Overview of the
NuGraf
Rendering
System

Introduction

The NuGraf Rendering System is an advanced photo-realistic rendering, visualization and high quality 3d model translation program available for Microsoft Windows 95 and NT. Emphasizing dependability, speed and ease of use, the NuGraf software provides a wide assortment of seamlessly integrated 3D tools that accelerate each step of a design, visualization or data translation project. Industry standard geometry import and export filters, realtime scene manipulation functions, 3d extruded font generation and high quality, fast "photo-realistic" rendering tools all combine to form an integrated and comprehensive work environment for 3d data visualization.

The NuGraf Rendering System represents the culmination of over eight years of intensive research and development by Okino Computer Graphics, Inc. This development effort has resulted in a significant new professional productivity tool for the Windows-based 3D graphics market which allows beginner and power users alike unprecedented access to data import/export, data manipulation and 3d rendering capabilities. The robustness, dependability and feature set of the NuGraf Rendering System are second to none, and priced under $500 it is the most comprehensive and complete visualization package for the Windows-based market available today.

Market Applications

The unique combination of robust import filters, real-time data manipulation, and strong rendering support makes the NuGraf Rendering System ideally suited to a wide variety of market applications. Such applications include architectural model rendering, engineering studies & visualization, industrial design visualization, GIS and USGS DEM data studies, furniture point-of-sale presentations, interior design projects, accurate batch translation of 3d data files, 3d game development and the generation of 3D corporate logos.

The NuGraf Rendering System is also ideal as a versatile and easy to use academic teaching tool to explain and exemplify the concepts of 3d rendering and 3d computer graphics in general.

Visualization of USGS DEM Data, An Example Niche Market Application

A specialized, niche market application of the NuGraf Rendering System software is for the import, manipulation and visualization of DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). These datasets typical run on the order of 1Mb to 20MB in size. NuGraf's specialized USGS DEM import converter allows these data files to be imported quickly and optimized for efficient and interactive viewing. Computers with as little as 16MB of memory can import, interactively manipulate and photo-realistically render these datasets at their full 1:1 resolution. The NuGraf Rendering System software is the only known 3D package capable of performing these USGS DEM visualization operations efficiently and quickly on a Windows-based machine.

Efficient, Bottleneck-Free Design

Throughout the development process of the NuGraf Rendering System significant effort was made to remove all performance bottlenecks often encountered with other 3d rendering and visualization packages. By utilizing a streamlined internal pipeline organization, the software can effortlessly accommodate large polygon datasets (on the order of 50,000 polygons or greater) on minimally configured Windows-based computers with as little as 16MB of memory. Fast and memory efficient data import filters, mouse-interruptable user interface functions and an efficient renderer (which allocates memory resources on a per-pixel or per-object basis) all combine to form a highly integrated and high performance visualization system that is not susceptible or prone to performance degradation.

Graphical User Interface

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NuGraf's versatile user interface provides for fast and easy access to all elements within a 3d scene. Key features include real-time OpenGL shaded viewing of objects, fast and transparent redraws, interactive placement of camera and lights, and the selection of materials using snapshot icons from a large material library. In addition, the multi-function "Selector Window" allows users to create complex object hierarchies using drag & drop operations, perform hierarchical picking, assign or edit materials, and quickly access all geometry, lights, cameras, materials and textures with simple point and click operations. Underlying the graphical user interface are over 60 detailed dialog boxes which allow every aspect of a scene database, including all material attributes, to be numerically edited. Access to the large 6Mb online help file (which is also provided as a printed 600 page manual) is never more than a button push away.

NuGraf's intuitive graphical user interface accommodates experienced and non-experienced users alike. First-time users start with "beginner" mode which is a simplified version of the user interface; it allows objects to be easily selected, scaled/rotated/translated, materials assigned to them from the extensive material library and the camera viewpoint interactively moved using either a "bird's eye" view of the scene or by direct manipulation of the camera's viewing pyramid icon. For the more experienced user, "expert" mode presents a richer set of graphical controls and provides greater access to advanced features such as "point-and-click" object and polygon picking, interactive material design and the manipulation of the scene elements at the object and polygon level. Above all, NuGraf's user interface and renderer always remains responsive and fast regardless of the dataset size or complexity, unlike many visualization programs which become sluggish or completely unusable when manipulating large datasets.

