Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 4, 2006. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Artvps manufactures hardware-accelerated raytrace servers that the company sells under the product name Renderdrive. The hardware is Artvps’s own development in collaboration with Mental Images. The chip considerably accelerates rendering with raytracing and can, for example, handle 150 ray bounces with ease.
At Siggraph, the company announced the Artvps render server: a chrome-shiny 19-inch housing in a one-height-unit format. Up to 4 Rayboxes can be connected to the render server. A Raybox is around one third as wide as the 19-inch server, exactly as long, and will contain a dual-core processor as well as the Artvps raytracer chip. A PCI-Xpress cable establishes the connection to the render server.
The raytracer chip also supports the Renderman shader language, making it possible to write custom Renderman shaders that are then accelerated by the Artvps processor. Plug-ins are available for 3ds Max, Maya and Catia V5 that also offer special materials for use wiht Renderdrive or the render server.
Because the new devices are still in development, there is no fixed release date yet. However, they are to come onto the market this year. Price information can be requested directly from the manufacturer.
Further Links:
- ARTVPS
