If it’s content you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place. From articles about graphics and 3D animation to lists of video games and digital media products, you’ll find all of it in here. Get reading!

Shaping the future of visual computing

Illuminating Intel's vision with pure visual adrenaline

Putting the Ball in Motion

Light, color, and shadow have been an important part of the human experience from the works of Renaissance artists to the digital cinema masterpieces of today. With a nod to the past and a clear focus on the future, Intel is setting out to define a practical yet visionary path for visual computing. The swiftly evolving technology underlying visual computing offers considerable opportunities for those who harness it. The engineers, strategists, and visionaries at Intel serve as technology enablers, helping our partners, customers, and the developer community realize the benefits of new architectures, chipsets, and software solutions. The focus on visual computing over the coming years will bring engineering expertise and new ideas to bear on the challenge of elevating this technology to greater levels. Intel's stature in the computer community draws on decades of experience and landmark achievements in processing technology, and we are proud of our work with industry leaders and universities to shape the future of computing. In the pages that follow, we share our ideas about visual computing and invite you to take part in this exciting journey.

Intel Doc 1

What is Visual Computing?

In the early days of computing, the primary focus of computing operations was numerical and textual data. Now, complex digital representations of the world around us are being recreated in 3-D models, high-definition (HD) video, and other types of imagery. Visual computing technology from Intel enables visual data to be processed and displayed, supporting a wide range of prospective applications, such as:

  • A game environment set in an Amazon rainforest so vivid you can see the feathery detail of each fern and the pinpoints of light reflected from water droplets on the shining back of an iridescent treefrog
  • A photo-realistic 3-D visualization of a newly planned city center complex you can tour before a single brick has been put in place
  • Medical diagnostic imaging that shows the intricate, fully modeled form of a beating human heart in surgically precise detail

The complexities of these computing tasks require new computing architectures with strengths in both traditional data handling and advanced processing of visual data. The acquisition, analysis, modeling, and synthesis of digital images must be handled smoothly and seamlessly.

In recent years Intel has dramatically accelerated its design work on visual computing products. The goal is to create new platforms that enable developers to deliver immersive, interactive, lifelike end-user experiences— and in the process elevate graphics standards to new levels. The underlying Intel technologies that fuel these advances span processors, chipsets, graphics product lines, software development tools and toolkits, optimization software, multi-threading tools, graphics libraries, and resources to inform the development community.

Intel Doc 02

Programmable Processors Emerge

Visual computing, by its nature, needs abundant processing resources and the flexibility of programmable architectures. Programming tools that are familiar to developers, optimization software to enhance program performance, and multi-threading tools to take advantage of multiple cores are also an important part of the visual computing picture.

Building visual computing into new products and platforms

From notebooks and desktops to professional workstations and server systems, Intel is incorporating the elements for visual computing into most of its next-generation architectures. These architecture changes will range from the incremental (new instruction sets) to the groundbreaking (new platform partitioning). Multi-core processing provides the performance muscle required for forward looking visual computing applications. The dual- and quad-core processors that have become the standard in the industry are just the start: As Intel increases the number of cores on every processor, developers gain stronger platforms to deliver powerfully compelling visual computing experiences.

As the microprocessor and graphics processing unit (GPU) work in tandem to add to the reality of 3-D game environments, processor-intensive tasks, such as real-time physics and artificial intelligence, draw extensively on the computational power of the microprocessor. They enable the application to produce game action and other animated movements that are naturally familiar and believable to the human eye. These same kinds of capabilities carry over into other areas of visual computing, such as photo-realistic visualization, training simulations, and architectural walk-throughs.

Intel Doc 03

Multi-Core, Many-Core, and Beyond

Processor architectures have evolved mightily since performance became a matter of skillfully threading applications rather than relying on increases in straight-line clock speed. This revolution in computer performance is accelerating.

Through multi-core processor architectures, developers are discovering ways to break through performance bottlenecks, whittle complex tasks down to size, and speedily process the massive volumes of data involved in visual computing. Whether the task at hand is digital photography, moving pictures, computational modeling, high-intensity gaming, or virtual world creation, multiple processor cores open up new avenues for performance and functionality.

