SGI Launches a Breakthrough in Visual Realism Fidelity
Next-Generation InfiniteReality4 Graphics Blurs the Line Between Computer Graphics and Reality
SAN ANTONIO, SIGGRAPH 2002, Booth #13063, July 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today SGI (NYSE: SGI - News) building on 20 years of graphics innovation and leadership, launches InfiniteReality4(TM) graphics which enable technical and creative professionals to better understand the world as it is and see it as it could be. With InfiniteReality4 graphics, specifically designed for the SGI® Onyx® family of visualization systems, engineers can design more stylish automobiles with better ergonomics, comfort and safety in mind, scientists can discover new life-saving drugs, and artists can create richer visual effects and on-air graphics.
"For 20 years Silicon Graphics has led the computer industry in offering the pinnacle of what is possible with computer graphics," said Jan Silverman, senior vice president of marketing, SGI. "The Onyx family systems with InfiniteReality4 continues this tradition by offering levels of data visualization display resolution, image quality and realism far beyond what is possible with PCs or conventional UNIX workstations."
The average human eye can see over 9 million pixels of information, yet many creative and technical professionals are forced to work with visualization systems that can only display 1 million or 2 million pixels per graphics pipe -- a general limitation of other vendor offerings. SGI Onyx family systems with InfiniteReality4 graphics are capable of generating the highest quality interactive visual results on displays as large as 130 million pixels. This level of realism enables small or large groups of scientists, engineers and creative professionals to focus on the aspect of solving a problem within a global context where all relevant information is displayed. The design of the SGI Onyx family provides the computational power and I/O and graphics bandwidth to ensure that the results being visualized represent reality with the greatest possible accuracy.
Blurring the line between computer graphics and reality demands graphics hardware, software and system design that is only available with SGI Onyx family systems with InfiniteReality4 graphics. Stunning realism is achieved when hardware and software are designed to work in concert to render compelling imagery and maintain the physical truthfulness behind the data. Innovative techniques such as image-based rendering, dynamic shaders and interactive volume rendering are possible because SGI® application programming interfaces (APIs) are designed to exploit the advanced features of SGI Onyx family systems with InfiniteReality4 graphics.
InfiniteReality4 Features at a Glance
Technical and creative professionals can take advantage of the advanced features available on SGI Onyx family systems with InfiniteRealty4 graphics. These include:
-- Image-based rendering, dynamic shading and interactive volume
visualization for the highest resolution photo-realistic imagery
-- Full 1GB texture memory, 10GB frame buffer, and over 192GB per second
of internal bandwidth per graphics pipeline for highest image fidelity
and realism of complex scenes for greater visual accuracy
-- Up to 16 graphics subsystems and over 130 million pixel displays from a
single SGI Onyx family system for unmatched scalable performance and
display capabilities
-- Fill performance of 1.3 billion 8 sub-sample anti-aliased pixels per
second that provides image-based rendering and interactive volume
visualization with unprecedented image fidelity
-- Visual Area Networking for delivering visual results to multi-vendor
desktops
-- Binary compatibility with previous InfiniteReality(R) family graphics
and upgradability in existing SGI(R) Onyx(R) 3000 series, SGI(R)
Onyx(R) 300 and Silicon Graphics(R) Onyx2(R) systems to protect
software and hardware investments in SGI Onyx family systems
Image-Based Rendering for More Complex and Realistic Images
One of the major challenges to the creation of visually realistic scenes is the rendering of organic forms such as trees and people. An image of a single person can require hundreds of thousands of polygons, and a crowd taxes the rendering capabilities of even the fastest graphics system. InfiniteReality4 uses a technique called image-based rendering (IBR) to dramatically increase the photographic realism of a scene while simultaneously freeing polygonal rendering power to increase scene complexity. Instead of creating an image from geometric primitives, IBR combines a series of images of the desired form into a seamless depiction of the object that can be viewed from any angle or from any distance. The combination of these techniques with the texture memory, fill rate and image quality of InfiniteReality4 enables the creation of interactive environments with orders of magnitude more complexity and realism than previously possible.
