RealityEngine: Video/Film

RealityEngine graphics supercomputers have been designed to provide users in digital video and film production with a multi-purpose computer platform that can meet, and exceed, the needs of CGI, broadcast graphics, image processing and video post-production.

RealityEngine has key advantages over any other computer system for use in production environments. In addition to the renowned ability of the IRIS line for 3D animation, RealityEngine brings fast hardware rendering, interactive effects and image processing to film and video professionals as well as scientific and technical users who require the ultimate in high-resolution imaging.

• Fastest computer graphics available on any platform

• Real-time interactive rendering

• User-selectable video output formats; from VGA and NTSC up to HDTV and 1600 x 1200

• 21" multisync monitor

• Multiple outputs per system

• Simultaneous high and low-resolution display

• Interactively positionable composite video output window

• Photo, video or synthetic textures

• 16x oversampling anti-aliasing

• ImageVision Library™ acceleration

• Multiple I/O channels

• Multiple CPU and chassis options

• 12-bits per component color accuracy

• 1024 bits of resolution per pixel

• Broadcast quality real-time and single-frame video I/O (optional)

• 320 million pixels/second fill rate

• 600,000 textured, anti-aliased polygons/second

• Real-time video effects

• Shadows, projections and atmospheric effects

• Multi-channel 16-bit audio (optional)

  
  

RealityEngine graphics supercomputers offer a wide range of video input and output devices. The RealityEngine systems come standard with a number of different video resolutions. Any 640 x 486 or 768 x 576 area of the high resolution computer display can be output as independent high quality NTSC or PAL composite video. Both the IRIS Crimson and IRIS POWER Series systems offer multiple VME slots for adding single-frame animation controllers or broadcast quality live-video processing devices. Multiple analog and digital video formats are supported.

Display capability

Through the use of programmable video output formats, RealityEngine is capable of a wide range of display options. SMPTE 240M HDTV, 1250/50 HDTV, 1600 x 1200 non-interlaced, 1280 x 1024 workstation standard, NTSC, PAL and VGA are just a few of the many formats included as standard with the system. With the use of one of the Silicon Graphics video options, such as the VideoSplitter/2, RealityEngine is capable of multiple high and low-resolution outputs on a single system.

Software Support

Among the over 1400 software packages available for IRIS systems are applications for animation, rendering, digital paint, editing, compositing, titling and image processing. The RealityEngine can run software like Video Composer from Wavefront, Power Animator from Alias, nTitle from XAOS Tools, Integrated Research's Integrated Video and hundreds of other applications.

Software developers can take advantage of the ImageVision Library. ImageVision Library is an object-oriented extensible toolkit for creating, processing and displaying images. RealityEngine's special hardware acceleration for ImageVision Library operations makes it the optimum platform for image processing yet it retains full compatibility with other Silicon Graphics systems.

Configurations

RealityEngine systems, like all Silicon Graphics computers, can be configured in a number of different ways; from the IRIS 4D/310 RealityEngine and IRIS Crimson/RealityEngine single-CPU systems to the 8-CPU IRIS 4D/480 RealityEngine, which combines supercomputer compute performance with the world's fastest computer graphics.

Any IRIS Crimson, POWER Series or SkyWriter system can be upgraded to RealityEngine performance with a simple board-swap. IRIS SkyWriter systems include two full RealityEngine pipelines for twice the number of outputs from a single rack-mount enclosure.

Video Specifications

Video Outputs:

• RGB, Analog Composite, S-Video

• (Standard)

• CCIR 601, YUV, 4fSc (optional)

• 1600 x 1200

• 1920 x 1035 HDTV (interlaced)

• 1920 x 1152 (interlaced)

• 1280 x 1024

• 1024 x 768

• 1024 x 768 stereo

• 768 x 576 PAL

• 640 x 486 NTSC

• 640 x 480 VGA

  
  

Requires one or more Video Options

Video Options

VideoLab/2 - Real-time and single-frame input, output and throughput special effects, keying and blending, warping and texturing, compositing, video-in-a-window and scan conversion. Supports CCIR601, 4:2:2:4, 4fSc, YUV and RGB.

VideoFramer - Single-frame input and output for animation. Includes V-LAN animation control and appropriate software. Supports CCIR601, 4fSc, YUV, RGB, NTSC, PAL, S-Video.

VideoCreator - Real-time scan-conversion and single-frame output. Includes V-LAN animation control and appropriate software. Supports RGB, NTSC or PAL, S-Video.

VideoSplitter/2 - Multiple RGB outputs from a single RealityEngine.

For more information please call

U.S. 1 800 800 SGI 1 (7441)
U.K. 0 800 440 440
Australia 008 802 677

Corporate Office

2011 N. Shoreline Boulevard
Mountain View, CA 94043

Copyright 1992 Silicon Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved. Silicon Graphics, IRIS and the Silicon Graphics logo are registered trademarks, and RealityEngine, IRIS Performer, IRIS Inventor, IRIS Explorer, IRIS Crimson, Crimson and Power Series are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice. Cover image courtesy KGO-TV, San Francisco, California, and GOES Multispectral full earth image courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Center, F. Hasle K. Palaniappan, M. Manyin and H. Pierce.