Cg Testimonials

• Industry Luminaries
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The biggest revolution in graphics in ten years, and the foundation for the next ten. Kurt Akeley (on Cg and NVIDIA's next generation GPU), Graphics Architect, NVIDIA, Co-founder of SGI and designer of OpenGL

ILM has utilized high level graphics languages for quite some time. NVIDIA's high level language for GPU programming is an important step in achieving an NVIDIA hardware-based development environment suitable for ILM's production pipeline. Andy Hendrickson, Senior Technology Officer, Industrial Light + Magic

The history of programming languages for CPUs is a long story of developers moving from low-level, platform-specific languages like X86 assembler to high-level, portable languages like C++ and Java, with each step bringing major productivity gains and enabling new kinds of applications. Cg brings this natual evolution to GPUs,exposing pixel shaders and vertex shaders not as assembly language programs, but as high-level programs in a C-style language that developers will find easy to read and write. This is the way that graphical effects, realistic lighting models, and procedural materials will be authored in the future. Tim Sweeney, Epic Games Inc

NVIDIA's high level shader language will enable us to add enhanced GPU programmability to our 3D game engine and add plenty of great looking built-in- effects rather than a just handful. We just would not have had time to do all this without Cg! Craig Allsop, Auran Jet Technical Director

Most games out have been lagging behind what the NVIDIA GPUs can actually do in terms of graphics processing. Writing visually exciting and optimized shaders takes serious time-until now. Cg takes shader implementation to the next level. It will be the standard for writing effects from now on. Todd Howard, Lead Programmer - Morrowind, Bethesda Softworks

This revolutionizes the way we write shaders and gives us unprecedented control over the render pipeline. Jason Knipe, Lead Graphics Programmer, Bioware

We have been eagerly awaiting this next generation of shader technology. Cg, with its compiler and associated toolkit, will be an indispensable tool for the creation and implementation of pixel shaders and vertex shaders. By abstracting the lower level assembly language, we are now free to spend more time and programming resources on writing more powerful custom shaders for the delivery of much more visually stunning effects on both OpenGL and DirectX. Dean Sekulic, Programmer, Croteam

Cg will give us the power to be much more creative with cutting-edge graphics features. It is a great step forward on the path to interactive photorealism. Bruce Rogers, Director of Technology, Cryptic Studios

Cg will allow us to rapidly prototype advanced special effects, and easily incorporate them into our future products. Not only will developers benefit from the speedy prototyping and sharing of Cg shaders between their products, but the consumer (gamer) will appreciate better looking games that come faster to market. Everyone wins! Mark Davis, Lead Programmer, Delta Force - Black Hawk Down

The performance and visual quality of Cg running on NVIDIA GPUs completely destroys the barrier that we've always faced in bringing the highest level of graphical realism to our games. Herb Marselas, Programmer - Age of Mythology, Ensemble Studios

Cg is the missing connector between the world of fast, hardware-driven rendering and the detail-oriented world of software rendering. Cg provides the artist the same rich toolbox of image possibilities previously only available through slow software rendering or laborious assembly coding. Cg is the necessary link that brings hardware-accelerated rendering to within a hair's breadth of the software-driven world -- and once that linkage occurs, it will not only revolutionize the experience for gamers and other end users of graphics, but it will revolutionize the practice of animation in every corner of the industry -- by simplifying, unifying, and accelerating the image-development process, right there at the artist's desktop. I expect that the combination of Cg-driven power and quick, interactive rendering will quickly come to surpass almost all other forms of rendering for artistic purposes in every venue -- games, TV, and movies. Kevin Bjorke, Imaging Supervisor, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Shaders have never been this easy to create. Vertex and pixel shaders have quickly become indispensable tools in creating games with state of the art graphical effects. Yet the barrier of entry has been the difficulty of creating and debugging these effects using the tools available. Cg gives developers the ability to rapidly prototype pixel and vertex shader effects in a high level C-like language. It is a perfect environment to quickly test algorithms and their performance prior to optimizing them. The new tools make debugging and maintaining shader code much easier. Cg makes code much easier to share between development groups and greatly aids in understanding code received from other teams. Michael Heilemann, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Fox Interactive

