1996 ERA - Silicon Graphics Onyx InfiniteReality + Alias|Wavefront features from EDGE UK

SharpX68K · May 11, 2019

First, the cutting edge new ultra high-end visualization hardware that SGI introduced that year.

Imagine that, 9 GFLOPS,, 10+ million polygons per second and 800 million pixels per second fillrate. That was cutting edge in 1996.

Then, an article on Alias|Wavefront, who did a lot of the famous CGI animations using SGI hardware, and provided tools to game companies for 3D games.

My hope is that Nintendo will one day return to making pure home game consoles with their current hardware partner Nvidia, and without gimmicks, and without being constrained by portable needs. Perhaps by the mid 2020s?

SharpX68K · May 12, 2019

No interest in this topic, I guess :/

Deleted member 17210 · May 12, 2019

I like reading about this stuff again. Some of those CG faces are sure creepy, though.

z1ggy · May 12, 2019

SharpX68K said:
No interest in this topic, I guess :/

Sorry i just saw it

I remember all the talk about it back in the day and made me pretty hyped about N64 (but in the end i fucking hated it lol)

I always like to see the CGI from this era, everything was pretty weird.

Anyways, was a good read.

BrutalInsane · May 12, 2019

I was going to college at this time studying motion graphics / computer art. It really felt like we were in the pioneering days where every semester there was a new breakthrough in technique and obviously tech. Exciting times.

SharpX68K · May 12, 2019

Here's couple of cool demo reels.

Soundchaser · May 12, 2019

Kage Maru · May 12, 2019

SharpX68K said:
No interest in this topic, I guess :/

I love seeing older articles like this. I've just been stuck in 12+ hour work days. Thanks for posting it!

Hey Please · May 12, 2019

Going to properly read it later but this reminds me of the article about animating for Jurassic park; what it need with the OG film vs what was achievable with vastly more advanced tool set for Jurassic world.

And looking at the first picture, I am also often reminded of the disparity between pre-rendered cinematics for Square games like FFVIII vs what can be achieved on consoles today to the point where pre-rendered CGI has become, essentially, non-existent.

Anthony Hopkins · May 12, 2019

Maybe in 25yrs Nintendo will be competitive hardware and graphics wise because by then even modest hardware will by equal to reality.

If next gen is 12tflops, the gen after is at least 72tflops, and then the gen after is 432tflops.
Imagine games made with 432tflops and 256gb of ram lol. That's like 50 2080tis! And by 2045 that will be a mid range PC.

Hey Please · May 12, 2019

Anthony Hopkins said:
Maybe in 25yrs Nintendo will be competitive hardware and graphics wise because by then even modest hardware will by equal to reality.

If next gen is 12tflops, the gen after is at least 72tflops, and then the gen after is 432tflops.
Imagine games made with 432tflops and 256gb of ram lol. That's like 50 2080tis! And by 2045 that will be a mid range PC.

Well Flerken, unless graphene chipset become viable enough to go affordably mainstream that future is unlikely, at least at that pace.

Akela · May 12, 2019

Here's a rad promo vid for the first version of everyone's favourite 3D program, Maya:

Kinda hilarious that they're advertising the right click radial menu as some radically innovative feature, but I guess developers were still experimenting with the concept of GUIs even into the late 90's. Actually I'm really surprised how little the UI has changed in the last 20-odd years... I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing if I'm honest.

Hey Please · May 12, 2019

Akinsa said:
Here's a rad promo vid for the first version of everyone's favourite 3D program, Maya:

Kinda hilarious that they're advertising the right click radial menu as some radically innovative feature, but I guess developers were still experimenting with the concept of GUIs even into the late 90's. Actually I'm really surprised how little the UI has changed in the last 20-odd years... I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing if I'm honest.

Good lord those angled interview segments were so 90s, gaddamn.

Anthony Hopkins · May 12, 2019

i-Lo said:
Well Flerken, unless graphene chipset become viable enough to go affordably mainstream that future is unlikely, at least at that pace.

Is graphene likely by 2045?

If it isn't, will 1nm be possible before then? And multi chip designs on infinity fabric, 3d stacking and what ever other advancements will still keep moore's law ticking but at a slower rate, even if 250tflops is possible in a single GPU that is still pretty insane.

If a 1nm GPU is 35tflops, imagine 4 of them on die, that's 140tflops lol.

Akela · May 12, 2019

i-Lo said:
Good lord those angled interview segments were so 90s, gaddamn.

It's not even the worst 90's CG software promo video I've found recently - here's one for Newtek's old "Video Toaster" editing suite:

The second part of the video talking about Lightwave is especially hilarious what with the giant text talking about such innovative features as LENS FLARES, MOTION BLUR and 3D.

Hey Please · May 12, 2019

Anthony Hopkins said:
Is graphene likely by 2045?

If it isn't, will 1nm be possible before then? And multi chip designs on infinity fabric, 3d stacking and what ever other advancements will still keep moore's law ticking but at a slower rate, even if 250tflops is possible in a single GPU that is still pretty insane.

If a 1nm GPU is 35tflops, imagine 4 of them on die, that's 140tflops lol.

IIRC quantum tunneling becomes an issue by that point.

Hero of Legend · May 12, 2019

We live in an era where Warframe and DOOM 2016 can be played portably on Switch. Absolutely incredible seeing how far we've come. O_o

Hey Please · May 12, 2019

Akinsa said:
It's not even the worst 90's CG software promo video I've found recently - here's one for Newtek's old "Video Toaster" editing suite:

The second part of the video talking about Lightwave is especially hilarious what with the giant text talking about such innovative features as LENS FLARES, MOTION BLUR and 3D.

Holy fuck, I thought I watching a 90s parody at first. That video was like 90% of the soul of the 90s technology. I'm still reeling.

TAJ · May 12, 2019

In a few years we're going to get an instant 20x performance increase in VR just from moving to mature eye tracking/foveated rendering tech.

Anthony Hopkins · May 12, 2019

i-Lo said:
IIRC quantum tunneling becomes an issue by that point.

So 3nm is the limit, using the mothods of today?

Hey Please · May 12, 2019

Anthony Hopkins said:
So 3nm is the limit, using the mothods of today?

These might be of some aid for better explanations:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-l...neling-effects-prevent-further-size-reduction

https://www.quora.com/Does-Quantum-...ts-to-sizes-of-transistors-in-microprocessors

Even more in depth:

https://semiengineering.com/quantum-effects-at-7-5nm/

The other thing I am unsure of how the graphene transistors are fabricated in labs and at what node sizes.

1996 ERA - Silicon Graphics Onyx InfiniteReality + Alias|Wavefront features from EDGE UK

User-requested account closure