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Last Updated:
08
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15
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2003
Developer Newsletter: Issue #10
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In This Issue:
"The Cg Tutorial" Book Update
"Advanced GPU Programming Techniques" Call for Participation
Maya 5 Released with Quadro FX Support
DirectX 9.0a Released
GDC 2003 Material Available Online
Recent NVIDIA Product Announcements
Developer Board Store Reopened
Linux Driver Update
OpenEXR 1.0.5 Released
NVSDK CDs Available from MoveDigital
Developer Survey
Cg Downloads Page Restructured
Eric Lengyel's "OpenGL Extensions Guide" Coming Soon
discreet's Soup to Nuts Seminar Series
Coding Tip
Top 5 Downloads
Send Us Your Comments!
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"The Cg Tutorial" Book Update
"The Cg Tutorial," published by Addison-Wesley, sold out at the recent Game Developer's Conference and also attained the #1 rank on Barnes and Noble's "Computer Programming" and "Graphics & Game Programming" bestseller lists. For purchasing information and much more, please visit the book Web site.
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"Advanced GPU Programming Techniques" Call for Participation
Following the initial success of "The Cg Tutorial: The Definitive Guide to Programmable Real-Time Graphics," we are planning a contribution-based book that will focus on practical techniques for GPUs. This second book will be published by Addison-Wesley just as the first one was. If you would like to participate, please read through the article guidelines and send an e-mail to ArticleSubmissions@nvidia.com with your proposed article title as the subject line, the required description in the e-mail body, and any supporting images attached.
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Maya 5 Released with Quadro FX Support
Alias|Wavefront, an SGI company, revealed an innovative Hardware rendering capability in its recent release of Maya 5. Maya 5, in combination with the new NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics engine, provides customers with unprecedented rendering power. Maya 5 is the first 3D application to fully take advantage of the Quadro FX’s power and precision to render high quality images that in many cases are indistinguishable from software rendering. The combination of Maya 5 and advanced graphics card technology raises the bar in quality for pre-visualization and boosts speed for broadcast quality output. NVIDIA's collaborative engineering work with Alias|Wavefront leveraged the high-level Cg programming language to provide Maya 5 customers with both a killer platform and seamless access to the power and performance of the Quadro FX.
Hardware rendering in Maya 5 along with the Quadro FX allows customers to meet deadlines faster and render multiple iterations in production refinement. They can therefore undertake last minute creative changes that would previously be impossible to accommodate given tight production schedules. Maya 5 continues to push the CG envelope with its unified rendering workflow, allowing customers to easily render sophisticated imagery faster than they ever imagined possible. Final rendered images, previews and render pass elements can all be created with the use of Maya 5’s new Hardware Renderer. You can check out www.aw.sgi.com or www.nvidia.com for more details.
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Recent NVIDIA Product Announcements
Over the past month, we have announced several exciting new products. First, at GDC 2003, we announced our latest DirectX 9-class mainstream processors, the GeForce FX 5600 and the GeForce FX 5200.
At CeBIT, we announced the mobile versions of these processors, the GeForce FX Go5600 and the GeForce FX Go5200.
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Developer Board Store Reopened
We are happy to announce the grand reopening of the developer board store. The board store was created as a place to get NVIDIA products at a significant discount, without the hassle of shopping around. We strive to keep a varied inventory including everything from GeForce2 class boards all the way up to our newest flagship products.
To access the board store, simply sign on to the NVIDIA Registered Developer Site. Once you've logged in, look for the "Board Store" link on the left. Click on it, and if you have access, you will be connected to the store. If you have not yet been approved to shop at the board store, please contact your account manager or the board store admin (jsousa@nvidia.com).
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Linux Driver Update
We are pleased to announce the release of our Linux Update software--the easiest way to install Linux graphics drivers and to keep your software components up to date. Linux Update automatically detects the Linux operating system, kernel type, and CPU on a system and sets up the correct drivers for optimal performance and stability. In addition, it can intelligently download the latest NVIDIA drivers and software components to keep your system running for maximum uptime. Linux Update includes out of box support for Red Hat Linux, Mandrake, SUSE operating systems and all standard Intel and AMD 32-bit processors.
To download Linux drivers, please visit: www.nvidia.com/linux
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OpenEXR 1.0.5 Released
Industrial Light & Magic has released version 1.0.5 of their OpenEXR software. OpenEXR is a high dynamic-range (HDR) image file format developed by ILM, and is fully compatible with Cg's 16-bit half data type.
The new release includes a hardware accelerated version of the "exrdisplay" application that uses a Cg shader to implement the full display pipeline. This allows users with GeForce FX or Quadro FX hardware to interactively change controls for exposure, defogging and gamma correction and see the results in real time.
For more information, please check out http://www.openexr.com/.
Source code is available at http://savannah.nongnu.org/files/?group=openexr.
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NVSDK CDs Available from MoveDigital
Want to feel the power of the NVSDK 6.0, literally? For those of you who prefer to have a physical CD of the NVSDK 6.0, and didn't get a chance to grab one at GDC, MoveDigital will ship one out to you for a nominal delivery fee. Please note: Our primary distribution will remain through the web, and all content on the CD is available for free through developer.nvidia.com. This is intended as a convenient option for people around the world without reasonably priced high-speed access.
Order an NVSDK CD
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Developer Survey
NVIDIA Developer Relations is looking for input from our developers to help serve you better. We would love to send you a free copy of the Cg User's Manual as a small token of appreciation for completing our survey. This is a printed, ring-bound copy of the Cg User's Manual (v1.1 from March 2003) which is also available as a PDF.
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Cg Downloads Page Restructured
The Cg Downloads page has been restructured to make it easier for you to find what you're looking for. The components of the Cg Toolkit are separated clearly for your convenience.
If you have a high-bandwidth connection, we've got our entire SDK (the Cg Toolkit, Max and Maya plug-ins, documentation, and sample shaders) all together in one big file called Everything.zip.
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Eric Lengyel's "OpenGL Extensions Guide" Coming Soon
Eric Lengyel's latest work, "The OpenGL Extensions Guide," is coming soon. This book is a single, concise reference that aims to help make sense of the dozens of extensions that are available.
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discreet's Soup to Nuts Seminar Series
If you want to improve your video workflow and achieve more creative freedom in the process, this free seminar will help get you started. During this three hour seminar you will learn about the latest products from the industry's top manufacturers--Avid, Discreet, Intel, NVIDIA, and Sonic Solutions--and how they can help save you time, money, and enhance your creative freedom.
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Coding Tip
Did you know that our Cg Toolkit comes with more than 80 sample shaders? Here are some interesting shaders to check out:
check3d.fx shows procedural anti-aliasing
uberCTB2.fx shows how to do multiply-lit multitextured BRDF shading
MrWiggle.fx and blobCT.fx show how to do vertex animation
wood.fx shows a classic procedural texture
screentest.fx presents a workbench for image processing
durer.fx shows an procedural and anti-aliased NPR (Non-photorealistic) technique
ghostly2.fx shows a technique that's great for x-ray and similar effects
More information about the Cg plug-ins for 3ds max and Maya is available at: developer.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=IO_3dsmaxCgFXPlugin and developernvidia.com/view.asp?IO=MayaCgPlugin.
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