From: j...@horizonpr.com (Jonathan Hirshon) Subject: ANNOUNCE: 3Dlabs/Kinetix Press Release Date: 1996/04/15 Message-ID: <4l3upf$5rg@nntp5.u.washington.edu> X-Deja-AN: 148070117 to: j...@horizonpr.com organization: University of Washington newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds FYI: The following press release details how 3Dlabs-based graphics boards are the first to truly accellerate 3D Studio MAX into real-time -- I believe you might find it of interest. Feel free to call if you have any questions :) cheers, JH _________________________ News Release CONTACT INFORMATION Neil Trevett, 3Dlabs Inc. (408) 436-3456 neil.trev...@3dlabs.com http://www.3dlabs.com Jonathan Hirshon, Horizon Public Relations (408) 982-2555 j...@horizonpr.com http://www.horizonpr.com 3Dlabs Ships Heidi Drivers for GLINT 3D Processor, Wide Range of GLINT Boards Accelerate 3D Studio MAX GLINT-optimized Heidi drivers shipped in the box with 3D Studio MAX; Significant speed and quality boost for 3D Studio MAX end-users LAS VEGAS, NV - April 15th, 1996 -- 3Dlabs(r) Inc. (San Jose, CA) today announced immediate availability of its GLINT(r)-optimized drivers for the Heidi(tm) API from Kinetix. The Heidi drivers provide seamless acceleration for the new 3D Studio MAX(tm) modeling and animation application, providing 3D Studio MAX users with 3D interactivity surpassing expensive graphics workstations. 3Dlabs has been working in close cooperation with Kinetix, Autodesk Inc.'s new multimedia business unit, for over a year to develop highly optimized Heidi drivers that directly drive its GLINT and GLINT Delta(tm) 3D processor chips - the industry's leading professional 3D accelerator family. The optimized Heidi drivers directly control the GLINT silicon, and have been highly optimized to take maximum advantage of GLINT's extensive rasterization power. GLINT-based boards significantly accelerate the 3D viewing and interaction speeds of 3D Studio MAX - by a factor of two to four times depending on scene complexity - compared to 8 bit software rendering. At this speed, GLINT also provides enhanced image quality through 16 or 24 bit color depth, deep 24 bit Z buffers, and by using 3Dlabs' patented, high-precision rendering pipeline. 3Dlabs and Autodesk are making the GLINT-optimized Heidi drivers available free of charge to all GLINT board level customers, and the GLINT drivers are included in the standard 3D Studio MAX distribution. This enables 3D Studio MAX users to immediately upgrade to any GLINT-based board to increase their productivity. 3Dlabs' recently announced GLINT Delta geometry pipeline processor is fully compatible with Heidi and 3D Studio Max. 3Dlabs' Heidi drivers transparently detect and take advantage of GLINT Delta if present on any GLINT-based card. Quotes "We selected 3Dlabs as a key partner for Kinetix while developing the Heidi 3D driver architecture, and we have been impressed by the company's unflagging commitment and expertise," said John Ison, director of product management at Kinetix. "By working with 3Dlabs to optimize the GLINT drivers for 3D Studio MAX, Kinetix has been able to refine our software architecture, while enabling a broad range of board suppliers to use the GLINT chip to accelerate 3D Studio MAX functions and features. We have found that GLINT can accelerate 3D interactivity within 3D Studio MAX by up to four times, while increasing the visual display quality." "3D Studio MAX is poised to become one of the most significant 3D applications on the PC, and the success of Autodesk and Kinetix will further drive demand for PC-based 3D accelerator hardware on Windows NT," said Osman Kent, president and CEO of 3Dlabs. "The optimized drivers we have developed will ensure that GLINT end-users will enjoy excellent interactivity while using 3D Studio MAX. The Heidi driver architecture developed by Kinetix is first class, and we look forward to a continuing close partnership the company to bring 3D acceleration to other Kinetix and Autodesk applications." GLINT and GLINT Delta Information The GLINT 300SX provides unmatched support for advanced multimedia authoring, modeling, animation, CAD and visualization applications by implementing 100% of the OpenGL(r) rendering operations in silicon -- including 32-bit color support, Gouraud shading and depth buffering. GLINT also implements advanced functionality such as anti-aliasing and alpha blending at rendering speeds of up to 300,000 polygons per second. Due to its broad functionality, GLINT provides complete 3D pixel processing for Heidi, ensuring that GLINT boards provide consistent, high