Industry presentations are your chance to catch up with the latest trends in computer graphics hardware, software and applications. Meet with the experts and take the opportunity to learn more about the dynamics of the computer graphics industry. The following companies have confirmed to give industry presentations:

Intel

Date: Wednesday, April 1st, Time: 13:30 - 15:00, Room: HS3

Presenter: Manfred Ernst

Topic: Ray Tracing - Why should we use it?

Abstract: Interactive ray tracing has been demonstrated to achieve real-time performance on current hardware. However, many rendering effects can also be faked with rasterization. This gives rise to a fundamental question: Why should we use ray tracing at all? In this talk, the differences between rasterization and ray tracing are explained in terms of performance, image quality, software design and content creation. The benefits of upcoming many-core hardware for ray tracing are outlined and an explanation is given where the algorithm fits into the bigger picture of programmable graphics.

Presenter: Matt Pharr

Topic: Back To The Future With New Graphics Architectures

Abstract: As graphics hardware has become increasingly programmable, we are approaching the point where the entire traditional graphics pipeline can be implemented in software on high-performance general purpose processors. This advance offers great opportunity to graphics researchers and software developers: the standard feed-forward graphics pipeline is no more privileged by the hardware architecture than alternative graphics pipelines, including those based on, for example, direct volume rendering, micropolygon rendering, or ray tracing. In this talk, I will discuss both the challenges and the opportunities presented by these new architectures. I will also discuss opportunities in making the standard graphics pipeline highly extensible, allowing developers to leverage existing highly-tuned software graphics pipelines to implement new rendering algorithms rather than needing to write complete graphics pipelines themselves from scratch.

NVIDIA

Date: Wednesday, April 1st, Time: 16:00 - 17:30, Room: HS3

Presenter: Pete Shirley

Topics: GPU Computing for Computer Graphics

Abstract: GPUs are now used for a wide variety of non-graphics applications such as protein folding and seismic analysis. However, 3D computer graphics can also benefit greatly from general GPU computing. In this talk I will discuss several examples of where graphics programs can benefit from GPU computing, with particular emphasis on NVIDIA's new ray tracing API.

Date: Thursday, April 2st, Time: 9:00 - 10:30, Room: 00.013.009A

Presenter: JC Baratault and Pete Shirley

Topic: Integrating the CUDA architecture into your workplace

Abstract: Massively parallel computing holds many positive disruptive promise for bringing supercomputing applications everywhere, and has already delivered on that promise on a variety of applications. However, it is also disruptive in that it presents an entirely different programming model from what we’ve become used to over the last several decades. In this talk we go over the ecosystem surrounding the CUDA architecture and how to find resources in that ecosystem to help your organization take the leap into massively parallel computing. The presentation will discuss how to introduce CUDA into both academic education/research and industrial practice.

AMD

Date: Thursday, April 2nd, Time: 9:00 - 10:30, Room: 00.07.011

Presenter: Jon Story & Holger Gruen

Topics: Taking Advantage of Direct3D 10.1 Features to Accelerate Performance and Enhance Quality

Abstract: This session will highlight some of the new features that came along with Direct3D 10.1, and demonstrate their practical use with reference to several techniques, that have made their way into production games. Techniques will include High Definition Ambient Occlusion (HDAO), High Quality Shadow Filtering, and Transparency AA.

Microsoft

Date: Thursday, April 2nd, Time: 13:30 - 15:00, Room: 00.07.011

Presenter: Dirk Primbs

Topics: Introduction to the DirectX 11 Graphics Pipeline

Abstract: Be the first to learn about how Direct3D 11 extends and enhances Direct3D 10 with new hardware and API calls. This talk discusses the features in Direct3D 11 that enable you for instance to create content that scales from small screens to high-resolution displays, and across different CPU and GPU configurations.