cost-effective GLINT-based solutions to choose from.SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 27, 1996--3Dlabs(R) Inc. today announced that its reference board designs for the GLINT(R) 500TX and GLINT 300SX 3D graphics accelerators, including the GLINT Delta(TM) geometry co-processor, are among the first 3D hardware accelerators certified by Microsoft(R) for use with Softimage(R) 3D and Softimage 3D : Softimage|3D was a high-end 3D graphics application developed by Softimage, Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. Extreme 3.51-- a leading 3D authoring solution for Windows(R) NT and UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). (R). GLINT reference board designs provide an optimized baseline design that GLINT board and system manufacturers may use as a platform for their value-added products. All GLINT board and system manufacturers, both domestic and worldwide, are expected to complete SoftImage certification for their specific products over the next few months. In a major boost to 3D multimedia and animation on the PC, 3Dlabs recently announced and began volume shipments of the GLINT 500TX with hardware texture mapping In computer graphics, the application of a type of surface to a 3D image. A texture can be uniform, such as a brick wall, or irregular, such as wood grain or marble. The common method is to create a 2D bitmapped image of the texture, called a "texture map," which is then "wrapped around" support. In combination with the optional GLINT Delta geometry co-processor, GLINT 500TX accelerators provide OpenGL(R)-compliant rendering, texture-mapping, and geometry processing Geometry processing is a fast-growing area of research that uses concepts from applied mathematics, computer science, and engineering to design efficient algorithms for the acquisition, reconstruction, analysis, manipulation, simulation and transmission of complex 3D models. on a single PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). board at prices beginning under $2,000. Quotes "We are very proud that Microsoft has selected the GLINT reference design as one of the first boards meeting the stringent requirements of Softimage 3D certification - this is a tremendous validation of our market and technology leadership," said James Carrington, director of marketing for GLINT products at 3Dlabs. "Our hardware OEMs also receive a major benefit through this award, which will open up broad new markets in 3D authoring and post-production for their products. 3Dlabs will continue to work aggressively with Softimage to deliver the best acceleration and support for Softimage 3D on Windows NT (Windows New Technology) A 32-bit operating system from Microsoft for Intel x86 CPUs. NT is the core technology in Windows 2000 and Windows XP (see Windows). Available in separate client and server versions, it includes built-in networking and preemptive multitasking. -- a world-class program and environment for 3D animation, modeling and character development." "The robust and high-performance feature set delivered by 3Dlabs' GLINT chips provide Softimage 3D for Windows NT the compelling 3D hardware acceleration In computing, hardware acceleration is the use of hardware to perform some function faster than is possible in software running on the normal (general purpose) CPU. Examples of hardware acceleration include blitting acceleration functionality in graphics processing units (GPUs) and that our high-end film, video and game customers have come to expect," said Jean-Jacques Hermans of Softimage. "We look forward to working directly with 3Dlabs to ensure that Softimage customers can continue to benefit from the rich variety of GLINT-based OpenGL accelerators to meet their specific price and performance requirements." Companies Supporting GLINT A wide range of 3Dlabs' customers are shipping GLINT board and system products, including AccelGraphics, ASUSTek, Datapath, Densan, Diamond Multimedia, ELSA, Force, NeTpower, LeadTeK, MaxVision, MicroStep, Newer Technology, Omnicomp, Radius, and Symmetric. GLINT 300SX, GLINT 500TX and GLINT DELTA - a Complete Family GLINT is the market-leading family of productivity-class 3D processor chips, and integrates high-performance graphics sub-systems onto silicon devices that radically lower the cost of OpenGL-based 3D acceleration. GLINT supports high-resolution displays and deep 32bit color and Z buffers, full multi-plane overlays, and accelerates 100% of OpenGL rendering operations in silicon. The second-generation GLINT chip, the GLINT 500TX, also provides advanced texture-mapping, anti-aliasing and alphablending in silicon. Boards implemented with the GLINT Delta geometry pipeline processor and one or more GLINT 500TXs provide integral OpenGL texture-mapping and geometry acceleration without the need for expensive texturing upgrades or geometry cards. The GLINT chip family is currently the only silicon shipping with an OpenGL Installable Client Driver, providing highly-optimized and fully-compliant OpenGL performance, integrated seamlessly with Microsoft Windows See Windows. (operating system) Microsoft Windows - Microsoft's proprietary window system and user interface software released in 1985 to run on top of MS-DOS. Widely criticised for being too slow (hence "Windoze", "Microsloth Windows") on the machines available then. NT. OpenGL is fully-supported and endorsed by Microsoft as the high-end 3D API for CAD, imaging and multimedia authoring. The GLINT drivers for Windows NT and OpenGL are available on Intel(R), Alpha(R), MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) The execution speed of a computer. For example, .5 MIPS is 500,000 instructions per second; 100 MIPS is a hundred million instructions per second. (R) and PowerPC(R) processors. All 3Dlabs' drivers automatically detect and take full advantage of GLINT 300SX, GLINT 500TX and the optional GLINT Delta. Pin-compatible with the first-generation GLINT 300SX, the GLINT 500TX can be used singly or in parallel to increase 3D performance up to 1 million Gouraud shaded, Z buffered, 32bit color, 25 pixel polygons-per-second. GLINT 500TX's unified graphics pipeline also provides unsurpassed 2D windows acceleration and full support for video texture-mapping, including digital video effects Visual effects created in the computer that provide interesting transitions from one scene to another rather than just switching frames. They include fading or dissolving the frame, wiping one frame over another and flipping the frame. See wipe, morphing and digital effects. . When used in an Intel Pentium(R) Pro processor-based system, the GLINT 500TX delivers OpenGL-based application performance to rival Silicon Graphics(R) high-end desktop workstations. Company Information 3Dlabs is a worldwide supplier of merchant chips, software and core technology for 3D graphics. With over 10 years experience in 3D graphics, the company's products enable chip, board and system manufacturers to integrate advanced 3D capabilities into their products for such applications as multimedia authoring, CAD, simulation, virtual reality, interactive TV and video games See video game console. . 3Dlabs has consistently led the industry in being first to deliver successive generations of 3D devices that precisely meet the emerging needs of the 3D market. In a recent article the company was positioned as the "First member of the next generation of chip companies," by the influential Red Herring Red Herring A preliminary registration statement that must be filed with the SEC describing a new issue of stock (IPO) and the prospects of the issuing company. Notes: magazine. In January 1996, 3Dlabs' GLINT and PERMEDIA silicon were honored with a "First Place Computer Graphics World Editor's Choice Award for Outstanding Innovation." 3Dlabs Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, CA., was founded in April 1994, and is privately owned. -0- NOTE TO EDITORS: 3Dlabs and GLINT are registered trademarks and Delta and PERMEDIA are trademarks of 3Dlabs Inc. Ltd. Softimage is a registered trademark of Softimage, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Microsoft Corporation. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corp. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. All other trademarks are acknowledged and recognized. CONTACT: 3Dlabs, Inc. James Carrington, 408/467-3434 james.carrington@3dlabs.com http://www.3dlabs.com or Horizon Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most Jonathan Hirshon, 408/982-2555 jh@horizonpr.com http://www.horizonpr.com |
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