value, 3D Studio MAX acceleration. GLINT Delta breaks the 3D geometry bottleneck by offloading 3D geometry pipeline processing into a hardwired 100 MFlop processor capable of processing 1 million vertices/second. Designed as a companion processor to 3Dlabs' GLINT chips, GLINT Delta typically doubles a system's 3D performance by reducing CPU loading by up to 70% and halving PCI bandwidth. GLINT Delta is general purpose and may be used to accelerate any 3D API, including Heidi for 3D Studio MAX. 3D Studio MAX Compatible GLINT Cards and Systems - Shipping Today The following is a partial list of vendors that are shipping GLINT-based cards or systems that provide high-value Heidi-based acceleration for 3D Studio MAX. AccelGraphics Inc. ships the AccelR8(tm) and AccelPRO(tm) family of GLINT-based boards that include GLINT and GLINT Delta. AccelGraphics uses it's own industry leading graphics software technology which includes AGI's proprietary Heidi driver with its hardware products. Contact: Greg Milliken, (408) 467 5021, greg_milli...@ag3d.com. Densan Inc. ships the PCI-300SX GLINT-based board in Japan. Contact Zhang Yuanli, +81 3 3329 3871. Diamond Multimedia ships the FireGL(tm) GLINT-based board. Contact: Ed Huang, (408) 325 7930, e...@diamondmm.com. Elsa Inc. ships the GLoria(tm) family of GLINT-based boards. Contact: Joy Li, (408) 935 0350, sa...@elsa.com, http://www.elsa.com. Force Inc. ships the 3DE-300SX based board in Japan. Contact: Kenyu Uema, +81 3 5350 2350, u...@tau.bekkoame.or.jp. Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc. ships the Sapphire(tm) Designer GLINT-based board. Contact: Hiten Patel, (408) 922 9770, hpa...@fmi.fujitsu.com, http://www.fmi.fujitsu.com. NeTpower Inc. ships the Calisto(tm) Pentium(r) Pro-based workstation with Elite2(tm) GLINT-based graphics. Contact: Rael Morris, (408) 522 5112, rael_mor...@netpower.com, http://www.netpower.com. Microstep ship the AGC-3D GLINT-based board. Contact: Ping Hu, (818) 964 5048, msi...@ix.netcom.com. Omnicomp Graphics Corporation ships the 3DEMON(tm) and 3DEMON Delta series of graphics accelerators that use the GLINT Delta. Contact: Kelly D. Stuart, (713) 464 2990, omnicmp@ phoenix.net, http://www.phoenix.net/~omnicmp. Symmetric Inc. ships the GLyder(tm) GLINT-based card that includes GLINT Delta. Contact: Perry Copus, (214) 931 5999, pco...@symmetric.com, http://www.symmetric.com. Company Information Kinetix develops and delivers affordable content creation tools for professionals such as film and video producers, video/computer game developers, Web content developers, architects, engineers, and designers. The leader in PC-based 3D modeling and animation tools, Kinetix provides a full range of products for the application development process, from 2D and 3D creation to assembly and delivery. With headquarters in San Rafael, Calif., Kinetix is a division of Autodesk, the fourth largest PC software company in the world with three million customers in 130 countries. Kinetix products are sold through dealers and distributors worldwide. Visit Kinetix on the World Wide Web at http://www.ktx.com, or contact the company at 800-879-4233. 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. 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 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. -30- 3Dlabs and GLINT are registered trademarks and Delta is a trademark of 3Dlabs Inc. Ltd. Autodesk and 3D Studio are registered trademarks and Heidi, 3D Studio MAX and Kinetix are trademarks of Autodesk Inc. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. OpenGL is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc. AccelR8 and AccelPRO are trademarks of AccelGraphics. FireGL is a trademark of Diamond Multimedia. GLoria is a trademark Elsa Inc. Sapphire Designer is a trademark of Fujitsu Microelectronics. NeTpower is a registered trademark and Elite2 and Calisto are trademarks of NeTpower, Inc. 3Demon is a trademark of Omnicomp Graphics Corporation. GLyder is a trademark of Symmetric Inc. All other trademarks are acknowledged. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: Commercial postings are offered on this newsgroup as a public service. Their appearance here does not indicate endorsement by the moderators or by the USENET or its administrators.] ___________________________________________________________________________ Jonathan Hirshon 408-982-2555 - voice Principal 408-982-2556 - fax Horizon Public Relations 408-832-6676 - mobile phone www.horizonpr.com - HOME PAGE "Ask yourself where you'd rather be -- then try to figure out why its not right here." -- JH