Mercedes-Benz Chooses Silicon Graphics Visualization Technology to 'Drive'
Showroom of the Future
Virtual Vehicle Project Sets New Standard for Automotive Sales
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Silicon Graphics, Inc. (NYSE: SGI - news) announced today that Mercedes-Benz of
Stuttgart, Germany, has chosen the Silicon Graphics(R) Onyx2(TM) InfiniteReality(R) supercomputer to generate ultra-realistic three
dimensional models of the Mercedes A class cars for its Virtuelles Fahrzeug (VRF). The pilot system, which debuted at the Internationale
Automobil-Ausstellung '97, one of the largest automotive shows in the world, allows potential car buyers to virtually customize and then
experience in three dimensional mode a fully rendered model of the Mercedes A class vehicle.
The project is designed to preview vehicle options and features that might not be available at the showroom. Prospective buyers now have
the ability to see and experience a three dimensional model of the car they are purchasing during the initial stages of the purchasing process
-- ensuring complete customer satisfaction on delivery. Setting new standards in the way consumers purchase cars, the VRF is only the first
stage of an expected future of virtual reality-based sales support tools. Mercedes-Benz plans to establish three identical test sites of the
Virtuelles Fahrzeug in Europe, North America and the Far East.
''Silicon Graphics was the only company that could meet our project requirements -- the ability to render in real-time a realistic three
dimensional model that could be virtually explored by the customer,'' said Frank Appenzeller, director of the New Media in Sales department
at Mercedes-Benz. ''The power of the Onyx2(TM) system allows the customer to see a Mercedes with a white exterior, red leather interior,
special seats and specific wheels, or any other variation, rendered instantly. Virtual showrooms take away the guesswork and show the
customer exactly what they will be receiving at delivery.''
Using a touch screen display, customers select such things as paint color, type of upholstery, rim variety and many other options. For
example, a customer has over 72 choices for position and structure of the seats alone. The entire car is then rendered by the powerful Onyx2
InfiniteReality system with a geometric complexity of over five million polygons. The detail is so realistic, the customer can see reflections off
the rims, and the grain in the leather upholstery. Taking the experience one step further, the customer takes the controls of the virtual reality
interface -- a free-moving 20'' LCD display suspended on a telescopic swivel arm -- and explores the model he has created. By pushing,
pulling and swiveling the interface, the user can inspect the car from the exterior, and then ''fly'' into the interior for a view of the inside from
any seated position in the car.
The computer system used for the VRF application is an Onyx2 InfiniteReality with four CPUs, 1GB memory and four raster managers each
with 64 MB of texture memory and eight channel output, of which six channels feed a large projection wall with a resolution of 2400x1200. The
software was developed by art+com of Berlin.
About Onyx2 InfiniteReality
Onyx2 systems simultaneously process graphics, imaging, and video data in real time and are designed to tackle the most demanding visual
computing challenges in manufacturing, industrial design, entertainment, oil and gas, and visual simulation.
Built on the groundbreaking ccNUMA architecture, Onyx2 systems provide incredible performance and flexibility. Highly configurable, this
high-bandwidth, low latency system design enables, for the first time, multiple independent graphics pipelines to be used in parallel to render
complex scenes. |