Cg is a bright light for a black art. Finally, cryptic shader tricks can be explored and applied by mere mortals. Mike Biddlecombe, Programmer - Dungeon Siege, Gas Powered Games

Using Cg, NVIDIA's high level language for GPU programming, allows me to concentrate on my algorithm instead of the low-level implementation, thus giving me more opportunity to fine-tune my effects. The end result is more compelling content in our titles. Brett Bourbin, Director of Technology, High Voltage Software

Cg will not only help us shave time off our development schedules, it will also allow us to maintain a consistency of quality across multiple graphic cards and platforms. This is the next logical step in graphics development. We are excited that NVIDIA and Microsoft are making this possible for us. Jesse Helton, Vice President of Software Development, High Voltage Software

NVIDIA's developer support has been fantastic. We have a great working relationship that provides a lot of value to Monolith. Cg is an enabling technology. We have a few graphics gurus at Monolith that can write assembly code shaders, but Cg allows mere human programmers with graphics interest like myself to write shaders. The inclusion of Cg in our next graphics engine will enable our future games to have an unprecedented amount of detail. Kevin Stephens, Direct of Engineering, Monolith

Cg will demystify the process of developing vertex and pixel shaders, and the NVIDIA Cg Compiler will greatly reduce shader development time. J. Scott Hofmann, Senior Graphics Programmer, Mythic Entertainment, Inc.

Even today, game developers are either unable to realize the full potential of high performance hardware in real world game apps or need to expend tremendous effort to optimize them. With the advent of Cg, we look forward to pushing hardware to its limits and developing games much faster than before. Toru Ogawa, Group Leader, Technical Group, Contents & Technology Company, NAMCO Ltd.

NVIDIA's understanding of graphics development goes beyond the advancement of 3D hardware. They understand that it takes software support to intelligently drive these systems. Cg is another brilliant offering that empowers us to build the worlds we imagine. The encompassing vision of Cg (art tool integration, debugging, and platform compatibility) is something that developers like us have been yearning for. Finally being able to replace complicated shader systems with a simple unified language will greatly simplify our work. Relic prides itself on its artistic and technical presentation, and anything that can bring us closer to our vision is something we are ready to embrace. Ian Thomson, Lead Programmer - Impossible Creatures, Relic Entertainment

The Cg technology will allow us to implement powerful and complicated shader programs quickly and efficiently. We can now support newer hardware technology faster than ever before. The Cg technology will directly result in Ritual bringing more visually astounding and higher performing games to market in significantly less time. Steve Nix, CEO, Ritual Entertainment

NVIDIA's programmable shaders had enabled us to render advanced shaders in real time using assembler-like codes. Now with the new Cg Compiler, we are able to drive the power of NVDIA GPUs using familiar C language-like codes, which is a significant advantage for us. The fact that the leader in graphics processors is now also putting strong emphasis in providing a robust software development environment is very reassuring to software developers like us, and our expectations are higher than ever as a result. Yu Suzuki, Representative Director, CTO, Sega-AM2 Co., Ltd.

Cg Compiler is what we have been waiting for a long time. The recent hardware evolution had brought amazing visual expression at our hand, but at the same time, the low level implementation to drive this hardware became painfully complicated. With this new Cg Compiler, very sophisticated visual expression can be coded with simple and comprehensible language. We see NVIDIA opening up the dawning of a new era where human creativity is directly driving the hardware. Michio Saito, Director, Corporate Operations, Silicon Studio Corporation

One of the major difficulties in adopting advanced shader technology has been the complexity of writing custom shaders in assembly code and the difficulty trying to share these resources between developers. Now, with Cg technology, powerful and flexible shaders can easily be expressed in a high level language accessible to the entire development community, not just a handful of assembly language gurus. John Ratcliff, Senior Technology Architect - Planetside, Sony Online Entertainment

