---

Silicon Graphics Delivers Revolutionary New 3D Graphics Technology at AUTOFACT

4 November 1997

Silicon Graphics Delivers Revolutionary New 3D Graphics Technology at AUTOFACT

RealityMapping Algorithm for Onyx2 Delivers Rendering Performance 20,000 Times
     Faster Than Ray Tracing, Uses OpenGL Optimizer for Interactivity and
              High-Quality Imagery With Extremely Complex Models

    DETROIT, Nov. 4 -- At AUTOFACT '97, Silicon Graphics, Inc.
today announced the first widespread public demonstration of
RealityMapping(TM), a revolutionary new 3D software rendering technology that
outperforms traditional ray tracing by up to 20,000 times.
    RealityMapping is an improvement over ray tracing for evaluation of highly
reflective surfaces.  Using a new technique called tri-beam reflection
mapping, RealityMapping enhances industrial design workflow by providing
interactivity and high-quality imagery for working with extremely complex
models.  RealityMapping and the complete Silicon Graphics(R) solution for
digital prototyping will be showcased at AUTOFACT '97 booth #901.
    "RealityMapping has direct applications for the demanding automotive
design industry," said Shawn Hopwood, manager, Graphics API Product Marketing
at Silicon Graphics.  "The combination of Onyx2 and InfiniteReality already
offers superb graphics performance.  RealityMapping enables our digital
prototyping customers to realize an even greater return on their investment in
the Silicon Graphics platform."
    RealityMapping fully exploits the combined processing and visualization
power of the Onyx2  InfiniteReality(R) visual supercomputer.  The algorithm is
implemented through the OpenGL Optimizer(TM) API (application programming
interface), a new solution from Silicon Graphics that dramatically accelerates
the rendering and interactivity of large 3D data sets and models.  The OpenGL
Optimizer API already improves visualization performance of complex 3D models
up to 1,000 times, but the addition of RealityMapping provides users with the
added capability of interactive surface evaluation through high-quality
imagery.
    "Silicon Graphics has enabled a quantum leap in vehicle design
productivity for Renault and other companies through the combination of Onyx2
and RealityMapping," said Bruno Simon, CAD manager of Renault's Industrial
Design Department.  "The ability to instantly view and interact with models
that previously took hours to render enables Renault to achieve a competitive
and creative advantage as we design our next generation of automobiles."

    RealityMapping
    RealityMapping dramatically reduces the design time of complex models and
images.  The RealityMapping algorithm implements tri-beam reflection mapping,
turning what was once a batch process into an interactive workflow.
    "RealityMapping is a clever solution to an important problem of
visualization for the automobile industry," said Roy Latham, editor, Real Time
Graphics.  "The cleverness lies in using creative software with standard
texture hardware to provide the equivalent of the key aspects of ray-tracing
with interactive speeds.  The technique is a milestone in the replacement of
clay models and prototypes with interactive graphics techniques in the auto
industry."
    RealityMapping is just one piece of the overall Silicon Graphics
industrial design solution, which begins in the initial design phase with the
affordable, feature-rich O2(TM) and powerful OCTANE(TM) desktop workstations,
and continues upward through the digital prototyping phase to the Onyx2
InfiniteReality graphics supercomputer.  For more information on
RealityMapping, visit the Silicon Graphics Web site at http://www.sgi.com/ .

SOURCE  Silicon Graphics, Inc.