Low-Cost PERMEDIA 3D Chip from 3Dlabs Accelerates Complete Family of Apple 3D APIs; 3Dlabs developing Apple QuickDraw 3D and QuickDraw 3D RAVE drivers for PERMEDIA and GLINT 3D processor families

Business Wire, Jan 9, 1996

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 1996--3Dlabs, Inc. (San Jose, CA) today announced full hardware acceleration for QuickDraw 3D and the new QuickDraw 3D RAVE games API from Apple Computer, Inc. (Cupertino, CA). This unprecedented third-party support and acceleration for the Apple APIs are achieved using both the consumer-targeted PERMEDIA and the professional-class GLINT 3D graphics processor families.

PERMEDIA sets a new standard for integrated 2D, 3D and video acceleration and delivers 3D performance up to four times greater than any other consumer-class graphics chip or video games system. PERMEDIA will be available to selected OEMs in the first quarter of 1996, and drives the price of a complete multimedia graphics solution to below $250.

3Dlabs plans to offer its OEM customers Apple software drivers in the first quarter of 1996 for both PERMEDIA and the high-end GLINT chip. All rendering calls from the Apple APIs will take full advantage of 3Dlabs' hardware pixel acceleration, for an average three to five times increase in performance. 3Dlabs will also provide drivers for the Microsoft Windows version of QuickDraw 3D (available from Apple later in the year) and is working closely with Apple and vendors to maximize performance of these APIs on all platforms.

The extensive rendering functionality of GLINT and PERMEDIA provide 100% rasterization acceleration for both QuickDraw 3D and QuickDraw 3D RAVE, ensuring robust and transparent acceleration of any QuickDraw 3D application. The built-in byte swapping used in PERMEDIA and GLINT ensures that any PC accelerator using 3Dlabs silicon can be easily brought onto the Macintosh platform, and vice-versa. A number of Macintosh graphic board vendors are already developing QuickDraw 3D accelerators using PERMEDIA and the GLINT silicon, including YARC Systems, Inc. (Newbury Park, CA) and Newer Technologies (Wichita, KS). Several other leading manufacturers are also developing 3Dlabs-based Macintosh boards.

Quotes

"Apple's new API lineup reflects their 3D expertise and sensitivity to the needs of the market," said Neil Trevett, Vice President of Marketing for 3Dlabs. "QuickDraw 3D and QuickDraw 3D RAVE provide developers with a complete range of options that can be tailored and customized to specific applications. Both Power Macintosh and PC users will have access to ground-breaking 3D software using Apple technology -- all fully accelerated by PERMEDIA-based graphics boards. We look forward to a continued close relationship with Apple over the coming months and congratulate them on a superb 3D development effort."

"PERMEDIA will drive GLINT-based 3D technology into the high-volume graphics market," said Trevor Marshall, Chairman of YARC Systems, Inc. "Our Screamer 3D graphics board is already using the GLINT 300SX and we are currently developing new designs using the complete range of 3Dlabs products, including the PERMEDIA. The market for 3D is here today, a fact that MacUser Magazine recognized by honoring Screamer as a finalist for the 1995 EDDY awards. We are especially looking forward to the new QuickDraw 3D RAVE driver, which will bring extremely fast 3D rendering to game developers and others needing a rasterization-only 3D API."

PERMEDIA Information

GLINT and PERMEDIA are the two complementary 3D processor families from 3Dlabs. GLINT enables VRAM-based, workstation-class graphics with support for high-resolution displays at 32 bit color and Z, and is used in PC boards aimed at the graphics professional. PERMEDIA is designed for the consumer market and brings no compromise 2D, VGA and video acceleration with GLINT-class 3D performance to low-cost graphics boards.

PERMEDIA uses Synchronous Graphics RAM (SGRAM) to achieve high performance at a low cost, and generates 25 million texture-mapped pixels-per-second with high quality, true per-pixel perspective correction and full bi-linear filtering. PERMEDIA's well-balanced 3D capabilities also include Gouraud shading, optional Z-buffering, fogging, blending, translucency, overlays and stencils at a rate of up to 500,000 50 pixel triangles-per-second. PERMEDIA contains a compact and highly optimized unified graphics engine, re-architected using technology developed for 3Dlabs' GLINT workstation-class graphics processors. PERMEDIA is also protected with the same fundamental patent estate as the GLINT product line.

3Dlabs will be supporting the widest range of 3D APIs in the industry with the PERMEDIA architecture. These include Microsoft's Reality Lab and Direct 3D, Apple's QuickDraw 3D and QuickDraw 3D RAVE APIs, Silicon Graphics' OpenGL, and Autodesk's Heidi -- allowing any 3D application to be accelerated by a PERMEDIA board.

Company Information

3Dlabs is a worldwide supplier of merchant chips, software and core technology for 3D graphics. With over 10 years experience in 3D graphics, the company's products enable chip, board and system manufacturers to integrate advanced 3D capabilities into their products for such applications as multimedia, CAD, simulation, virtual reality, interactive TV and video games. 3Dlabs has consistently led the industry in being first to deliver successive generations of 3D devices that precisely meet the emerging needs of the 3D market. In a recent article the company was positioned as the "First member of the next generation of chip companies" by the influential Red Herring magazine. 3Dlabs Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, CA, was founded in April 1994, and is privately owned. -0-