Every individual processor core and its set of programmable registers represent a potential specialized processing unit. Developers can devote cores to tasks such as video compression, image color correction, encryption algorithm processing, texture mapping, shading, image rendering, and so on. As multi-core gives way to many-core architectures, graphics processing tasks can be performed faster and more efficiently. Visual computing and parallelism share a common playbook. Developers, artists, and digital content creators, who have tapped the many multi-core and threading resources available from Intel, will reap additional many-core benefits.

Integrated graphics: emphasis on video and gaming

Through close collaboration with key independent software vendors (ISVs) across 3-D and media applications, Intel is working to deliver a better overall experience. On the media side, Intel has been closely engaged with key media player ISVs to unlock the full benefits of the Intel® G45 Express Chipset to deliver excellent HD playback and stunning visual quality. And through work with gaming ISVs, Intel has been able to significantly improve compatibility, enhance playability, and balance game performance, between graphics and CPUs, with threading and Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 3. Integrating graphics processing on the CPU increases performance, lowers cost, and reduces power consumption. Intel will continue to accelerate development of HD graphics and media by integrating more graphics capabilities into the CPU, enabling new levels of power and performance. Intel® architecture developers are dedicating significant resources to enhancing the video experience.

Since joining up with Intel on the multi-core path we have gone from good Bionic Commando* speeds to super charged, both in terms of engine and game performance…The core of GRIN is now multi-core.
— Bo Andersson CEO, GRIN

Graphics Chipsets Advance the Standard

Keeping pace with the rising expectations of digital content creators in gaming, modeling, animation, digital video, and related fields has been a consistent goal of Intel engineering, and the current generation of Intel® graphics chipsets demonstrates the notable successes that have been achieved. Recently, Intel innovation has been focused on delivering exceptional multimedia functionality for the latest digital trends, including HD video. Additionally, new designs for integrated graphics have significantly advanced what is possible in terms of the user experience. This approach to integrated graphics development means mainstream consumers can enjoy the most commonly used applications without the expense of dedicated high-end graphics boards. The boundaries in this space are shrinking as more graphics processing power is being packed into smaller packages. Expect this trend to continue as Intel invests its expertise at fabricating powerful, compact processors and chips into new designs that enhance integrated graphics substantially.

Intel Doc 04

Integrated graphics: a complete platform with Intel® HD video capabilities

To stay ahead of the evolution in graphics, in 2008 Intel committed to shrinking one process node per year through 2010. These graphics advancements will be incorporated on Intel CPUs with 45nm and (in 2010) new 32nm process technology. As a result, more transistors will be dedicated to new video capabilities, 3-D performance, and power reduction, all in the integrated footprint and power envelope. Intel's latest integrated graphics—already based on a highly scalable, flexible architecture—will get better and better each year as transistor count increases. The Intel® G45 Express Chipset, with the Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD (Intel® GMA X4500HD), includes built-in support for full HD video playback—including Blu-ray movies—and post-processing features designed to enhance video quality. These graphics chipsets also incorporate new graphics and display technologies, such as integrated HDMI* and DisplayPort* interface support. Additionally, end users gain enhanced 3-D game compatibility and improved performance.

The new Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD Series is impressive. Used in conjunction with the Intel® Core™2 microachitecture-based CPUs, it supports all of the graphic features of Warhammer* Online: Age of Reckoning*.
— Matt Shaw, CTO , Electronic Arts, Mythic Studios

Intel Doc 05

From a Bright Idea to the Light of Day

The successful line of integrated graphics chipsets from Intel represents an important stepping-stone in the visual computing space, but the new technologies and groundbreaking design advances soon to emerge from Intel are truly eye-opening. The multi-core processing technology that brought the performance benefits of parallelism to Intel® platforms provides the framework for a next-generation architecture code named Larrabee.

This move into the visual computing sector is a natural outgrowth of Intel's processing leadership legacy and builds on the innovative architectures and industry-leading technologies that have become the gold standard in the computer world. And by collaborating extensively with ISVs, standards organizations, and other industry leaders in the visual computing space, Intel has forged a design roadmap to build the next-generation graphics architectures that will transform this fast-moving segment of the market.

Larrabee architecture: Intel advances visual computing

As parallelism and advances in multi-core processing bring new levels of performance and application capabilities, the Larrabee architecture's fully programmable pipeline creates new opportunities for developers to innovate in the visual computing realm. Designed to provide unprecedented freedom for developers, Larrabee architecture features a number of hardware advances, including a many-core throughput architecture designed for a wide range of highly parallel applications: graphics, media, and visual computing applications. Several areas in the visual computing space stand to benefit strongly from this architecture.

