Development Environment: JavaScript or ActionScript IDE required; C++ IDE and compiler optional for custom server extensions.
Development Platform: Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® (32bit and 64bit); Windows® XP Professional (32-bit); Windows Vista™ (64-bit)
SDK Documentation: Internet Explorer 7+, Firefox 2.2+, Safari 3+
Application Programming Interfaces and Integration Protocols:
- Web Services: SOAP, JSON-RPC and REST
- Client Protocol: JavaScript (or ActionScript within Adobe Flash)
- Server Extensions: C++ Plugin API
Client Systems and Technologies:
- Client Application: any framework supporting HTTP
- Typical Technologies: HTML, DHTML, AJAX; Adobe Flash®, Flex®, Air™; Microsoft® Silverlight™
Web Servers and Networks:
- Web Server: An HTTP server is integral to RealityServer that supports optional proxy and commercial server connections.
- Cluster Protocols: TCP UDP multi-cast, TCP Unicast, TCP Unicast with multi-cast discovery
Server Requirements:
- Operating System: 32-bit or 64-bit Linux® or Microsoft® Windows®
- Internet: wide bandwidth; width varies according to concurrent user load
- Networking: Gigabit Ethernet or InfiniBand® recommended for maximum scalability
- Processors: varies according to the rendering mode employed by the application:
- Hardware Rendering with iray® (physically correct) or OpenGL (maximum interactivity)
- CPU: x86; single CPU for host and nodes
- GPU*: multiple GPUs; CUDA 2.3 required for iray; Tesla RS systems for maximum iray performance or maximum users with OpenGL
- Memory: equal to single GPU memory (4GB for Tesla RS)
- Software Rendering (maximum creative options, with limited interactivity)
- CPU*: x86; multiple, multi-core CPUs on host and nodes, 64-bit for large scenes
- GPU: minimal
- Memory: 2GB minimum; actual varies according to scene complexity
*server processors should be maximized per node for optimal performance; typically 2-4 GPUs per 1U for GPU rendering; 2 CPUs per 1U for software rendering.
RealityServer Rendering Options:
- GPU Hardware Rendering:
- iray®, for physically correct, global illumination
- OpenGL, supporting GLSL, CgFX and MetaSL shaders
- OpenGL enhancements using the NVIDIA® CUDA® architecture
- Software Rendering
- Film quality ray tracing (similar to mental ray®) supporting MetaSL shaders
- Sketch Rendering for illustrative results
Supported Data Types:
- Image streaming: JPEG, PNG, CT
- 3D assets: Native .mi from AutoCAD®, SolidWorks®, Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya; Translations from: COLLADA .dae; Autodesk .dwf, Wavefront .obj
- Bitmap assets: JPEG, PNG, DDS, HDR, OpenEXR, CT
Data Conversion (via RealityDesigner™ plug-in exporters):
- Autodesk® 3ds Max®; versions 8,9, 2008
- Autodesk® Maya®; versions 8.5, 2008
- Autodesk® Softimage®; versions 5.0, 5.11, 6.0
Content Creation Systems: Quadro FX 3800 or better recommended for OpenGL rendering; Quadro Plex D2 systems recommended for iray rendering; multiple quad-core CPUs recommended for software rendering.
Developer System: 32-bit Linux or Windows with 2GB of memory minimum
Recommended Developer Knowledge: Working knowledge of the chosen client and server technologies being employed by the RealityServer application being designed is assumed. Familiarity with the .mi scene syntax and 3D computer graphics paradigms is useful.