Due to the higher level nature of Cg, Ubi Soft's creative teams will be able to streamline shader development in less time by writing pixel and vertex shaders that are easily modified and enhanced. By leveraging this technology, Ubi Soft can achieve the most stunning visual effects and get to an even higher degree of realism using different APIs for a wider variety of games and platforms. Julien Merceron, Worldwide Technical Director, Ubi Soft Entertainment

It just isn't possible to write a modern application, a game or an operating system without having something like C. And Cg is going to have a similarly liberating impact on graphics. Gabe Newell, Managing Director, Valve Entertainment.

Today's gamer expects the same richness, reality and immersivity in their gameplay as they do with other entertainment media, so the pressure is on the development community to challenge their existing creative boundaries and deliver truly astounding graphics effects. Criterion has always been committed to empowering individual developers with the tools to realize their creative vision, and we fully support NVIDIA's new Cg Compiler as a positive step towards realizing a real-time REYES/Renderman-style architecture and help narrow the gap between non-real time and real-time graphics. Adam Billyard, CTO, Criterion Software

Our business revolves around enabling game developers to mesh their game code with the intricacies of complex and powerful graphics hardware platforms. Cg fits our philosophy perfectly, with its high level abstraction and low level access, we'll be able to deliver the optimization benefits of NVIDIA's Cg Compiler to the many users of Alchemy. Cg can integrate very nicely with future versions of our ArtistPack, and thereby deliver control over programmable GPUs right into game artists' hands. Remi Arnauld, Director of Technology, Intrinsic Graphics

Cg is a major step forward in terms of writing effects with vertex and pixel shaders. Having a high-level language for GPUs, especially one that is already deeply familiar to all in the game industry, will open up shaders to a wide range of developers. From the point of view of a commercial 3D game engine, there are real benefits from not only the features it provides, but also the forward compatibility that it provides--and the chance to have a shipping, released product look better and faster on newer hardware, beyond just scaling with clock-speed. Lars M. Bishop, Chief Technology Officer, Numerical Design Limited

Cg couldn't have come along at a better time. Alias|Wavefront's focus on hardware rendering makes the high-level language especially attractive to our company and MayaÒ customers. The NVIDIA Cg Compiler and toolset will change the way that graphics programming is done here at Alias|Wavefront and we're thrilled to be teamed up with the industry leader in this arena. Bob Bennett, General Manager, Alias|Wavefront

Discreet is excited how a language like Cg makes it possible for 3ds max game artists and programmers to single-source their shader assets between tool and game, something that should enable and encourage the exchange of cutting-edge shading techniques across the industry. Discreet is pleased to be working with NVIDIA to ensure these custom shaders are easily used within 3ds max, giving 3D artists the power to bring the realism of their creation environment ever closer to that of their final output. Phillip Miller, Vice President of Animation Products, Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc.

The new NVIDIA Cg development solutions represent a huge step forward in graphics programming. Finally, we'll be able to achieve incredible realism without tying our applications to low-level hardware features that restrict the lifespan of the software. Programmer productivity will skyrocket and DCC technology users are going to love the proliferation of high-fidelity visualizations. LightWave users should applaud the efforts by NVIDIA that have brought us to this point. Brad Peebler, President, Luxology, developers of NewTek LightWave 3D

Right Hemisphere will support the Cg tools. We see Cg as another important step in bringing the 3D experience to the world with the highest possible impact. Our Deep Exploration product is a powerful gateway application that enables 3D assets from almost any source to take advantage of NVIDIA's advanced capabilities and we see Cg as another method to improve the 3D experience. Michael Lynch, CEO, Right Hemisphere

The Cg Toolkit is an excellent step in the pursuit of a standard for achieving heightened interactive realism. This technology will make it easier for software vendors to improve realism in the viewport and further blur the distinction between hardware and software rendering. We look forward to working closely with NVIDIA to advance this important technology. Paul Salvini, Chief Technology Officer, Side Effects Software, developers of Houdini 3D animation software

NVIDIA and Softimage took the market by storm at last year's SIGGRAPH through our introduction and subsequent delivery of real-time shader capabilities in SOFTIMAGE|XSI. We're thrilled to see NVIDIA once again advancing real-time 3D rendering technology with their new Cg Toolkit and look forward to working with them to provide Softimage customers with unique creativity and productivity enhancing tools. Michael Stojda, Managing Director, Softimage, a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc.

