Lockheed Real3D demo footage [Pro/1000 ?] from Comdex 1997

Wow well it seems I just got lucky with this. Stumbled on footage of a few Lockheed Martin Real3D demos from a Comdex show in 1997.

Skip to 5:38
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THAiyu-a74I

You can make out the Real3D logo above the monitor, and you see the logo rotating real time in the video.

I believe the demo the guy is playing, the space flight-sim, has to be related to the image of the fighter-ships in this promotional flyer:

lODWfhd.jpg


Then @ 6:17 you see a city scene with some cars.
We saw pictures of that demo in two separate articles in Next Generation magazine in 1995.

(3 images on the lower-left)
http://i50.tinypic.com/smyc1h.jpg

(3 images at the bottom)
http://i.imgur.com/10BH7EI.jpg

Finally it switches over to someone playing a Virtua Fighter 3 arcade cab.

The video cannot be from the consumer chip that was codenamed Auburn, released as i740 in 1998, used in Real3D's Star Fighter cards and Intel integrated graphics.
Otherwise there would be a PC somewhere, I would think. Plus the demos are just way too smooth.

Seems Real3D/Pro-1000 fits the bill, though I'm not absolutely certain.
Edit: Yeah it's Pro-1000.

Thoughts?
 
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I remember really looking forward to the i740
You had lockheed martin who for years had been doing graphics far ahead of anything seen on the pc
Then Intel who's rnd budget was probably 10x the total worth of all the competition combined.
How could they not produce a graphics card that would totally blow away the competition.
And then it came out, it wasnt a bad card but it wasnt great either.

Found this interesting comment from the dude who designed the i740
We looked into adapting Glide (in fact we have a license to it) for AGP support
1: A non 3dfx chip with glide support would of been interesting
2: surprised to know that 3dfx would license it to 3rd parties, iirc creative's unified didn't have 3dfx's approval

ps: just for giggles Jay Sturges had his own 640kb ought to be enough for anyone moment
I don't see the future holding dedicated geometry processing in a graphics accelerator.
 
We were lead to believe in 1995-1996 that the R3D/100 card would be the consumer product for late '96 or at least by '97. It would have on-board (or on-chip) geometry processing that would allow a low-end Pentium or even a 486 PC produce better than Sega Model 2 visuals with more polys (R3D/100: 750K / sec with all features vs Model 2: 300K / sec which were only textured). Although they did not communicate a level of hype that seemed unrealistic, it sounded really damn good, and for about $200 as well. I think that was a reasonable thing because the Model 2 board did not technically use a Real3D chip, it used much older silicon from Martin Marietta designed in 1993, while Real3D/100 was announced in 1995, slated for release in 1996.

Instead however, Lockheed Martin / Real3D, Chips & Technologies and Intel produced a lower-spec design without a geometry engine that wasn't released on time. The i740 came out early '98, around the time 3Dfx launched Voodoo2. Nvidia had RIVA 128 and the second generation PowerVR was on the horizion, though it too was heavily delayed on PC. The i740-based StarFighter cards had roughly Voodoo1 performance with better image quality. Not awful, but not great either. If I'm not mistaken, the situation was not helped that i740 only supported Direct3D when Real3D's higher-end designs supported OpenGL.

I never understood, at the time, why Real3D and Intel did not shrink the actual R3D/100 down into a single chip. Intel probably could've fabbed it on a smaller node/process and with their ability to mass produce, the price could've been reasonable, especially with falling DRAM prices in 1996-97.

Then again from what has been posted here in the past, the R3D/100 announced in 1995 was never actually fully realized with a geometry engine. The boards were meant to have three processors:
geometry, graphics (pixel) and texture. The geometry chip was missing from the boards:

199503real3dr3d100nw4.jpg
 
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Just to point out the i740 when it was first released was the only card at the time to have an opengl icd
under win 95
 
I found something interesting on b3d from googleing
Rys has kept [EOCF]tim waiting 5 years to look in his collection to see if he as a R3D/100 in his collection
5 YEARS RYS thats slow even by your standards :D
 
Why types of RAM are on that R100 board? Looks like VRAM and some sort of special MoSyS stuff. I suppose the MoSyS memory might be SDRAM?
 
