NBC Selects Silicon Graphics Octane2 and Onyx2 Systems and Alias|Wavefront Maya for Broadcast Graphics for the Olympic Winter Games
Harris Corporation's RealSite, Running on SGI Onyx 3200, Creates Photo-Realistic 3D Fly-Throughs of Venues
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb 4, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- SGI (NYSE: SGI chart, msgs) today announced that NBC will employ a full complement of SGI(R) IRIX(R) OS-based visualization systems to create and render pre-production and live-to-air broadcast graphics for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, airing from Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 8 through Feb. 24. NBC will build intros, outros, segment IDs, templates and 3D animations using Maya(R) 4 software from Alias|Wavefront, an SGI company, running on four Silicon Graphics(R) Onyx2(R) desk-side visualization systems and two Silicon Graphics(R) Octane2(TM) visual workstations. The SGI(R) systems will be housed in the graphics area of the NBC compound within the International Broadcast Center at the Salt Lake City Olympics site.
The four Silicon Graphics Onyx2 systems will be used for a variety of applications, including direct-to-air graphics and 3D imagery serving. NBC will run Alias|Wavefront(TM) products on the powerful Octane2 systems, including Maya(R) for rendering, PowerAnimator(TM), and compositing applications. SGI(R) Origin(R) 200 servers are being used for the render farm. The two Silicon Graphics Octane2 visual workstations are super-charged with the 128 MB VPro(TM) 12 graphics, the highest-end graphics engine with an expanded feature set from SGI.
"After using Silicon Graphics Onyx2 systems at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, we decided to ramp up our graphics capabilities with the Silicon Graphics Octane2 with VPro V12, which offers twice the graphics performance of other desktop visualization systems," said Dr. Philip Paully, Director, Graphics Engineering and Operations, NBC Olympics.
"The Octane2's high-speed, configurable graphics memory, coupled with Maya 4, allows us to create state-of-the-art broadcast graphics. We are creating a vast array of templates, graphics and 3D animations that must be available immediately for play out to air. During the Games we will be creating even more graphics, rendering all night. For this mission-critical application, graphics power and digital video capabilities are paramount to our success, and we already know we can depend on the power of SGI."
Alias|Wavefront Maya 4 is the sixth major release of its world-renowned, professional 3D animation and visual effects software for modeling, texture mapping, animation and visual effects. Maya 4 has recently been qualified for Silicon Graphics Octane2.
"We have been part of NBC's coverage of the Olympics since 1985, and we are very proud that we continue to earn their use, year after year, as Maya continues to deliver the powerful features they need," said Mark Sylvester, Ambassador, Alias|Wavefront. "With Maya version 4 we took into account the need for robustness and a speedy workflow. A broadcaster can work for a long time ahead of an event to get things ready, as NBC does, but when you're being asked to produce in realtime -- to put elements together in different ways -- you need software that is very fluid, software you can work with quickly and efficiently. Those are the kinds of enhancements we added in Maya 4, in addition to the rendering enhancements, that speed up the process enormously. We think those two factors are going to contribute to another great graphics package for the Olympics."
The expanded feature set of Maya 4, which is currently available for IRIX, Windows(R), Mac(R) OS X (currently shipping V3.5.1) and Linux(R) OS systems, substantially optimizes and streamlines production workflow, improving Maya's overall ease-of-use and efficiency throughout -- most particularly in the areas of rendering, character animation, and brush and paint tools, precisely the areas that will most benefit the NBC Olympics graphics team.
SGI is also working with NBC and Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS chart, msgs), which is creating 3D models of the Olympic venues taken from satellite and aerial photography. Harris's UNIX(R) OS-based proprietary software, RealSite(TM), has the ability to ingest very high resolution imagery, process the data in realtime through an SGI(R) Onyx(R) 3200 visualization system, and create an accurate (to within one meter) photo-realistic 3D model based on that imagery.
"When we do our RealSite modeling we prefer the SGI Onyx 3200 system because of its speed, performance and advanced texture mapping capability. It's the only UNIX OS-based system that we know of that can handle the amount of textures and the amount of polygons we require," said Joe Nemethy, product manager for RealSite and software engineer, Harris Corporation. "Once we run the models for NBC through our automated texture-mapping application, we render on the Onyx 3200 in Alias|Wavefront Maya. We can only do that on SGI Onyx systems because we're pushing the limit: all textures are original imagery and not duplicated. The Onyx 3200 enables us to handle the size and complexity of these geospatially accurate models."
Once NBC receives the models from Harris, artists use Alias|Wavefront Maya to define and record animation paths for fly-throughs, add lighting effects and animation scripts, and then perform batch-process rendering. Finished 3D models will be available to producers from still stores, to be played out to air at any time during the Olympics broadcast.
"SGI is extremely proud to be chosen as the hardware and software that will enhance NBC's prestigious broadcast of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games," said Jason Danielson, Director, Media Industries, SGI. "We are gratified that after NBC's use of our Onyx2 systems in Sydney, they have decided to expand their use of SGI high-performance systems in Salt Lake City, based on SGI's superior capabilities in graphics performance, speed, high bandwidth, and robust parallel compute technology."
About SGI
Celebrating its 20th year, SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, is the world's leading provider of high-performance computing, complex data management and visualization products, services and solutions that enable its technical and creative customers to gain strategic and competitive advantages in their core businesses. Whether being used to design and build safer cars and airplanes, discover new medications and oil reserves, predict the weather, entertain us with thrilling movie special effects or provide mission-critical support for government and defense, SGI systems and expertise are empowering a world of innovation and discovery. The company, located on the Web at www.sgi.com, is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and has offices worldwide.
About Alias|Wavefront
As the world's leading innovator of 3D graphics technology, Alias|Wavefront develops software for the film and video, games, interactive media, industrial design, and visualization markets. Alias|Wavefront is a wholly owned, independent software company of SGI with headquarters in Toronto, Ont. and technical centers in Seattle, Wash. and Santa Barbara, Calif. Please visit the Alias|Wavefront Web site at www.aliaswavefront.com.
About Harris Corporation
Harris Corporation is an international communications equipment company focused on providing product, system, and service solutions for commercial and government customers. The company's five operating divisions serve markets for microwave, broadcast, network support, tactical radio, and government systems. Harris has sales and service facilities in more than 90 countries. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at www.harris.com.
NOTE: Silicon Graphics, SGI, IRIX, Onyx, Onyx2, Octane, Origin and the SGI logo are registered trademarks, and VPro and Octane2 are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Maya is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., exclusively used by Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited, and PowerAnimator is a trademark of Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. Mac is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
(Logo:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010510/SFTH025LOGO )
Contact:
Lisa Pistacchio
SGI
pistacchio@sgi.com
650-933-5683
Donna Teggart
Alias|Wavefront
dteggart@aw.sgi.com
416-874-8592
Joe Nemethy
Harris Corporation
jnemethy@harris.com
321-984-6117
SGI PR Hotline:
650-933-7777
SGI PR Fax:
650-932-0737
Source: SGI |
