Dennis Pierce (dpierce++at++dolphin.orlando.sgi.com)
Sun, 11 Jun 1995 12:25:34 -0400
go folks go!
why 120Hz, though? stereo is that number, but that's just the video
rate and, not necessarily, the simulation visual frame rate
>
> I would like to point out two more things:
>
> First, we assume this is an Iris Performer forum devoted to help us all
make
> better use of the SGI systems as full featured IGs. Of course, when I say
that
> we all should look to Flight Unlimited and think, I mean that maybe we - the
> developers - are missing something when a guy with a Pentium can afford to
> challenge our RE2s. Which are excellent IGs.
don't forget that the original SGI "flight" program (first? written by
Gary Tiroli and rewritten/maintained by Rob Mace) ran on the IRIS 1000
which was capable of xforming 5K polys or so per second, and to this day,
folks still marvel at the "fun" of the original (flat) version, and gasp at
the beauty of the gouraud version
so, I should hope that Pentium-based developers can at least emulate
something first developed 12 years ago and amended regularly - remember,
even God admitted that man can do anything given sufficient time
ok, now let's add 18 channels out of one box (Paradigm/Magic Edge),
direct addressing of 3TB of disk space, direct (not indexed) addressing
of 16GB memory, gaggles of I/O (HiPPI, etc) (though the PC does
interface to everything and more than SGI's machines, just not as fast),
an amazing user interface in IndigoMagic (I know there is a great deal
of design and implementation beauty in Windows and NT, but I really dislike
the part where the "beauty" meets my fingers, ie, the look and feel),
emerging (and for the 90's) support tools in DeveloperMagic, and, of
course, some really cool (and evolving!) software from the IRIS
Performer gnomes
>
> Michael, John, Jim, Sharon, Chris and Gennie are making an excellent work
in
> turning a workstation into a top of the line IG, but we just can't expect
them
> to do all the work as we just sit and relax, and pretend to load a hundred
> thousand polygon unpartitioned .flt file in perfly and run it at 60hz. We
also
> have a lot of work to do in software and database design, and should reward
> their efforts from time to time with apps that make them say 'Wow, how did
they
> do that ! '.
many, many kudos to the IRIS Performer group! but don't forget that
Craig Phillips brought the original (and dying) VisKit from the grave
to the RE1 in 5 months with the die-hard and dedicated help of the
tenacious and resourceful Michael, John, Jim and Sharon
and with Craig's transitioning to Paradigm to kick butt once again in
developing some excellent software, this left the Performer folks to
fix bugs and grow the product from a fledgling scene management and
fast rendering package to the truly robust and exceptionally valued
product that 2.0 promises
>
> Our challenges should come out of the SGI forum, not from a $75 PC game (
> which is excellent, btw ).
>
one hard part is that the machines are so powerful and expensive, it is
difficult to identify (and sell) the correct commercial fit - but, when
that fit is found, the results are striking - Aladdin uses morphing
LOD control for each character! (no LOD pops there folks!) - and Magic
Edge provides 18 games with one machine
for those who are free to play in the $75 arena, first, write some game
software and sell it to the SGI community! I, for one, would be more
that happy to support some really cool games for SGI machines in the
$50 range - second, Project Reality is coming and, though I don't know
just what to expect from the chip set or Nintendo's incorporation of
the architecture, I do know enough to expect SGI engineering to continue
with the revolutionary advance of graphics technology, and to announce
with confidence that "something wonderful is about to happen"
>
> But never doubt that Gemini will bring us soon new Visions of Reality.
>
as I said before, go folks, go!
when I get creamed by DEC or Sun or HP or IBM in workstation sales, it
only serves to make me try harder, learn more, and climb higher against
the wind - so, I, for one, welcome new techniques and ideas - and when
the 16 geocell 120Hz demo is shown, I, for one, will be at the head of
the line to find out how, but, more importantly, how long
>-- End of excerpt from Nacho Sanz-Pastor. Computer Arts + Developments
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Mon Aug 10 1998 - 17:51:35 PDT