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TransGaming Releases Fast Software 3D Rendering

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the extending-the-life-of-your-pc dept.

gavriels writes "TransGaming has just released SwiftShader, an ultra-fast software-only 3D renderer that supports Vertex and Pixel Shaders. SwiftShader dynamically compiles the geometry and rasterization pipelines to produce code that exactly matches the graphics features a game or application is using. Demo download and tech details can be found on their website."

7 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Desktop Environments by taskforce · · Score: 4, Interesting
    If this can do what it's boasting it will certainly come in handy for Graphic heavy desktop environments such as the Aero Glass Theme Windows Vista is using. If a Linux GUI (ho ho ho) can provide an experience as rich as Aqua or Aero and base it on this software rendering it could make leaps and bounds on the desktop as more savvy system admins decline to purchase the latest gaming card so they can run Vista.

    Obviously I realise that a lot more is needed before desktop Linux taxes off, but if someone could capitalise on this we could have a decent GUI utilised without pissing all over Linux's reputation for not taxing hardware too heavily. (Personally I prefer an understated GUI which uses no resources, but obviously there is a market for eye candy.)

    --
    My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
  2. Re:The Meat... by MindStalker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What I really want to know is can it use the 3D capabilities of your card while software rendering the things your card doesn't support. This would be the killer app for Linux and Windows.

  3. Re:The Point by Surt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For developers, this can be very useful, particularly if they can get it up to date on the newer pixel and vertex shaders for the simple reason that running your application on the real hardware can nuke your system, and running in the existing microsoft renderer is painfully slow. This could provide a useful compromise.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  4. possible deathknell for lowend non-integrated gfx by l33t-gu3lph1t3 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Believe it or not, but integrated graphics hold the lion's share of the PC graphics market. Nvidia and Ati are both pretty far behind Intel in terms of install base. This could be very bad for the other vendors: the main reason for the popularity of integrated graphics is cost - Intel itself only holds about a $5 premium on gfx-enabled chipsets over discrete chipsets.

    What happens when Microsoft licenses this tech and integrates it into Windows? Suddenly, all anyone needs is a RAMDAC to output framebuffer to VGA, so Intel doesn't need to develop GPUs anymore, and overnight gets a massive performance boost and full DX9 support....

    --
    ------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
  5. Re:Ads by hardaker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about we call the new section "slashmeat"? And then we can set up a web interface to post to slashdot and freshmeat at the same time! Two birds and all...

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    The next site to slashdot will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and start slashdotting it early!
  6. Re:Ads by gavriels · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually, they already changed it. I wrote 'here', not 'on their website'.

      -Gav

  7. What I'd Like To Know by ThePyro · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Can it take advantage of multiple processors?

    For years, some analysts claimed that ordinary processors would eventually obsolete 3D accelerators, because they would be fast enough to handle all of the rendering in software. Since graphics processing can usually make pretty good use of parallelism, then perhaps a package like this along with multiple CPUs is the "wave of the future"?

    Obviously not now... but in 20 years?