Lenovo demonstrated its vision for the ultimate in desktop workstation performance, reliability and usability with the introduction of the Lenovo P900, P700 and P500 workstations. The new ThinkStation P Series models unveiled at SIGGRAPH last week in Vancouver are designed to be the most powerful professional-grade desktop workstations available and reflect a focus by Lenovo on customer needs, especially in graphics intensive industries such as visual effects and animation. Continue reading SIGGRAPH 2014: Lenovo Powers Up its ThinkStation P Series

Visual effects and animation workflows — and the technology to make them more powerful, flexible and cost-efficient — are a focus of attention as SIGGRAPH 2014 opens its exhibit floor this week to computer graphics and tech professionals in Vancouver. Nvidia’s next gen Quadro processors, announced this morning, are indicative of tools and technology designed to handle greater complexity and higher resolution; incorporate cloud services; and access projects remotely, often via mobile devices. Continue reading SIGGRAPH 2014: Nvidia Unveils Next Generation Quadro GPUs

During a Sunday session at the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference, panelists discussed virtual reality, its technical hurdles, and the need for compelling content. Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Oculus VR, described the adoption of augmented and virtual reality as inevitable, but suggested we’re not quite there yet. While innovation will likely be led by hardware from multiple manufacturers, he also believes that content and software will drive the industry in the long term. Continue reading SIGGRAPH 2014: Panel Discusses VR Content, Tech Hurdles

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new photo-editing tool that lets users turn and flip objects as if they were in 3D. Photo editors have only been able to manipulate objects in 2D by resizing them or changing their location within the photo. This new software uses a publicly available database of models to recreate objects, even the sides that were not captured by the camera. Researchers found that this software could be used for animations as well. Continue reading Software Allows Photographers to Manipulate Objects in 3D

Two “force display” devices will make their debut at the SIGGRAPH technology conference in Vancouver next month. These devices, the Traxion and the Buru-Navi3, generate vibrations that offer wearers the illusion of being pulled or pushed in a specific direction. The Buru-Navi3 uses a 40 hertz electromagnetic actuator already found in smartphones. This technology could eventually be used in navigation applications in wearables so that the user will literally be pulled in the right direction. Continue reading SIGGRAPH: Haptic Interfaces to Pull and Push Wearable Users