Industry Standard Import and Export Filters

The NuGraf Rendering System supports all of the most popular industry- standard 3d geometry data formats by means of plug-in geometry filters. These allow NuGraf to exchange 3d data, of any size or complexity, with virtually any external modeling, CAD, landscape (DEM) or design package. Supported formats include 3D Studio, Alias PolySet, DXF, IGES, Lightwave, USGS DEM, VistaPro and Wavefront. The converters have been developed by Okino Computer Graphics over a period of 8 years and all are complete implementations of their respective file formats. These are some of the most advanced, robust and feature rich implementations of these formats in any 3d rendering or visualization package. The 3D Studio and Lightwave converters, in particular, have been carefully crafted so that files can be loaded and rendered within NuGraf so that they appear exactly as they would in their respective native programs.

Full Featured DXF File Reader

For CAD-related visualization projects, the DXF reader is one of the most full-featured currently available. Import by block, layer, one layer, entity or color. Auto-weld/unify/smooth. Converts raw polygons & extruded entities into optimized meshes. Fast "pre-scan" mode to find names in a DXF file. Allows 2d drafting diagrams to be converted into meshed 3d objects. Properly mitres all polyline corners. Handles up to R13 binary & ASCII DXF. Retains block hierarchy information. Reads camera views. Caps extruded entities. Reads in huge DXF files (20Mb DXF files on a 16Mb is no problem). Precise, accurate and fast.

High Quality Batch Translation Capabilities

Included with the program is an intuitive batch translation utility that allows high quality and high speed translation between the various 3d file formats outlined above, in addition to OpenGL, POV, Renderman RIB and VRML. Unlike most data translation programs which only translate geometry and vertex normals, the NuGraf Rendering System translates all geometry, normals, color, (u,v) texture data, U/V tangent vectors and opacity attributes; in addition, it converts all materials (including all shading attributes), texture images, lights, cameras and geometry hierarchy so that the exported file is ready to load and render in the destination program. No other PC- based software produces a higher quality file translation than this software.

Photo-Realistic Rendering

At the core of the NuGraf Rendering System software is Okino's renowned and state-of-the-art photo-realistic rendering engine. This is the same rendering engine that, since 1991, has been licensed for use in other OEM and third-party CAD packages. Eight continual years of development has resulted in a high speed and highly memory efficient renderer capable of creating dazzling photo-realistic images of complex 3D scenes, all on a typical PC computer with minimal memory. Typical rendering times are under1 or 2 minutes on a Pentium-class machine and typical memory usage is under 8MB for a complex 50000 polygon scene. This is one of the best renderers currently available in any 3d rendering package. When used in conjunction with the 3D Studio import filter, the NuGraf renderer can import and render any 3D Studio file, including all shading, texture mapping, background color schemes and atmospheric effects, but with higher accuracy and visually better results.

Renderer Features

The renderer includes such advanced features as fast shadow generation, automatic planar and cubical reflection mapping,color/bump/transparency texture mapping, analytic texture filtering, analytic scene anti-aliasing, alpha channel usage (for decal mapping), field rendering (for temporal anti- aliasing of animations), unlimited layering of textures, a hybrid A-buffer/Z-buffer rendering algorithm and output to a wide variety of industry standard file formats, the Windows clipboard and Windows-compatible printers as 1-bit through 32-bit images (including accurate alpha channel support). Realtime color quantization is also utilized so that images displayed on a 256 color monitor appear as good as 24-bit (16 million color) output.

3D Font Generation

Creation of broadcast quality 3D extruded text is a snap using NuGraf's "3D Font Wizard". Click on the predefined options, enter some text, visually choose from a list of TrueType fonts then visually choose from one or more materials and the NuGraf Rendering System software will do the rest by creating a scene which will be ready to produce a perfect rendering on the first pass. Nothing could be simpler.

Unlike other font creation packages, NuGraf's font creator allows complex fonts with holes (such as the "Confetti" font) to be rendered quickly when combined with the "hole" rendering capabilities of the NuGraf renderer. In addition, the 3D text is created as a multi-part hierarchical object so that users can quickly select and modify any aspect of the text (back, front, side, bevels, letter, word or sentence) just by clicking on its respective entry in the "Selector Window".

Robust, Mature and Proven Software

Available Through VARs

The NuGraf Rendering System is available through a growing number of Value Added Resellers (VARs) in the design, CAD and multimedia markets. A fully functional demonstration version (with minor limitations) is available through Okino's Internet WEB site.

System Requirements

The NuGraf Rendering System operates efficiently with 486- or Pentium(r)- based computers equipped with Windows 95, Windows NT 3.51 or higher, 16MB of RAM, a SVGA video card, and a hard disk with 25Mb of available space. 3D hardware accelerators are supported, but are not required.

A Few of the Many Applications Applicable to NuGraf...

Academic teaching tool

Architectural renderings

Product studies & Concepts

Technical Illustrations

Marketing Materials

GIS DEM Dataset Manipulation & Rendering

Extruded 3d font creation

3D data format conversion