Tag Archives: Sumatra

Friday Flashback #318

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Oct 1997 Softimage to Support New Intel Architecture
Expects increase in performance using the Merced™ Processor’s advanced architecture
The first Sumatra-level 3D product to be made available on the new architecture will be Softimage’s next-generation rendering and finishing system, codenamed Twister. IconOffering completely interactive rendering control, as well as direct manipulation of scene lighting and texturing, Twister is designed to fit seamlessly into the customer workflow already established by Softmage 3D, the current-generation product.

For Immediate Release

October 13, 1997

Softimage to Support New Intel Architecture
Expects increase in performance using the Merced™ Processor’s advanced architecture

MONTREAL — Oct 13, 1997 —Softimage Inc., the leading provider of animation and video-editing tools for games, film and video content, today announced its plans to support the first implementation of Intel Corporation’s IA-64 architecture, code-named Merced™. Softimage’s next-generation 3D platform, code-named Sumatra, is expected to experience a substantial performance boost on the Merced Processor’s advanced architecture. These applications will be optimized for workstations running Microsoft’s 64-bit Windows NT Operating System, and will be available when the Merced Processor is launched.

“We are very excited about the promise of the IA-64 architecture as it relates to our next generation products,” said Marc Petit, Director of 3D Product Development for Softimage, “the gains in computing power will enable us to push the envelope in terms of interactivity and rendering performance. We are working closely with Intel to ensure that our applications take maximum advantage of the Merced Processor architecture.”

The first Sumatra-level 3D product to be made available on the new architecture will be Softimage’s next-generation rendering and finishing system, codenamed Twister. Offering completely interactive rendering control, as well as direct manipulation of scene lighting and texturing, Twister is designed to fit seamlessly into the customer workflow already established by Softmage 3D, the current-generation product.

“Users of Softimage’s 3D products will clearly benefit from IA64’s performance. We are delighted that Softimage is extending their commitment from IA32 to IA64 and look forward to their forthcoming Sumatra product release on IA64” said Anand Chandrasekher, general manager of Intel’s Workstation Products Division.

Softimage products will be certified to run on Mercad Processor-based workstations from a large number of industry-leading vendors including Compaq, HP, NeTpower and others who have announced plans for Merced Processor systems when it becomes available in 1999.

Softimage Information

Founded in 1986, Softimage develops software for media-rich applications including video, film, interactive games and CD-ROM applications.  Products include Softimage 3D (high-end animation), Softimage Eddie (compositing) and Toonz (2-D cel animation).  Additional information about Softimage and Microsoft can be found via the Internet at http://www.softimage.com/ and http://www.microsoft.com/, respectively.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers.  The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

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Softimage and mental ray are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Softimage Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp.

Microsoft, Windows NT and DirectX are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Friday Flashback #245

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A Sumatra screenshot, source unknown (looks like something from the web site or from a magazine article).
Sumatra0010lg

Update: Top commenter Hirazi found that this screenshot was the “Pick of the Month” from June 2001. Titled “Last Check Point”, it’s the work of Max Evgrafov. Via the wayback machine, we get this description:

The great Italian writer Primo Levi once wrote:

“Loving your work (unfortunately the privilege of a few) represents
the best, most concrete approximation of happiness on earth.”

Like Levi, who worked as a chemist by day and a writer the rest
of the time, XSI guru and June Gallery winner Max Evgrafov
loves his work, even when he’s not on the job.

Currently a hard-working animator in the game development
department of the large Russian company 1c, Evgrafov has
spent the last eight or so months developing levels, animating
CG soldiers and paratroopers, and modeling and texturing
low-res polygonal objects for IL-2 Shturmovik, a high-level
flight simulator that has been in the works for over three years.

It’s pretty nice work if you can get it, but it’s after work that
some of Evgrafov’s best ideas get a chance to shine. His winning
entry, entitled “Last Check Point” and featuring a startling realistic
3D oil lamp and hovering moth, shows just how brightly Max’s
light can shine. “I was introduced to the magical world of 3D
through my architectural studies at university,” says Evgrafov
thoughtfully.

“When I graduated, I found work on a television
channel, before moving on to some advertising
agencies. Eventually, I got to know SOFTIMAGE|3D
and became interested in character animation,
which I worked on for a year and a half.”

He recently picked up SOFTIMAGE|XSI, and has spent a lot of
time exploring its possibilities. Indeed, his enthusiasm and expertise
for XSI seem to extend to nearly every part of the software:
“Firstly, SOFTIMAGE|XSI offers excellent polygonal modeling
capabilities,” says Evgrafov with enthusiastically. “The system
enables me to do some great work with materials and, of course,
render passes. I was frankly amazed by the easy to use XSI
interface. I really like working with it. Also, the Render Tree
offers a vivid and easy instrument for creating materials. It
allows me to create and edit complicated materials with
complicated textures without fear of getting lost. ”

That’s all well and good, but it is the SOFTIMAGE|XSI
animation toolset for which Evgrafov reserves special praise.
“I really like the animation toolset,” he says. “XSI lets me
create layered animations, put them together in the Animation
Mixer, estimate the animation of a single character, and so on.
Put simply, XSI provides convenient features non–stop while
I’m working.”

Put simply, Evgrafov is doing pretty well for somebody claiming
to have a lot to learn. In addition to winning the Softimage.com
XSI Gallery competition for “Last Check Point”, the image
also won an all-Russia computer graphics competition
held by web site http://www.render.ru/.

One thing is certain: this Max Evgrafov’s time to
shine…and he has the 3D light to prove it.

Congratulations, Max!