Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/2965
6 September 2009 PRODUCT: GRAPHICS CARDS To meet the extreme productivity needs of today's CAD, DCC, and oil and gas professionals, AMD unveiled the ATI FirePro V8750 3D workstation graphics accelerator in the company's line of ultra high-end professional graphics hardware. ATI FirePro V8750 3D workstation graphics accelerator brings the highest number of shader engines (800) with the highest memory bandwidth (115.2 GB/sec) in the 3D professional graphics offerings today, enabling professionals to render highly complex models and photorealistic images in real time. The ultra-parallel processing architecture of the V8750 maximizes throughput by automatically direct- ing graphics horsepower where needed. Intelligent manage- ment of computational resources enables enhanced utilization of the GPU to support real-time rendering of complex models and scenes with high frame rates when animating. This acceleration is accessed through ATI Stream technolo- gy, a set of advanced hardware and software technologies that allow a system to dynamically balance workloads by tapping both the CPU and GPU in a workstation for accelerated appli- cation performance. Now, applications that take advantage of the shader units and memory bandwidth perform signifi cantly better than with competing solutions. The ATI FirePro V8750 3D workstation graphics accelera- tor offers 30 percent more bandwidth than the comparable competing solution, and is equipped with 2 GB of GDDR5 frame- buffer memory. The card also features two DisplayPort outputs: one dual-link-enabled DVI and one stereo sync output. Concurrent with this product launch, AMD announced the availability of ATI CrossFire Pro technology, which enables users to combine the power of two discrete graphics cards to scale their application perfor- mance for maximum productivity. This capability, which involves coupling the two graphics cards using an interconnect cable, is designed to provide a signifi cant performance boost to CAD and DCC applications. In addition to the ATI FirePro V8750, ATI CrossFire Pro is planned for availability on the company's mid-range and above graphics cards, including ATI FirePro V5700, V7750, and V87003D. Initial support is provided for Windows XP (32-bit and 64-bit), with support for other operating systems scheduled to follow in the second half of the year. The new ATI FirePro V8750 3D workstation graphics accel- erator is available now for $1799. PRODUCTS: MODELING•ANIMATION One Maya, More Value In an unexpected move, Autodesk announ- ced its Maya 2010 software, which unifi es the Maya Complete 2009 and Maya Unlimited 2009 feature sets with match- moving, compositing, and rendering capa- bilities into a single offering. Now, Maya 2010 is available on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS operating systems. "Maya 2010 makes it easier and more affordable for artists to build a cohesive computer graphics pipeline—integrating 2D and 3D, simulation and animation, rendering, and compositing," says Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. Maya 2010 has all the features of Maya Unlimited 2009 and Maya Complete 2009, including advanced simulation tools, such as the Maya Nucleus Unifi ed Simulation Framework, Maya nCloth, Maya nParticles, Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Hair, and Maya Fur; in addition to its modeling, texturing, and animation tools, brush-based 3D technology, an integrated stereoscopic workfl ow, Toon Shading, rendering, an extensive Maya application programming interface/soft- ware development kit, and Python and MEL scripting capabilities. New features in Maya 2010 are Maya Composite, a high-dynamic composting system based on Autodesk Toxik soft- ware, which is no longer available as a stand-alone solution; Autodesk Match- Mover advanced 3D tracking and match- moving system; fi ve Mental Ray Batch render nodes; and the Autodesk Back- burner network render queue manager. Maya 2010 is also shipping as part of Autodesk's new Digital Entertainment Creation Suites. A license of Maya 2010 costs $3495, with upgrade pricing avail- able; all Maya Complete and Unlimited customers with a current Subscription are entitled to the Maya 2010 release. AMD Delivers Its Most Powerful 3D Card Yet