Photo-realistic rendering. The polygon rendering typically used with today's 3-D graphics will be supplemented through the increased programmability of the Larrabee architecture to include higher-quality image rendering.

  • Enabling real-time procedural content generation to ease the burden on the artists and to dynamically populate vast worlds with rich environments

High-Definition Audio and Video. Widespread platform support for HD will be enhanced by the increased levels of programmability available to developers. This will enable improvements in pre- and post-video processing. Support for new capabilities, such as Internet-based video search algorithms with image identification coupled with high-definition encoding and decoding, will also be added.

  • Multi-core threading to improve frame rates and software performance
  • Accelerating scene loading and streaming to make transitions more seamless

Computational Modeling. Many different types of programming associated with the modeling of natural behavior fit into this category. Gaming applications typically include physics functions that model the movement of fluids, particles, explosions, and other phenomena. In medical imaging, real-time rendering of the human body combined with patient-monitoring data, will become common. Other areas of science, including astrophysics, climate science, and biology, also rely on computational modeling.

  • Computing more realistic, densely populated interactive particle systems for highly atmospheric environments
  • Empowering more dynamic and complex artificial intelligence systems to interact realistically with players
  • Improving game physics fidelity and object counts to create a visceral in-game experience that blurs the line between fantasy and reality

The enabling factor for each of these core elements is programmability. Graphics platforms built around the Larrabee architecture will operate across a unified infrastructure that includes other components based on Intel® architecture programmable cores.

Developer FLEXIBILITY

Larrabee's x86 based architecture has a completely programmable rendering pipeline giving software developers more flexibility and freedom to solve programming problems more efficiently as compared to standard GPU architectures. Developers can innovate and create exciting, imaginative applications that meet the requirements of science, medicine, business, gaming, entertainment, and many other fields. This freedom— power over the graphics pipeline—opens up bright new opportunities to expand the visual computing realm into many different areas.

The Role of Software

On a computing platform, the proverbial well-oiled machine is the harmonious blend of hardware and software, code optimized for the unique features of a processor or chipset, programs that are tuned for efficient resource use, and algorithms defined to meet specialized needs. The Intel® Software and Solutions Group (SSG) has a long history of helping developers unlock the full capabilities of Intel® hardware components through inspired software engineering. Intel SSG plays a vital role in equipping the developer community with the tools and resources they need to maximize the capabilities of applications running on Intel® architecture platforms. This spirit and commitment are carried forward to the visual computing initiative so that developers, artists, scientists, and digital content creators can excel at their work and create exceptional, standout achievements.

Intel Doc 06

Thinking Like a Developer

We've learned to listen closely to the developer community. Feedback from this community and the thousands of software developers working for us around the world informs the design of our hardware and development tools. The insights we've gained have helped shape the tools that streamline development efforts, simplify multi-threading, optimize applications for the latest hardware platforms, and generate bug-free code.

Today, Intel delivers software development and performance tools that lead their market segments, including compilers and debuggers, performance analyzers, threading building blocks, and libraries. We are extending our software tools expertise for Larrabee, ensuring developers have everything they need to harness the capabilities of the new architecture and providing support for industry-standard APIs, such as DirectX* and OpenGL*.

Intel Doc 07

The full product family includes:

  • Optimization and Parallelism Tools
  • Intel® VTune™ performance analyzers
  • Performance libraries
  • Threading analysis tools
  • Cluster tools
  • Compilers Development Tools
  • Software development kits
  • Code samples

A strong, knowledgeable developer community equipped with top-notch tools can drive next-generation advances in the visual computing space. Intel resources, tools, and support help make that happen.

www.intel.com/software/products

Intel Doc 08

Building the Strength of Communities

Social networks, wikis, blogs, forums, and other Web-based communities let developers communicate, share skills, ask questions, and master new technologies regardless of their location in the world. Many of these online meeting places are incorporating visual computing models that include 3-D environments, avatars, and sound for richer communication. Through the Intel® Software Network , the power of developer-oriented communities liberates individuals to explore, design, and create using the latest emerging technologies.

