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TransGaming Releases Fast Software 3D Rendering
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."
Ad-posts such as this one, wouldn't be as offensive if they would just come out and say that they're an ad-post. I.e., instead of "on their website", say "on our website". And make some sort of comment that, yes, the poster does have a vested interest in the content of the post.
Here's the meat of the article for those who can't be bothered.
TransGaming's SwiftShader technology provides the world's fastest pure software 3D renderer with DirectX 9.0 class features, according to the company, including support for Pixel and Vertex Shaders. SwiftShader is built to provide the same APIs that developers are already using for their games and applications. This makes it possible to directly integrate SwiftShader into applications without any changes to source code. Direct3D 8 and Direct3D 9 compatible APIs are available immediately, and OpenGL-compatible APIs are also under development. Vertex Shader 1.1 and Pixel Shader 1.4 features are currently supported, along with the majority of features used by most developers when producing 3D games and applications.
SwiftShader can perform over 50 times faster than Microsoft's Direct3D Reference Rasterizer in tests with sample applications, and can rival the performance of low end hardware 3D graphics solutions in some cases. SwiftShader achieves this unprecedented level of performance by dynamically compiling highly optimized code specific to an applications 3D rendering needs.
SwiftShader is currently available for x86 CPUs with Intel's SSE multimedia instruction set extensions. SwiftShader runs on Microsoft Windows 98 and higher, and on Linux through TransGaming's Cedega portability technology.
OpenGL is an API, which programmers use to describe a set of graphics primatives.
SwiftShader is a renderer, which draws things.
You would, in fact, program your code in Direct3D or OpenGL, and then use SwiftShader as the renderer, the same way today you would program in Direct3D or OpenGL, and then use your ATI X800 as the renderer. They even mention, in the article, that "OpenGL-compatible APIs are also under development".
The only difference is that, compared to an ATI X800, SwiftShader will be very slow, and compared to the SuperImageCrazyMagic 9000 VGA+++ graphics card in my crappy laptop, SwiftShader will be quite fast.
I realize that I'm just a humble AC, but let me say this: I'm not certain I understand the point here. Casual gamers are exactly that, casual. They're more interested in online play like Java Applets or MIDP Applications for phones than they are in Gee Whiz Bang games that they must install to their computers. So from that perspective, I really don't understand what market TransGaming plans to attack with this new software.
Even if we assume that casual gamers are looking to install games onto their computers, it's hard to say that such gamers wouldn't have at least a basic 3D card to play games on. Even the Intel Integrated Graphics (about as bad as you can get) has decent 3D support. Are the Gee Whiz features of DX9 really all that important to these players?
Formerly known as slow rendering.
...saying that it performs up to 50 times better than the Microsoft Reference Rasterizer you're actually calling it slooooow. The REF driver exists with absolutely ZERO optimizations explicitly for the purpose of discerning if a problem is in your code or is in the video card's device driver. Maybe they're confused about the old RAMP and RGB devices you could use to render in software. 50 times faster than REF is pathetic to be honest.
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A: Admins don't care about Aero Glass, the Windows 2000 UI will do just fine for Vista installs.
B: This is only usefull for runing Aero Glass if the only thing you are running is Aero Glass. Real work will have to take a back seat while this is grinding through the glorious shading of your progress bar.
C: This totally misses the point of what Aero is for. Getting the UI grunt work off of the CPU and onto the video card.
This is a neat trick, and possibly usefull for some very specific purposes such as foolproof DX9.0 rendering in Linux reguardless of the state of device drivers. Hardware review sites could get some milage out of this. Especially when they need to know what a game/benchmark is doing in certain situations and image quality comparisons.
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.