Performer SIG

-Performer will not be ported to NT... FSG is the UNIX NT cross platform framework

-Perf3.0 provides VisSim real time system solution as extensions to FSG

-Next Gen VisSim product provide performance tuning

-ensure perfomance

-leverages features of hardware and help users transition to FSG

System Features

-well defined interface

-manage and budget time and space

-Quantify system behavior

-automate and improve ease and quality of application dev

Sharon Clay (SGI - Farrenheight Scene Graph FSG)

The Application:

Cross platforms IRIX HP_UX and Windows98 and NT

supports OpentGL and Direct3D

Goals:

-Performance, Extensiblility, Scalabilitiy, Longevity

Design Principles:

-Modularity, Extensibility, Orthogonality, Configurability

-FSG is the standard API layer, and allows vendors to specialize

-FSG does NOT fully implement all features

-FSG is the standardized layer that hardware vendors talk through

-FSG framework has file loaders

-MP traverasals for collision culling sorting and rendering

Preparing for the future:

Consider FSG for new development

Move from fork to threads

-do not depend on sttaic variables

-use explicit application for shared and process/thread private data

-follow the perfly framework

frame and process callback org.

-specify channel global state

-User pfBuilder and pfdLoadFile framework

Beta Release: Winter 1998-99

FSG Release: Summer 1999

Dave Orton: Q&A

Q. How many developers for Performer and Fareheight?

A. Performer team is fully staffed and FSG team is fully staffed (bigger)

Q. Will performer be ported to IRIX on Merced?

A. Details are not complete

Q. FLL is the premeire DLL on Windows

Q. IS FSG going to be an open arch... is linux and others going to be an option?

A. FSG is NOT open architecture... linux will not be supported... we're not giving

out source

Q. How much is SGI contributing to FSG?

A. We're both contributing... We know a lot about our markets... they know alot about theres... We have a T1 to redmond... we code together, we talk together...

Q. How about media/realtime video technology?

A. Both companies are interested and those are obvious areas for expansion others are interaction capabilities and input capabilities.

Q. How do I find out more about FSG?

A. Join the developers Program

(NOTE: Join the dev program :)

A. All the devopment is happening together so the realeases should be taking place together... Our next build will be cross platform... Windows and IRIX

Q. Will there be a new newsgroup for FSG?

A. Go through the developer program... current newsgroups are a valid place to ask questions... i.e. info-perfomer... etc... we want to kepp comm open maximally, whil we dev the product.

Allan Schaffer:

2.2 is avail for 6.2,3,4

there is 2.2.1 for IRIX 6.5

there is 2.2.2 for IRIX 6.5.1m (maintenance and feature overlays instead of patches)

2.2.3 release later this year

transform nodes are now double precision

support for D-Plex

Full release.. the last have been upgrades for static libs...

Annoucements

128-CPU Onyx2 Late 1998

16-Pipe IR Late 1998

New IR2 Graphics August 25%-30% faster than the IR's in Onyx2 now

DV Multiplexer Late 1998

D-Plex Support for 2.2.3 aka Hyperpipe

-Interleave frame output from multiple pipes onto a single display

-Provides linear scalability

-permits single pipes to operate on a single application

-ideal for multipass algs

-keep same image quality but double frame rate...

-Daughter card to DG5

-Can dplex to 8 pipes or in groups

-Displaying pipes must issu swapbuffers before going to next pipe

-Cost: Latency (and $10,000)

Performer additions for D-Plex:

pfChannel or pfPipe hookup

-new channel-share mask token

-new Pipe setup calls

pfFrame

Q. Will this allow us to get high res?

A. This is essentially time based muxing. so no...

Don Hatch... cliptexture demo