The Intel® Visual Computing Developer community, under the umbrella of the Intel ®, is a lively gathering point for some of the best minds in the computer graphics field. It's a thriving community where software developers work together with Intel software engineers, finding ways to use the entire computing platform to bring life to games, video, audio, and other digital content. Developers participate in blogs and forums, in which problems, solutions, and best-known methods for taking advantage of the latest technologies are discussed. The community not only gives individuals a direct line to current visual computing technology, but also provides many opportunities to influence the design of future technologies. Join the community action at www.intel.com/software/graphics .

Opening Opportunities

For building visual computing solutions, from the earliest stages of the product lifecycle to the farthest reaches of global marketing, membership in the Intel® Software Partner Program opens opportunities on every level. This program helps developers deliver sound business plans, optimized software applications, and international marketing programs. If you are an ISV looking for ways to shorten product development cycles, you can take advantage of the latest computing platforms and reach an expanded customer base around the world. To explore the current opportunities, visit www.intel.com/partner.

Acquisitions Expand Expertise

Strategic acquisitions of companies with strong accomplishments in visual computing strengthen Intel's capabilities to deliver products and technologies that will bring continuing innovation to this sector of the market. For example, the acquisition of Havok adds deep expertise in game and cinema animation, physics, and modeling to the Intel portfolio. The Neoptica and Pixomatic acquisitions advance many-core software solutions for high-throughput visual computing workloads. And the acquisition of Offset Software and its Project Offset* game and engine ensures that Intel has a firsthand vehicle for delivering next-generation game development tools and techniques. Intel's investment and acquisition strategy contributes talent and technology to future visual computing efforts, ensuring a continued growth in visual computing.

Inspiring Innovation for Future Technology

Through educational programs, grants, and training seminars, Intel works at many levels to make sure the next generation of programmers has the skills and expertise to succeed on the processor platforms of the future.

Intel® Higher Education Program

Intel's work at the university level helps impart the skills and knowledge that will prove invaluable to up-and-coming programmers and researchers in universities all around the globe. By collaborating on curriculum development, co-developing training resources, providing systems and technologies to support classroom work, and offering resources that support training efforts, Intel is planting seeds for the software engineering talent of the future. This effort is carried out in collaboration with highly ranked universities around the globe. Over 400 universities are participating in the Intel® Academic Community, sharing insights and courseware and using the Intel curriculum to train their students, with over 65,000 students trained to date. Learn more by visiting software.intel.com/sites/college/academic .

Long-term research at the university level is vital to the advance of visual computing technology. Intel funds individual efforts at universities around the world through a grants program and also participates in funding and mentoring efforts conducted by large consortia, such as DRC and MARCO. Training of researchers also seeds the channels for talented individuals who may some day work on visual computing projects at Intel or other companies in the field. You can get details on grant programs at techresearch.intel.com/articles/None/1440.htm

Opening the Information Conduit

The pace of technology can be intimidating to those unable to track its progress, but the latest information and technology news can be accessed at the speed of light through free subscriptions offered by Intel. Tap into the latest developments in the dynamic visual computing community through an exclusive magazine, Intel® Visual Adrenaline. This publication illuminates technology trends, interviews industry luminaries, offers unique perspectives on product development, and unveils upcoming hardware and software advances. Delivered directly to you by Intel® Software Dispatch, Intel Visual Adrenaline, is an information-rich, developer-oriented conduit for the most relevant, timely topics in the software community. Visual computing topics are one of the areas where you can expect strong coverage, tailored to equip you with the expertise to create top-notch applications. Make Intel Software Dispatch your source of regular updates on visual computing at Intel and around the software industry. Sign up for Intel Visual Adrenaline magazine and Visual Computing Dispatch: www.intelsoftwaregraphics.com

Square Enix will continue to work with Intel to offer quality entertainment experiences for our customers worldwide.
— Yoichi Wada President and Representative Director Square Enix Co., Ltd.

Igniting Visual Computing

The pieces are fitting into place with precision, and the players are gearing up for the next exciting phase of visual computing built around the strong capabilities of multi-core processor technology. As new processor and graphics hardware becomes available from Intel and new software applications open opportunities into a vast array of visual computing possibilities, look to Intel for perspective on the evolving technologies, training to help master nextgeneration graphics platforms, resources to guide the creation of products, and roadmaps to chart a course to innovation and success in the marketplace. The vision is fast becoming reality, and the forces of the industry are aligning behind this dynamic and rewarding technology.

For insights into the growth of visual computing and Intel's role in its advancement, visit: www.intel.com/software/visualadrenaline

Additional Resources