NVIDIA Corp. announced the release of NVIDIA Gelato 2.0 rendering software, the latest major release of its high-end, GPU-accelerated rendering software.
Gelato also comes with the Mango plug-in for Maya and (coming soon) the Amaretto plug-in for 3ds Max. With the plug-ins, users have access to all the features found in Gelato. Amaretto is currently in beta testing with availability planned in coming weeks. Artists can use the plug-ins to render images right out of the box, or can use Gelatos API to combine the renderer with other production tools.
Gelato 2.0 brings performance improvements and major new features including:
* Sorbetto interactive relighting* Raytracing performance improvements of 30-50% (depending on scene)* Volume shadows for hair and smoke* Dynamic shadows* Simultaneous rendering of stereo images* Shader metadata* Physical units in shaders* Multithreading
Sorbetto lighting technology allows you to add, delete or move lights (including recomputation of shadows), or modify any light parameter, and see the changes interactively. At all times you are viewing final pixels, including full antialiasing, motion blur and transparency. This saves artists time and allows them to adjust lighting in a scene to get the exact look they are trying to create. For Maya users, Sorbetto features are exposed directly in our Mango plug-in for Maya. For developers, all relighting features are exposed through extensions to the Gelato APIs.
Amaretto, which was created by Frantic Films of Winnipeg, allows 3ds Max users to select Gelato to render existing scenes, and access Gelato's extensive feature set including fast sub-pixel displacement, analytical sub-division surfaces and shader programming language to enhance the quality of their artistic output. Amaretto is currently in beta testing with commercial availability planned in coming weeks.
NVIDIA digital film products are available direct from NVIDIA and from authorized resellers by region. Gelato, which includes the Sorbetto relighting technology and the first year of maintenance and support, is priced at $1,500. Renewal of maintenance and support at the end of the first year is $300/license. An evaluation version of the software is available for download on the web. For more information, please visit http://film.nvidia.com.
In other news, NVIDIA has acquired Hybrid Graphics Ltd., a leading developer of embedded 2D and 3D graphics software for handheld devices. This acquisition will enable the customers of both companies to deploy compelling graphics solutions for the entire worldwide handheld market.
Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, Hybrid Graphics will become a subsidiary of NVIDIA Corp. and will continue to market and sell its products under the Hybrid name. Hybrid Graphics will maintain full support for its existing customer base, while continuing to invest in growing its engineering department as well as driving new business opportunities. No further terms of the acquisition were disclosed.
"Since its inception, Hybrid has successfully delivered graphics solutions to hundreds of millions of handheld devices. We provide innovative graphics technology and we make it work in the real world, in real devices," said Mikael Honkavaara, ceo of Hybrid Graphics. "Joining with NVIDIA will enable Hybrid to both accelerate its growth and continue to play a key role in defining, developing and shipping pervasive graphics solutions for the handheld industry."
Founded in 1994 and based in Finland, Hybrid Graphics (www.hybrid.fi) is a highly respected software company at the forefront of developing and licensing graphics technology solutions for handheld consumer devices. Hybrid's customers are key players in the mobile industry including Nokia, Ericsson, Philips, Samsung and Symbian, whose total reach is well over 50% of the existing handheld market.
Jen-Hsun Huang, president/ceo, NVIDIA, stated: "Over the next decade, billions of handheld devices will be sold and for many, they are likely to become their most important computing device. These powerful and multi-function handheld devices will require rich graphics and by combining with the recognized leader in handheld graphics software, we are positioned to accelerate the adoption of graphics by offering the handheld industry a range of solutions from software to IP to GPUs."
NVIDIA Corp. (www.nvidia.com) is the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies. The Company creates innovative, industry-changing products for computing, consumer electronics, and mobile devices. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and has offices throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
