Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sgi!bennett@galois.esd.sgi.com
From: bennett@galois.esd.sgi.com (Jim Bennett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Zbuffering
Message-ID: <41514@sgi.sgi.com>
Date: 10 Sep 89 20:11:21 GMT
References: <20845@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
Sender: bennett@galois.esd.sgi.com
Distribution: usa
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Lines: 16

In article <20845@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>, pff@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Pablo Fernicola) writes:
> When buying the machine, we were given the impression that there would be a
> software implementation of Z-buffering.  We were told that it would be much
> slower than the hardware, but that your application code would be the same,
> independent of you running the hardware or software z-buffering.  Is
> there any truth to this??

There is no support for software Z buffer on the current Personal Iris, and
none planned from SGI.  There is, however, a third party solution called
"Soft Z".  I don't know anything about this product, other than its name,
but perhaps your sales rep. can dig up something for you.

> pff@beach.cis.ufl.edu  Pablo Fernicola - Machine Intelligence Laboratory - UF
> "If we knew how it works, it wouldn't be called research."

Jim Bennett		bennett@esd.sgi.com