CAMBRIDGE, England, June 14, 2005 – ART VPS has released a new 64-bit version of its RenderDrive network system that can accommodate up to 48 of the company’s AR350 dedicated ray-tracing processors.
The new RenderDrive RD6400 provides off-line, final-frame rendering for an unlimited number of users. It can address model sizes of 30-million polygons or more at resolutions that exceed the capabilities of current display devices and printers. Faster I/O speeds are provided by a new gigabit networking system. RenderDrive RD6400 is available in configurations of 16, 32 and 48 AR350 processors.
“RenderDrive RD6400 creates nearly unlimited possibilities for ultra-photorealistic imaging,” says Brian Tyler, ART VPS CEO. “Designers and artists can transcend previous limitations of geometry size, resolution, or administrative problems associated with renderfarms and software rendering.”
The AR350 processor within RenderDrive is specially designed to provide raw performance that speeds up the ray-tracing process. RenderDrive enhances efficiency by assessing each frame and adapting ray depth requirements for specific sections of the image. The AR350 ray-tracing chips process 66 million ray-triangle intersections per second per core. Each AR350 has two cores.
Advanced materials for greater realism
The RenderDrive RD6400 is bundled with RenderPipe plug-in interfaces for current and past versions of 3ds max, Maya, Autodesk VIZ and CATIA. RenderPipe supports Windows and Mac OS platforms. It contains a library of advanced materials, lighting tools, ray tracing, radiosity, HDRI support, motion blur, and depth of field. RenderPipe will support global illumination in its next release, slated for early fall.
“The only solution….”
ART VPS’s hardware ray-tracing technology is being used in a number of innovative new applications, such as producing computer-generated photographs of prototype cars that are indistinguishable from the real thing, and creating 3D animations with photorealistic quality.
Burrows, a design agency specializing in the automotive industry, uses RenderDrive for billboard-sized renderings and realistic animations of Ford and Mazda products. These images would be impossible to produce with software renderings, according to Derek Price, creative head at Burrows.
“Even though computers have advanced, an interior image that mimics real-life photography with 20 lighting sources, soft shadows and ray-traced shadows would virtually shut down the computer, even for a test render,” says Price. “RenderDrive is the only solution we’ve found that can handle the large CAD data sets we require and give us the highest level of realism for Ford’s automotive marketing materials.”
RenderDrive RD6400 is available immediately. For more information, or to download a free plug-in, visit ART VPS’s website: artvps.com.
With RenderDrive the number of details we are able to resolve and refine based on the rendering alone, without prototyping or making physical models, is remarkable.
