Industry insiders are proclaiming that the dawn of a “visual computing era” is all but here as lifelike graphics are breaking free of elite computer games and spreading throughout society.

Astronauts, film makers and celebrities joined software savants, engineers and gamers in the heart of Silicon Valley this week for a first-ever NVision conference devoted to computer imagery advances changing the way people and machines interact.

“Visual computing is transforming the videogame industry; transforming the film industry, and has all kinds of potential for how we view real-time television,” NVIDIA co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang told those gathered at the event.

“We solve some of the most challenging problems for more and more companies around the world. Let the era of visual computing begin.”

Gamers dueled for three days in a cavernous room in the San Jose Convention Center while entrepreneurs showed how graphics breakthroughs are shining in other fields.

Car makers are exploring letting potential buyers not only customize automobiles with graphics software but go on virtual test drives.

Graphics processing underpins financial modeling and weather forecasting.

Israel-based Optitex demonstrated software that replicates fabrics so realistically that clothing designers can see what fashions will look and act like on people before garments are made.

Optitex’s animation software is being eyed by Hollywood film makers.

Dassault Systemes puts 3D computer-assisted design to work virtually constructing passenger jets, buildings and more.

“Three-D should be a new way for us to dream and design the future of our world,” The French company’s chief executive Bernard Charles said at NVision.

“It will impact everything we do: education, science, talking to each other … of course games.”

He predicts that lifelike graphics combined with feedback from online communities will let people influence how products are designed, sold and even how “green” they are.

Charles maintains computer simulations will be so realistic that virtual activities will mirror physical experiences.

Simulators already play an important part in training for space shuttle missions, according to former US astronaut Eileen Colleens, the first woman shuttle commander.

“When you fly the actual mission you feel like you are in a simulator,” Collins said. “We really can’t do our job without the good visual graphics that we get.”

The world of visual computing is “inescapable,” said Chris Malachowsky, a co-founder of NVIDIA, a California firm renowned for high-end graphics processing cards for computers.

“We are being presented with displays everywhere,” Malachowsky told AFP. “It used to be about the computing part, but the emphasis is shifting. It is not so much about the computation but how it is presented and seen by people.”

The rising tide of digital videos, photos, films and television shows on the Internet is lifting the status of graphics chips, cards, and software and strengthening a trend to “unflatten” displays with 3D imagery.

Malachowsky spoke of using visual computing power to develop new medicines or provide doctors with real-time 3D images of patients’ organs.

“They will be able to recreate scan data so fast you could see your own heart beating,” Malachowsky said.

“This is being subsidized by all these kids out there playing games.”

Perceptive Pixel founder Jeff Han, referred to by some as “the father of touch screen” computing, maintains graphics opens up user interface control possibilities that could render a “mouse” obsolete.

Han demonstrated touch-screen technology that lets several people simultaneously manipulate applications and files on a single large monitor.

“It’s not personal computing anymore,” Han said. “It’s visual computing.”

Battlestar Galactica bombshell Tricia Helfer praised computer animation innovations that enable the science fiction television series to rivet viewers.

Helfer plays a part-machine, part-organic Cylon character called “Number Six” that has turned on its creators.

“It’s a bit threatening,” Helfer said of technology promising to one day make animated characters indistinguishable from real actors.

“But the advantages and uses of it are amazing, but it is something we are going to have to get used to.”

Source-AFP

RAS/L

Europe’s top consumer electronics show generally showcases gadgets that make life more entertaining with the latest flat screen televisions, stereo equipment and the like.

But this year the Internationale Funkausstellung, opening in Berlin on Friday, will for the first time see usually more down-to-earth appliances like fridges and washing machines fighting for attention.

According to organisers of the six-day show, which hopes to attract more than 200,000 visitors, the inclusion of white goods reflects what they call a “worldwide trend for more comfort in the home and for healthier eating.”

And in these days of soaring energy bills and growing environmental consciousness about global warming and water resources, they also offer greater efficiency.

In an effort to boost flagging sales, makers of these normally commonplace home appliances have given them an image revamp, with even the humble vacuum cleaner made to look futuristic and exciting at the Ifa.

But it is not all superficial. There have also been changes under the hoods of many of these products, with mechanical controls ripped out to be replaced by high-tech electronics.

There are “intelligent” washing machines on display from Bosch for example that adapt the amount of water used to the weight of what is being washed, while dishwashers make more efficient use of every last drop.

Fridges just keep things cool, you might think. But no, fridges at the Ifa have in-built LCD televisions and send you a shopping list of what you need — by email.

Reinhard Zinkann, head of the family-owned household appliance maker Miele, says the industry is banking on the message of improved efficiency to get Germans to replace their energy-guzzling older machines.

But Zinkann and the industry association he heads have their work cut out in attempting to persuade consumers in a slowing economy to part with their money for appliances they may feel they don’t need.

At present Germans only get new appliances every 15 years on average, and rising prices and weaker economic conditions mean that many households have an ever-dwindling amount of euros available to spend each month.

As Zinkann, who is also head of the German household appliances industry association, admits, “the environment is difficult”.

Germany’s ZVEI industry federation has forecast that growth in the second half of 2008 is likely to be “considerably slower” than the first six months of the year, when the sector was hardly booming either.

Makers of vacuum cleaners and fridges are not the only ones hoping for renewed interest in their products. Organisers of Ifa are also hoping to give a shot in the arm to their show, now more than 80 years old.

Only two years ago, Ifa organisers decided to make it an annual event — it was every two years before.

Ifa, with 1,245 exhibitors from 63 countries — up from 1,212 from 32 nations last year — runs until September 3.

Source-AFP

RAS/L