It ain't good quality but I dare to say those demos do not show graphics above abilities of i740.

One reason why Intel did not aim higher ought to be AGP texturing, can't go very high-end with that. Price/performance was great though. In powerful PC the i740 beats Voodoo decisively.

Why types of RAM are on that R100 board? Looks like VRAM and some sort of special MoSyS stuff. I suppose the MoSyS memory might be SDRAM?

They were making casual SGRAM as well, this card looks like the case.
 
Had an i740 in my first ever PC - was not too bad.

I remember the Lockheed boards (model 1, 2 and 3) and followed the transition from Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing (flat shaded polygons) to Virtua Fighter 2 (texture mapping) to Virtua Fighter 3 (textured and shaded polygons.)

From memory the consumer level tech and the arcade level tech approximately was a 93 million miles apart due to cost and size of the boards.. That was the golden age of arcade - nowadays the market doesn't exist to design custom boards just for arcade cabinets.
 
It was early 1995 when Real3D was formed and R3D/100 was announced. IIRC it may have been slated as a late 1995 product but would then slip into 1996.

Here's the article w/spec & diagram published in the August 1995 Next Generation (#8).

fy04jt.jpg

smyc1h.jpg


press release from March 1995:

Lockheed Martin 3D Graphics Accelerator offers real-time PC visual system
performance.


Bethesda Maryland, March 20- Lockheed Martin announced today it is
entering the 3D graphics PC market with a high-performance chip set based
on real-time computer image generation technology that gives a
combination of dynamic response and realism previously available only on
dedicated graphics workstations and high end custom image generators.

The Real3D(tm) brand name will be applied to a series of commercial and
consumer computer graphics products. The first product, R3D/100, is a
graphics accelerator that provides high throughput, high realism and
sustained real-time 3D graphics response. Key performance attributes of
the chip set include an embedded 100 MFLOPS geometry processor, pixel
write rates of up to 33 million pixels per second, up to 750k polygons
per second, line processing up to 1.5 million per second, and provides up
to 192 color texture maps (128x128 mipmapped) in real-time. This
performance eliminates the jerky visual movement found in graphics
products that operate at less-than-real-time rates.

"Real3D(tm) products set a new price performance standard in such areas
as architectural and computer-aided design, object modeling, gameware
development, simulation and real-time visualization," said John Lenyo,
Commercial Visual Systems Business Development Director for Lockheed
Martin Information Systems Co. "Systems running Real-3D-based boards will
be able to function as supercharged graphics accelerators that run 3D
graphics applications in real-time."

The new product is an outgrowth of Lockheed Martin's proprietary computer
graphics technology previously used in high performance military
simulation, engineering research and training applications first
developed for astronaut training and military flight simulators. The
company has invested more that $200 million in research and development
in this product area and owns more than 40 related patents in the field.

Lenyo attributes much of the development success of the new commercial
PC product to experience gained in a highly successful adjacent
application developed for Sega Enterprises, Ltd - the Model 2 Computer
Graphics System. Model 2 is the host hardware platform for Sega's latest
generation of high performance arcade games. First released in February
1994, Sega has shipped over 33,000 Model 2-based arcade games such as the
top-selling Daytona USA(tm), Desert Tank(tm), Virtua Cop(tm), Virtua
Fighter II(tm), and virtual reality theme park ride system, VR-1(tm).

Lockheed Martin's R3D/100 chip set provides faster processing through its
patented hardware design which incorporates geometry processing,
rasterization and texture mapping. The R3D/100 embedded floating point
geometry processor removes significant processing burden from the host
CPU. The patented texture processor applies color mipmapped texture to
polygons in true 3D corrected perspective.

Designed as a true polygon processor with texture processing and
scaleable texture memory from the outset, the R3D/100 chip set includes
dedicated hardware acceleration of mipmapped texturing that provides
continuous high fidelity image quality. This chip set simulates
spotlights, fog and realistic curved surfaces. Additionally, improved
image quality is provided with multi-pass anti-aliasing.

The R3D/100 chip set directly interfaces with Microsoft 3D/DDI and
supports all 3D/DDI-compliant APIs, such as OpenGL(tm) and comes with
device driver software and a device driver kit.