Digital Immersion Software has a history of creating 3D visualization and authoring packages that lead the way in advanced real-time display technology. Being one of the few companies to successfully establish such products in the DCC (Merlin 3D) and CAD (Presenter 3D) markets, our customers are empowered by tools that take advantage of the latest photo-realistic rendering techniques being used today. Features like radiosity, ray tracing, global illumination, and advanced shaders such as Clear Coat style automotive paint, cloth and leather, anisotropic materials, and other complex surface finishes have not only been successfully transitioned from DCC to CAD, but have been found to be dependable, production level tools used daily by our professional users. With the use of Cg, not only are we able to take many of these advanced tools and move them from 'off-line rendering' to real time, but Cg significantly shortens our development time in creating them. This is especially important to our Presenter 3D users, as they can define materials that follow through initial component development and manufacture through to final assembly, and see the exact representations in real-time, significantly reducing their time to development and eventually their bottom line. Terry Cotant, Vice President, Product Development, Digital Immersion Software

High-quality programmable shading has long been a key technology for creating cinematic imagery for film and television. Cg is a huge and long-awaited step forward that brings similar flexibility and quality to real-time graphics. I expect an enormous impact on the visual richness of games, as well as the development of revolutionary interactive tools for development of film and other media. Larry Gritz, Creator of BMRT and one of the primary engineers for Exluna's Entropy renderer

As the leading supplier of rendering solutions to the CAD industry, we at LightWork Design are very excited by the launch of Cg because it will allow us to apply more of our high-level shading technology to hardware-assisted rendering. Cg will be especially useful in the LightWorks Real-time product, which provides our customers (CAD application developers) and their users with high-quality interactive photorealism. Andy Chapman, General Manager - LightWorks, LightWork Design

Cg is a major breakthrough that effectively eliminates the barrier between hardware and software shading. It allows us to leverage the amazing performance of NVIDIA's next-generation graphics hardware within our rendering software, mental ray, for dramatic speed increases for use in numerous applications without compromising mental ray's industry-leading functionality, flexibility, scalability and power. mental images's OEM and end-user customers will greatly benefit from mental images' commitment to support the NVIDIA graphics hardware capabilities for the acceleration of photorealistic rendering. In the forthcoming release 3.2 of mental ray, writing mental ray hardware shaders in Cg will integrate smoothly with mental ray software shaders written in C/C++. Our use of Cg in the new extended mental ray shader API will effectively hide the underlying hardware/software boundary from the end-user and from the developer who is integrating mental ray into an application. Hence, portability across a large range of future supported graphics hardware generations and capabilities is automatically ensured. This will protect the investment made by our OEM partners and end-users in hardware and software based mental ray shader development. Rolf Herken, President and Director of R&D, mental images

Until recently, developers had to program in assembly language in order to achieve cinematic-type features in today's graphics applications. Very few people know how to do this and it's a painfully slow process. With the introduction of Cg and NVIDIA's Cg Compiler, developers will be able to more quickly create, share and re-use shaders that will make their content even richer with the stunning, visual effects and enhanced realism we've come to expect in this industry. Dr. Jon Peddie, President, Jon Peddie Research

We are entering a brave new world of graphics software development. The announcement of Cg signals a revolution in computer graphics -- and for the first time in years, we can say this without exaggerating. Editor-in-Chief, Microprocessor Report, In-Stat MDR