Industrial-Strength Realism
InfiniteReality4 is ideal for applications in the energy, defense and intelligence, manufacturing, media, and sciences markets, where image fidelity is critical. SGI designed its InfiniteReality4 graphics to take full advantage of the NUMAflex(TM) modular computing architecture of the high-performance SGI Onyx family of visualization systems across industries. InfiniteReality4 delivers photo-realistic scenes of any data and the freedom to interactively view the data from any perspective, not just along pre-determined paths. Some of the specific benefits to creative and technical professionals include the following:
-- Energy: InfiniteReality4 delivers 1GB of texture memory, interactive
volume visualization and scalable display options, which allow seismic
analysts to interact with large data sets with greater visual accuracy
to make better drilling decisions. This increases productivity and
reduces costs associated with dry wells.
-- Government: Individuals and teams receive higher-quality training for
military and homeland defense based on more complex models, image-based
rendering and full-scene 8 subsample anti-aliasing available with
InfiniteReality4.
-- Manufacturing: With more accurate depictions of future product designs
using the advanced shader and image-based rendering techniques in
InfiniteReality4 and the ability to display them in highest resolution
possible, companies gain a strategic competitive edge with better
products and shorter time-to-market cycles.
-- Sciences: InfiniteReality4 graphics enables maximum exploration and
discovery using the highest quality visualization of complex scientific
data. Performance and image-quality demands of today's scientific
visualization platforms expand without limits, as rapidly increasing
volumes of data are required to answer the most important research
questions in medicine and astronomy.
-- Media: Digital artists achieve more productivity with the new
InfiniteReality4 graphics. Delivering greater interactive performance
for high-resolution multi-layered composites, the artist is able to
enhance multiple layers of film resolution images in real-time. Full
scene anti-aliasing makes the Onyx family with InfiniteReality4 the
preferred platform for creating the highest quality broadcast graphics
and the most realistic virtual sets.
Universal Access to Advanced Visualization
InfiniteReality4 is designed to work with OpenGL Vizserver(TM) 3.0 software to provide universal access to advanced visualization through the concept of Visual Area Networking. Visual Area Networking enables individual users or collaborating teams to take the visualization power of InfiniteReality4 and the system infrastructure of the SGI Onyx family with them wherever they go. Whether users are in the conference room down the hall or on a laptop running the Windows® OS on a different continent. Furthermore, it allows geographically dispersed users to collaborate using standard applications and network technology to quickly understand and solve problems, thereby reducing travel and increasing an organization's return on investment. Because Visual Area Networking delivers the high-quality visual results, interactive rendering and powerful system capability of an SGI Onyx family system to remote and even wireless clients, everyone in an organization can benefit from InfiniteReality4 graphics.
To learn more about Visual Area Networking and OpenGL Vizserver 3.0, see the separate press release dated Jan. 29, 2002, titled "SGI Launches A New Era for Graphics: Visual Area Networking" and the release dated July 17, 2002 titled "SGI Launches an Initiative to Deliver Supercomputer-Class Visualization for a Variety of Devices," or visit www.sgi.com/visualization/van.
Pricing and Availability
A base configuration of an SGI Onyx family visualization system with InfiniteReality4 graphics starts at $126,500 (U.S. list price) and offers independent scalability of graphics, I/O bandwidth, in-rack storage and computational power.
Attractive financing options are available through SGI Solutions Finance. Created to complement industry-leading SGI systems, software and services, SGI Solutions Finance is dedicated to providing creative financial solutions, exemplary service and competitive pricing to customers.
For more information on SGI products, solutions and services or to locate the nearest authorized SGI Solution provider call 800-800-7441 or visit www.sgi.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the InfiniteReality4 graphics subsystem, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. The reader is cautioned not to rely unduly on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future performance. Such risks and uncertainties include the timely development of the next generation version of the InfiniteReality4 graphics subsystems, the impact of competitive markets, products and pricing, the acceptance of applicable technologies by markets and customers, the ability of the Company to manage a complex set of engineering, marketing and distribution relationships, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's most recent SEC reports, including its reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. |