Lockheed Martin is a highly diversified $23 billion advanced technology
company with core markets in defense, commercial, civil government,
energy and international markets.


Why types of RAM are on that R100 board? Looks like VRAM and some sort of special MoSyS stuff. I suppose the MoSyS memory might be SDRAM?

MoSys was to provide its MDRAM for R3D/100

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Lockh...+to+bring+real-time+3D+graphics...-a016732734


Lockheed Martin selects MoSys MDRAM to bring real-time 3D graphics performance to PC users.

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 1995--The Commercial Visual Systems business unit of Lockheed Martin Information Systems Company announced today it has selected the Multibank architecture, based on small, independent banks of dynamic random-access memories (DRAMs) integrated on a single chip by MoSys Incorporated of San Jose, California, for its REAL 3D personal computer graphics chipset, the R3D/100.

The REAL 3D series of graphics engines are based on real-time, image generation, visual system technology first developed for astronaut training and high-performance combat simulators. The initial R3D/100 will be the first 3D graphics accelerator to bring true real-time performance to personal computer users.

Key performance attributes of the new chip set include an embedded 100 MFLOPS geometry processor, pixel write rates of up to 33 million pixels per second, up to 750,000 polygons per second, line processing up to 1.5 million per second, and up to 192 color texture maps (128 x 128 mipmapped) in real-time. This performance eliminates the jerky visual movement found in graphics products that operate at less-than-real-time rates.

Slated for sampling in the fourth quarter of this year, the chip set has optimized software drivers for WindowsNT and Windows 95. Announced to the industry last summer, MoSys' innovative Multibank architecture dramatically improves performance, ease of use and cost of DRAMs.

"We needed MoSys' MDRAM (Multibank DRAM) technology because it was the only memory architecture available that would enable us to hit our high-performance goals, yet stay within our cost constraints," stated Tom Piazza, Technical Director, Image Generator Products, at the Lockheed Martin unit. "REAL 3D is targeted at high volumes," he added, "and we are confident in MoSys' ability to deliver."

MoSys was formed in September, 1991 to develop semiconductor memory technology and supply ultra-high-performance DRAMs. A fab-less DRAM company and a technology licenser, MoSys will build and sell products based on the new architecture, as well as license the technology and products to leading DRAM suppliers around the globe. MDRAM products will be available to the general marketplace by mid-1995. They will be fabricated under contract at DRAM foundries and DRAM licensees.

"The R3D/100 chipset is a stunning convergence of previously-unattainable systems technology and the world's fastest memory technology," stated MoSys vice-president of marketing Gary Banta. "This high visibility design win is a major step in building momentum for MoSys and our Multibank DRAM architecture, which we expect will soon emerge as the new standard in PC and workstation graphics and other cost-sensitive, yet performance-critical, volume applications," he added.

The peak bandwidth (greater than 660 MBytes/second) available from the new Multibank architecture, Banta noted, exceeds the nearest competitor by approximately one-third. "More importantly, net bandwidth (bandwidth after accounting for overhead) exceeds competitive memory by 250 percent." "Unlike competing approaches," he added, "Multibank DRAMs are cost competitive with standard DRAMs and use a simple, easily implemented interface."

In the R3D/100's Optimized Renderer Memory Architecture, which supports 33 million depth-buffered, textured, shaded, pixel writes per second, the MoSys MDRAMs are utilized in both depth buffer (up to 5 MBytes) and frame buffer (up to 10 MBytes) memory controller applications. Data transmission to the system's graphics processor will be up to 1 GByte per second (peak) and is said to be easily scaleable for progressively more powerful graphics accelerators on the drawing board at the Lockheed Martin business unit.

Lockheed Martin's R3D/100 chip set provides faster processing through its patented hardware design which incorporates geometry processingGeometry processing is a fast-growing area of research that uses concepts from applied mathematics, computer science, and engineering to design efficient algorithms for the acquisition, reconstruction, analysis, manipulation, simulation and transmission of complex 3D models.
..... Click the link for more information., rasterization and texture mapping. The R3D/100 embedded floating point geometry
processor removes significant processing burden from the host CPU. The patented texture processor applies color mipmapped texture to polygons in true 3D corrected perspective.

