VISUALIZATION

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- SGI (NYSE: SGI) today at SIGGRAPH 2002 celebrates 20 years of graphics leadership by announcing new enhanced versions of the rendering application programming interfaces (APIs) based on OpenGL®, the most widely accepted open, platform-independent standard for professional-quality 3D graphics. These enhanced APIs include OpenGL Performer(TM), OpenGL Multipipe(TM), OpenGL Multipipe(TM) SDK, OpenGL Shader(TM), and OpenGL Volumizer(TM). These updated development tools for platforms based on the SGI® IRIX® operating system further enable customers and independent software vendors (ISVs) to create differentiated and optimized software programs for advanced visualization in industries including energy, manufacturing, sciences, media, and government and defense. "SGI continues to focus its 20 years of graphics leadership on providing unique graphics offerings to our customers, including a suite of graphics APIs that push performance beyond what is typically achievable with just hardware," said Paul McNamara, vice president of products and platforms, SGI. "These new development tools highlight SGI's commitment to its customers and ISV partners by enabling them to create unique, professional-level solutions that will push visualization to the next level for solving complex problems." OpenGL Performer(TM) 2.5.2 OpenGL Performer 2.5.2 is the latest update to the OpenGL toolkit, the industry's leading scene graph for developers creating real-time visual simulation and other professional performance-oriented 3D graphics applications. OpenGL Performer, available for SGI IRIX and Linux® OS environments, is built atop the industry standard OpenGL graphics library and is interoperable with OpenGL Shader, OpenGL Optimizer, OpenGL Volumizer and OpenGL Vizserver(TM). OpenGL Performer 2.5.2 extends its industry-leading capabilities for the visual simulation industry through a host of new advanced features, functionality and performance enhancements including: -- Image-based rendering to replace a complex object with pre-rendered images of the object as seen from different angles and to render cinematic-quality scenes in real time -- Tuning to take maximum advantage of the increased performance and texture memory of InfiniteReality4(TM), announced on July 23, resulting in more photo-realistic images -- Real-time projection of an object's true shadow upon any or all other objects in a scene -- Dynamic model shaders that allow any shader parameter, such as the light position, to be modified in real time The complete Performer(TM) 2.5 package is available through authorized SGI channels for $750 U.S. list. The Performer 2.5.2 update will be available for free download in early August 2002 at www.sgi.com/software/performer/. Expanding the Platform Scope of the OpenGL Performer API SGI is also expanding the scope of OpenGL Performer, which is already the industry-leading scene graph, to make this core API available for the Microsoft® Windows® platform as well as Linux and IRIX with a simultaneous release of OpenGL Performer(TM) 3.0 for all three platforms at the end of 2002. Other new features include enhancements to the image-based rendering capability and a simpler interface for users with immersive environments such as an SGI® Reality Center(TM) or CAVE(TM) facility. OpenGL Performer celebrates its 10th birthday at SIGGRAPH this year, having debuted at the show in 1992. OpenGL Performer 3.0 will be previewed along with detailed tips and tricks at SIGGRAPH during the Birds of A Feather session titled, "Friends of Performer," in Salon I at the Marriott Rivercenter hotel on Wednesday, July 24, at 6:30 p.m. CDT. For more information about OpenGL Performer, visit www.sgi.com/software/performer/. OpenGL Multipipe and OpenGL Multipipe SDK SGI also announced today that OpenGL Multipipe(TM) 1.4.2 and the OpenGL Multipipe Software Development Kit (SDK) 2.0 are now available for download. OpenGL Multipipe and OpenGL Multipipe SDK make it easier than ever to develop graphics software that takes advantage of the scalable architecture of SGI® Onyx® family visualization systems. OpenGL Multipipe 1.4.2 provides a layer by which single-pipe applications can run unmodified in a multipipe environment and move seamlessly across pipe boundaries. This results in a single logical display allowing single pipe applications to run in multipipe configurations in an application-transparent manner. Additionally, OpenGL Multipipe 1.4.2 allows for single-pipe and multipipe applications to run concurrently. It also offers support for various display configurations, such as stereo, and a broadened set of applications, including Java 3D(TM). OpenGL Multipipe SDK 2.0 is a multipipe-programming interface for IRIX, delivering run-time scalability for SGI® scalable graphics servers and immersive environments. Through its simple configuration file format, it also provides run-time portability of OpenGL applications between single-user and large immersive environments such as SGI Reality Center walls, rooms and domes. OpenGL Multipipe 1.4.2 and OpenGL Multipipe SDK 2.0 are available for free download at www.sgi.com/software/multipipe/ and www.sgi.com/software/multipipe/sdk/. OpenGL Shader(TM) 3.0 SGI today also announced the upcoming availability of OpenGL Shader 3.0. The OpenGL Shader software development kit is the most powerful appearance modeling tool for developers on both the SGI IRIX and Linux operating systems, combining advanced compiler technology with the acceleration of single-pass and multipass OpenGL rendering functions. OpenGL Shader delivers the power of programmable shaders commonly found in offline rendering to real-time graphics, allowing developers to take advantage of a wide array of existing and new special effects. For example, by using OpenGL Shader 3.0, automotive designers can use styling review software to accurately depict an automobile under different lighting conditions or surroundings. Or, pilots who use flight simulators can experience more realistic water surfaces and low-level visual cues. Additionally, a new vertex shader translator for the OpenGL ARB vertex shader extension provides a common platform for vertex-level shading operations across a range of graphics products. Other key features of OpenGL Shader 3.0 include new sample shaders that can adjust the level of detail and additional support for applications using multiple execution threads and graphics pipes. For more information about OpenGL Shader 3.0, available for free download in August 2002, visit www.sgi.com/software/shader/. OpenGL Volumizer(TM) 2.3 OpenGL Volumizer is a revolutionary API that facilitates interactive visualization of large, volumetric datasets on the SGI IRIX operating system. New features in OpenGL Volumizer 2.3, available now for free download, include a new multipass volumetric shading interface that allows users to easily correlate data sets from different sources. Other key features include support of multiple clip textures along with sample code implementations and optimizations of 3D clip textures. Integration with Open Inventor(TM) is also made easier with new sample code. OpenGL Volumizer 2.3 builds on a previously introduced large data API for 3D clip textures, which provide interactive visualization of very large volumetric data by combining the benefits of multiresolution volume rendering, volume roaming and disk paging. For more information about OpenGL Volumizer or to download the free software, visit www.sgi.com/software/volumizer/.