Criterion and Yamaha partner on real-time 3D for PC virtual reality market.SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 1995--Criterion Software Friday announced an alliance with Yamaha to provide low-cost real-time 3D graphics for the PC virtual reality market. Criterion will optimize its RenderWare 3D software rendering Performing the computations necessary to construct output for the printer or screen by following instructions in a program routine. Contrast with hardware rendering. See render. library for Yamaha's new 3D graphics chip Rendering Polygon polygon, closed plane figure bounded by straight line segments as sides. A polygon is convex if any two points inside the polygon can be connected by a line segment that does not intersect any side. If a side is intersected, the polygon is called concave. Processor (RPA RPA Remote Patron Authentication RPA Rural Payments Agency (UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) RPA Replication Protein A RPA RNAse Protection Assay RPA Regional Plan Association RPA Random-Phase Approximation - called the YGV611) and the companies will collaborate on future hardware and software architecture to provide outstanding price/performance real-time 3D for virtual reality on PCs in 1995. "Yamaha, famous in the PC market for their sound chips, has a wealth of experience in low cost silicon design and manufacture and this shows in the price/performance of the RPA," said Mike King, executive vice president at Criterion. "Yamaha is the only company today shipping a low cost chip with full 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 hardware. Texture mapping is an extremely important feature for software applications. It's exciting to be able to offer PC software developers the powerful combination of RenderWare and the RPA chip." "RenderWare provides the API we need to ensure mass market acceptance of our chip by hardware and software developers. RenderWare has been adopted by hundreds of applications developers and is well positioned to bring 3D software and hardware to the PC market," said Henry Choy, Yamaha's graphics product manager. The RPA, first shown at Comdex Fall 94, gives high quality 3D performance at unmatched low cost. Yamaha's YGV611 provides 550Kpolygons/sec. with Gouraud shading In 3D graphics, a technique developed by Henri Gouraud in the early 1970s that computes a shaded surface based on the color and illumination at the corners of every triangle. Gouraud shading is the simplest rendering method and is computed faster than Phong shading. , 210K polygons/sec with texture mapping (13.5 million pixel/sec fill rate). Up to 32-bit color support, 16-bit Z buffer A memory buffer in a graphics accelerator that is used to speed up the rendering of 3D images. It holds the depth of each pixel (z-axis), and as an image is drawn, each pixel is matched against the z buffer location. support with no performance penalties and support for screen resolutions from 320 x 200 to 1280x1024. With prices starting at $80, the YGV611 is the lowest cost and highest performance 3D graphics chip on the market today. A lower system cost version will be available soon. The next version is fully software compatible with the RPA and will result in 3D graphics PC add on boards with texturing support at a street price significantly below $300! RenderWare, launched in December 1993, was the first interactive 3D graphics API for Windows/DOS. RenderWare's strength lies in its ability to provide real-time 3D graphics on PCs without the need for a 3D graphics accelerator A display adapter that performs a specialized set of graphics functions to render an image on screen. Today, all display adapters provide basic rendering functions in hardware, but many have graphics processing units (GPUs) that are sophisticated computers. , thus opening up a substantial installed base of PCs as a target market for 3D applications. Furthermore, when RenderWare detects the presence of a 3D accelerator it transparently accelerates the application to even higher levels of performance, at greater resolution and color depth Same as bit depth. . RenderWare provides an excellent development environment for incorporating real-time 3D graphics into virtual reality, CAD and business applications. Yamaha Corp. of America, Systems Technology Division was founded to manufacture and market integrated circuits Integrated circuits Miniature electronic circuits produced within and upon a single semiconductor crystal, usually silicon. Integrated circuits range in complexity from simple logic circuits and amplifiers, about 1/20 in. (1. , board level products and complete systems to OEMs and VARs. The division's product line includes custom and semicustom ASICs, standard circuits for graphics, communications and audio applications and CD recorder See CD-R. products. Criterion Software Ltd., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (Tokyo), is the leader in interactive 3D graphics software tools for personal computers. Criterion develops, markets and supports computer software products and technologies that expand the interactive 3D graphics frontiers on the desktop. The company licenses its products and technology to major developers world-wide through its offices in Sunnyvale, Guildford, United Kingdom and Tokyo. CONTACT: Criterion Software, Sunnyvale
Steve Mosher, 408/489-5103
Email: stevem@csl.com
Yamaha Corp. of America, San Jose
Henry Choy, 408/467-2355
Email: Henry@yamaha.mhs.compuserve.com
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