ATI Shows off SMARTSHADER Enhancement

Way back in May, ATI was making big noises about its TRUEFORM rendering technology. Today, the ATI ballyhoo has to do with another new technology that may indicate how the company intends to pitch its next generation hardware. SMARTSHADER is an evolutionary byproduct of Microsoft DirectX 8.0 Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader specifications that ATI says will allow game developers and other content creators to custom-program and then create detailed and realistically-lit computer-generated images. Both DirectX 8 and OpenGL (using extensions developed by ATI) will enable the SMARTSHADER capabilities. ATI says that SMARTSHADER provides support for up to six textures in a single rendering pass and reduces the memory bandwidth constraints associated with multi-pass rendering. By doubling the maximum allowable length of the shader programs, developers could create complex effects to model the visual properties of materials and surfaces, including hair, skin, wood, and water. SMARTSHADER technology also includes support for Vertex Shaders, which are small programs that are executed on the vertices that form the building blocks of 3D objects. These shaders can modify the shape and position of objects and may be useful for handling character animation, objects that bend and ripple like cloth or water, and particle effects like sparks and rain. ATI hasn't told anyone exactly what hardware will include SMARTSHADER (or TRUFORM, for that matter), but wherever these technologies end up, both the hardware and the software will have to support DirectX 8. ATI has a detailed whitepaper about SMARTSHADER on its website here and another one about TRUFORM here .