Designed as a true polygon processor with texture processing and scaleable texture memory from the outset, the R3D/100 chip set includes dedicated hardware acceleration of mipmapped texturing that provides continuous high fidelity image quality. This chip set simulates spotlights, fog and realistic curved surfaces. Additionally, improved image quality is provided with multi-pass anti-aliasing.

The R3D/100 chip set directly interfaces with Microsoft 3D/DDI and supports all 3D/DDI-compliant APIs, such as OpenGL and comes with device driver software and a device driver kit.


I don't know if the 2/3 finished R3D/100 (I say 2/3 since there was no geometry processor on the boards) used MoSys RAM or not.
 
It ain't good quality but I dare to say those demos do not show graphics above abilities of i740.

Well I have to disagree.

While it's true the quality of the video is very poor, the R3D/Pro-1000 image generator/GPU of 1995/96 was a good bit beyond the i740 chip in the StarFighter cards that was finished in 1997, released in '98.

The i740 certainly could not compete with the twin R3D/Pro-1000 configuration of the Model 3 board.



i740 certainly inherited good image quality and the feature-set from its older brothers (100 and 1000) but not the same performance. I could only say i740 was ahead of the then-ancient Martin Marietta silicon in Model 2 which was designed between 1992 and 1993.
 
i740 certainly inherited good image quality and the feature-set from its older brothers (100 and 1000) but not the same performance.

Just no. True color was cut down, proper alpha blending added. I have yet to see a Model 3 game the (dual) i740 could not do.
 
Just no. True color was cut down, proper alpha blending added. I have yet to see a Model 3 game the (dual) i740 could not do.

That doesn't make any sense. i740's performance was well below that of a single Voodoo 2 and Voodoo 2 had nowhere near the performance of the twin Pro-1000 Model 3 board.
 
That's interesting. I had never considered Voodoo2 perhaps being similar in capability to Model 3. But looking at the screenshots on System 16, and considering the low resolution...

I suppose that makes the Voodoo3-based Atari Denver quite competitive with Model 3. Perhaps aside from geometry performance?
 
That's interesting. I had never considered Voodoo2 perhaps being similar in capability to Model 3. But looking at the screenshots on System 16, and considering the low resolution...

I suppose that makes the Voodoo3-based Atari Denver quite competitive with Model 3. Perhaps aside from geometry performance?

Yeah, I think that's probably about right. I'd say Voodoo 3 (and TNT2 Ultra) were competitive with Model 3 for the most part. They still had to rely on a fast CPU to provide geometry / T&L though of course.
Whereas Model 3's PowerPC 603 CPU running @ 66 / 100 / 166 MHz, was free to run the game.

It really was not until the GeForce 256 and GeForce 2 GTS / GeForce 2 Ultra came along in 1999/2000 that PC graphics cards rivaled Model 3. The major shortcoming of Model 3 was its low resolution.

It really was something given that the heart of Model 3 (two R3D/Pro-1000s) is really 1995 technology which powered arcade games that only started getting released. in the 2nd half of 1996. It took PC 3D hardware about 4 to 5 years to catch up.
 
Also interesting to me is Model 3 having seriously expensive GPU hardware but then using the low end PowerPC 603. Granted that is still clearly more powerful than the consoles of the time.
 
Also interesting to me is Model 3 having seriously expensive GPU hardware but then using the low end PowerPC 603. Granted that is still clearly more powerful than the consoles of the time.

Indeed, Model 3 was far beyond the PS1, N64, any PC 3D card of the day as well as the unreleased (in console form anyway) 3DO / Matsushita M2 hardware.

Even with Dreamcast's newer and *mostly* superior hardware, there were aspects of Model 3 that were better according to the head of one of Sega's AM departments who was interviewed in some issue of Next Generation. I very much doubt Dreamcast could've handled a flawless port of Daytona USA 2, even if a top Sega team took a lot of time with it. The older Model 3 games? not much of a problem but Daytona USA 2 on the Step 2.1 board used a lot of texture swapping tricks, according to that interview.

That said, with the release of GameCube and Xbox in 2001, consoles had finally well surpassed Model 3.
 
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