Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!haven!decuac!bacchus.pa.dec.com!decwrl!sgi!shinobu!odin!sgi.com!scotth From: scotth@corp.sgi.com (Scott Henry) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Better Amiga Graphics and HDTV Message-ID: Date: 16 Jul 90 22:09:53 GMT References: <3568@crash.cts.com> Sender: news@odin.corp.sgi.com Reply-To: scotth@sgi.com (Scott Henry) Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc, Mountain View, CA Lines: 48 In-reply-to: seanc@pro-party.cts.com's message of 16 Jul 90 17:16:10 GMT In article <3568@crash.cts.com> seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) writes: At the risk of sounding like a salesrep, I can't let apparent misinformation go unchallenged: Sean> In-Reply-To: message from andrey@coil.caltech.edu Sean> While the graphics on the SGI machine may be very interactive, they still Sean> aren't "real-time." My guess from your comments is that you've only seen a PI (Personal Iris), whivch is by far (almost a factor of 200) the slowest member of the family in 3D rendering speed. Sean> Real-Time graphics would mean that they were rendered and Sean> interactive at 30 frames per second. Not even the largest Cray can Sean> render, fully shaded 24bit images at this speed. Unless you have a different definition of the term "fully shaded 24bit images" than the industry uses, (I could start a flame war and say: "you don't know what you are talking about", but I'll just say) you are mistaken. Even the now lowly GT graphics (middle of the performance line) can interactively generate moderate complexity (2k-5k polygons lighted gauraud-shaded and z-buffered) with with frame rates of 20-60 per second. A specific example I am familiar with ('cause it prints out the data), a model of the X-29 fighter (with a couple thousand polygons), refreshes on a GT at 29 frames/second. On the VGX (the high end, at 1,000,000 lighted, shaded polygons/second, or 20x a GT) can do radiosity lighting at >30 frames/second on a complex scene. According to one of the marketroids I talked to, the VGX can outdo a Cray & fast framebuffer on many types of image generation (he did not elaborate). Sean> Even though it's wireframe, have you ever messed around with Sean> CALIGARI, even the demo? It's VERY interactive, even on a stock Sean> 7.16MHz A500...now, if someone would include a module for, say an Sean> i860, or Motorolla's new "Media-Engine" chip that does 10 Sean> instructions per cycle (!!!), we might get close to the performance Sean> of an SGI Iris... SEan The Amiga is a wonderful home computer, but it certainly can't render stuff with the speed of an Iris, which is about the only thing I'd trade my Amiga for... Can't wait for employee purchase programs... Back to our usual computer discussions... -- Scott Henry / Traveller on Dragon Wings Information Services, / Help! My disclaimer is missing! Silicon Graphics, Inc / 'Under-achiever and proud of it!' -- Bart Simpson