Computer graphics to take higher turn

Los Angeles — Computing is about to get a lot more real.

In the next stage of PC evolution, new processors, monitors and other equipment promise to take graphics and visuals to new levels while extending the use of computers to new areas.

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BOB KEEFE/bkeefe@ajc.com

A 3-D driving game produced by students at Texas State Technical College in Waco illustrates the growing capabilities of graphics in computing. The technology was on display at the recent SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference.

Just as past innovations such as smaller transistors and circuit boards, wireless connectivity and faster processors forever changed the world of personal computers, so will the graphics and monitor improvements just hitting the market, computer experts say.

Initially, the biggest beneficiaries might be video game enthusiasts and Hollywood animation studios. But in the future, it may be: doctors who will be able to examine three-dimensional X-rays over the Internet, oil exploration companies and Wall Street investors that can dramatically improve their forecast models and everyday consumers who can watch high-definition movies streamed over the Internet or create 3-D presentations for work and school.

“Sometimes unless the computing power is there, people don’t even think of the ways you can take advantage of it,” said Neal Robison, director of developer relations at chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Last week, AMD introduced what it calls the world’s fastest graphics card. The device can process so much digital data so quickly that video gamers not only can see individual leaves on a tree, but even the veins and shadows on them as they tremble in a virtual wind.

AMD rival Intel Corp., meanwhile, provided a few more details about its own forthcoming graphics-centric processor, called Larrabee, at the annual SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference here last week. The chip — which will mark Intel’s entry into the high-end graphics space when it’s released in late 2009 or 2010 — promises to make 3-D computing an everyday reality. Graphics and visualization also will be a key theme at Intel’s developer conference this week in San Francisco.

Other companies are focusing on the visual side of computing, too. Working with Hollywood’s DreamWorks Animation, Hewlett-Packard Co. recently introduced its new “DreamColor” desktop monitors, the biggest of which has an astounding range of more than 1 billion colors. At $3,500 each, the super-vivid displays are now aimed mainly at professional animators and graphics designers, but look for similar technology to filter down to everyday consumers as prices decline.

“You’re going to continue to see the value (grow) for all consumers,” said Richard Doherty, senior analyst at technology consulting firm Envisioneering Group.

Doherty predicts that high-end displays and graphics cards will make up 3 percent to 5 percent of total computer sales by 2010 and continue to grow after that as consumer prices decline. He equates the equipment to the home theater market in recent years.

AMD’s new graphics card shows just how fast the technology behind visual computing is improving. By combining two graphics processors on a single chipset, the ATI Radeon card can handle 2.5 trillion calculations per second. An earlier version of the card released less than three months ago broke the 1 trillion calculations per second — or teraflops — barrier for the first time, according to AMD.

Many consumers “could [not] care less about processor speeds and other high-tech terminology,” Doherty said.

“But in visual computing, when you see details in the darkest shadows and the brightest sunbeams, they’ll say, ‘Hey, now I get it,’ ” he said.

What’s driving companies to focus on better graphics and displays is the continued growth in consumer demand for everything from high-definition movies and gaming on the Internet to digital photography and family movies at home.

That will only grow as computer companies move toward making things such as 3-D visualization in software and on the Internet more commonplace.

“It’s really the rise of [digital] entertainment that’s driving it,” said Susie Watkins, chairwoman of the consumer science technology department at Texas State Technical College in Waco. She was at the SIGGRAPH here last week, showing off a 3-D car racing game designed by her students.

Intel, the world’s biggest chip maker, is making 3-D computing a major focus. At SIGGRAPH, it showed off a program that uses wireless transmitters and special glasses to take 3-D technology in an architectural design program to new levels. It also is working with game developers to design more 3-D video games.

In the future, Intel plans to push for 3-D computing across the Internet.

“It’s an area that’s going to explode,” Intel spokesman Bill Calder said. “And we want to be a big part of it.”

THE FUTURE, CLEARLY IN VIEW

Just as wireless technology and fast microprocessors changed computing in the past, new graphics cards and chips, monitors and other technologies promise to take the visual side of computing to new levels in the near future. Here’s how:

• Chips: Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s new graphics processor can do 2.5 trillion calculations per second, bringing what was previously supercomputer speed to video games, Internet movies and other types of visual computing. Intel plans to release its own high-end graphics chip, code-named Larrabee, in 2009 or 2010.
• Displays: Hewlett-Packard Co.’s new DreamColor displays can show up to 1 billion colors, bringing new clarity and vividness to graphics, photos and movies.
• Technology: Along with improvements in software, the new graphics hardware and displays are expected to make three-dimensional computing more commonplace in the near future.