**LOOK** This is what Matrox has to be up against!!

[Top_Cat]

Sorry for the **LOOK** in the title but I think you should all have a look at this, it has totally blown me away

it is a new 3D chipset that looks to be the top dog and is called Glaze
here is a sample of just a few of the features:

Bump mapping: Embossing bump mapping and Environment bump mapping

Anti-aliasing: Full OpenGL anti-aliasing and edge-anti-aliasing for points, lines and triangles

depth-of-field effect, soft shadows and soft reflections

Here is the site http://www.bitboys.fi/a_pr_glaze3d.html

I know it is not 100% matrox related but it does show what the next matrox card will HAVE to do to keep the best card you can buy

[R-u-Ready]

First this should most likely be taken up over in the General Hardware forum... And I believe bitboys had been trying to do this for a long time but seems to be just "vaporware". dont expect to see it anytime soon..theyve been trying to get this going for a looooooong time...

[cjolley]

Cool! Nice Snag.
The neatest part is that it is based not on silicone, but on smoke & mirrors; a proccess that makes for much lower fabrication costs!

chuck



[This message has been edited by cjolley (edited 21 January 2000).]

[Rohde]

Yep, as far as I know they have been developing for years and have made a lot of very impressing advertising and many neat screenshots, but never actually released any products for sale.

Either it is all a joke (pretty weird joke), or they are selling other products that give them some kind of income, OR they have and incredible amount of money and just like to develop stuff !!

Torben R.

[absalom]

Bitboyz invented environment bump mapping. They licensed it to Microsoft to use in it's directx api. Matrox should be thanking them for EBM, not fearing them.

[Kruzin]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA.

This is the same card that was gonna wipe out the G200. Then it was gonna stomp the G400. By the time they actually put out a product, maybe our grandkids will want it

[Maggi]

... always a hot topic ...

[Bohrn]

Once in a while, even ol' Billy at VE will get a bit misty eyed over the Glaze. But like the fine folk above me say, it is mostly glazed over smoke, mirrors and vapour. Would prolly be a contenda tho...

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AsusP2B ,iCeleron525(7x75), 128megs PC100, G40032megSH, Yamaha PCI sound, 2 small HD's, 42X Sony CDrom and 98SE w/shutdown patch, PD 5.41 w/Turbo MCD and beta ICD

[Top_Cat]

I did not know it had been planed for that long (G200 was a while ago), but it is good to get feedbacvk from all you lot, I don't think I will wait for that card I think the G800 will be for me
I hope it has motion blur as that is a feature that I think will be impressive (but that could be a personal taste). I can see Matrox going for anti-aliasing as they have such a high standard of image quality that this would only add to its perfection.

Anyway thanks everyone and I am glad I did not get flammed, but i thought it was a valid post that people might like to read


Top Cat

[MadCat]

Yes, it was the Pyramid 3D. Specs included 400mp/s, and ths was a few months before the TNT was released. Sounded really awesome, but was never released. Glaze 3D also sounds awesome, but will probably suffer the same fate.

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This Signature Space FOR SALE / RENT

[PeTe]

Just to show that there is some FIRE under that smoke :

" The Company also announced that Shane Long would lead the commercialization of Bitboys new advanced graphics engines into the PC and visual computing markets. In his role as President and CEO, Long will be responsible for Bitboys market share growth, strategic development and the overall management of the company.

With over 10 years of experience in sales, marketing and R&D in the graphics industry, Long joins Bitboys from 3dfx Inc. where he served as a Senior Vice President. Prior to 3dfx's acquisition of STB Systems, Long served as STB's Vice President of Sales and Marketing and a member of the Board of Directors. "

So atleast 3dfx's-EX Senior Vice President is quite impressed..

And says this

"Bitboys plans to introduce the final product specifications, product names and target prices of the first XBA™ enabled products March 2000. Bitboys is scheduled to begin demonstrating the technology in Q2/2000 and ramping up full volume production of XBA enabled parts during Q3/2000. "

So Matrox, NVidia and 3dfx maybe in for a REALLY big surprice.

Find more info in http://www.bitboys.fi/a_press.html

So just maybe there is something great coming up ? =)

Pe-Te

Ps. Just read from another finish site that one person of bitboys informed that first Glade3d chip is quite nearly completed at Infineon Technologies..

[PeTe]

And Gurm,

Atleast what i can remember Bitboys sold the Pyramid chip to someone, and they didnt just make it, so thats where some of the funding is coming. =)

Pyramid and Glaze3d are different chips, so dont mix them and their original release schedules together..

And when these guys envented Bumb mapping that all matrox users so gladly use.. they can make pretty cool thing's. eh ?

I dont know if you just like to put down NVidia, 3dfx and praise MATROX.. but atleast i would like to see more competition.. Look what AMD did to processors, now intel have to push it to even keep up.. Maybe NVidia, 3dfx, Matrox and others just NEED a product like Glaze3d to make their products better.. that would be just GREAT. Now if i only would get Glaze3d with DH. =)

Pe-Te

[UncleJoe]

There may be something coming... I may remember wrong, but i think i read that Pyramid was abandoned just before geting silicone ... And after that they begun developing Glaze... And Infeon is supposed to be making it silicone @ the moment ... What comes to that #dfx person: I don't think he would take job that makes him look like clown... or BitBoys must pay him well ...

J.

[Thundrchez]

No silicon yet for the Bit Boys, eh? Well, don't hold your breath.

A lot of really, really interesting things will pop up when you get your first silicon. Things that may have worked OK in your simulations might behave quite differently in silicon. These days it is incredibly difficult to have a top notch silicon CAD flow to accurately design a chip so that it runs correctly on first silicon. Designing computer chips is not exactly cheap, either. You're talking BIG BIG bucks for most professional CAD tools that can handle a project as complex as this.

Does anybody know who they are going to use as their foundry?

[Himself]

Glaze 3D? Yeah, wouldn't that be great if they actually delivered? The thing to keep in mind is that even if they do deliver, that's only half the story. I think BitBoys are the inspiration for NVIDIA's marketing team, lots of promises and specs. What will the drivers be like for instance? If you are complaining about win2k drivers, do you think this bunch will be able to do better than all the "real" companies? And there is always pricing, the better it is, the more it will cost. So, even if you think they might come up with someone, unlike all the other companies with a great plan and no follow through, there are still real concerns about it. Having said that, the more the merrier, I think the GigaPixel people have a more realistic plan myself.



[This message has been edited by Himself (edited 25 January 2000).]