| Q&A |
Reality Server,
Ludwig
von Reiche, Chief Operating Officer for mental images
August - 2009
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“RealityServer
allows users to access and interact with highly complex
imagery that is not reliant on the user’s limited
desktop and laptop capabilities [...] data remains secure
with RealityServer as manipulations and changes to the
data can only be saved back to the server ”
<
mental images RealityServer |
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| Q1 |
RealityServer
is a server-side technology. What are the benefits of rendering
images on the server vs client? |
| A1 |
As
a server-based technology, RealityServer allows users to access
and interact with highly complex 3D data in a manner that
is not reliant on the user’s limited desktop and laptop
capabilities. A server can store immense amounts of data,
in terms of memory, and can therefore house 3D data that most
client computers are unable to. Equally as important, such
data remains secure with RealityServer as manipulations and
changes to the data can only be saved back to the server and
not on a user’s hard drive, keeping all highly confidential
blueprints, product designs, and maps safe. Imagery is also
delivered immediately to the client, without the need to stream
or download large amounts of 3D data. |
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| Q2 |
For
the client : what are the requirements to display 3D graphics
rendered by the RealityServer? |
| A2 |
Clients
only need an Internet connection and a web browser to access
the imagery rendered by RealityServer. The data exchanged
between the client and the server, through RealityServer,
is done so by a simple http protocol request which then produces
an image that is sent to the client. |
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| Q3 |
About
the server : does RealityServer need dedicated hardware? Can
it handle the power of Tesla units? How many simultaneous users
can be connected to RealityServer? |
| A3 |
RealityServer
does not utilize dedicated hardware on the client side as
it relies on the server side for all significant computing
power. This allows the data to be accessed from any computer,
whether it is a desktop or a mobile device. RealityServer
itself does not place limits on the size of the 3D data and
there is no inherent limit to the number of simultaneous users
accessing the data. Obviously, the server should be robust
and designed to house large sets of data, which most companies
make sure to do. As images get larger, with newly added data
for extra pixels for example, RealityServer can scale very
easily. RealityServer is also able to take advantage of GPUs
to speed up global illumination, which is normally very expensive
otherwise, and its iray? rendering mode - a soon to be incorporated
global illumination ray-traced and interactive rendering technology
that generates photo real imagery by simulating the physical
behavior of light - requires a CUDA 1.1 compliant NVIDIA GPU.
Quadro, Quadroplex and Tesla are preferred hardware platforms. |
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| Q4 |
RealityServer
is available since half a decade. Can RealityServer be used
on "mainstream internet site"? |
| A4 |
 RealityServer
is already being used on mainstream Internet sites by companies
who want to offer their customers a unique online experience.
Scenecaster,
a leading provider of 3D social media applications, uses
RealityServer to let their users customize fun, personalized
environments on their social networking profiles. And mydeco,
the new London-based interior design website, uses RealityServer
to offer interior decorators with their online tool called
“Complete Room Planner” where users can design
living spaces from the wallpaper to the furniture using
a library of d?cor that can then be purchased for real world
use.
<
User generated living room, designed on mydeco.com,
in real-time, using RealityServer
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| Q5 |
Is
this technology affordable for small studios? |
| A5 |
With
the security RealityServer brings to sharing confidential documents,
RealityServer is a smart investment for companies of all sizes.
New studios in particular, may be working on one project only.
If that project were to be compromised by even a small leak
– possibly a file image that is sent to the wrong email
address -- then a competitor could get ahold of it and the entire
company may go under. Small businesses are sensitive to risk
and RealityServer is often less of an expense to keep projects
safe than more complicated, traditional solutions. |
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| Q6 |
Is
it easy to integrate RealityServer contents into Flash or Silverlight
applications? |
| A6 |
RealityServer
2.3 includes a standards based Web Services Framework that makes
the technology quite easy to integrate with Adobe Flash, Microsoft
Silverlight or any development technology which supports standard
Web Services. The framework comes with a comprehensive documentation
system and reusable client libraries for Adobe Flex and Microsoft
Silverlight. Popular standards such as SOAP, JSON-RPC and REST
are supported by the framework. |
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| Q7 |
Could
you please describe RealityServer engine: is it a mentalray
or a raster render? |
| A7 |
 RealityServer
ships with a variety of rendering technologies enabled for various
user requirements. These include a powerful, ray-tracing engine
with support for programmable shading (MetaSL) and advanced
lighting, a more conventional GPU based rasterizer with programmable
shading (again using MetaSL), a GPU based non-photorealistic
Sketch renderer for stylized line rendering and more recently
a rendering option based on our new iray technology for ‘push-button’
photo-real rendering that is capable of fully exploiting GPU
computing power for fast results and interactive refinement.
Additionally RealityServer 2.3 introduced NVIDIA CUDA based
acceleration of Ambient Occlusion and Image Based Lighting for
the GPU rasterizer. |
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| Q8 |
RealityServer
2.3 improve the speed of image rendering ; but is server-based
rendering fast enough for moving, rotating 3D objects? |
| A8 |
A
user can efficiently rotate and manipulate images within RealityServer,
assuming the server’s performance and bandwidth capabilities
are up to speed. Obviously performance will depend on a number
of factors, including the server hardware used, the complexity
of the data, the number of users and the quality of the network
connection. When testing with multiple users we have found sub-linear
degradation of performance, meaning doubling the number of users
does not half each user’s performance. In cases where
latency is a critical factor, several of our customers have
also employed hybrid solutions, for example utilizing a simplified,
low quality representation with a client-side technology such
as Acrobat 3D or a Flash 3D approach and using this for latency
critical interactions while displaying the higher quality RealityServer
results when this type of interaction is completed. Additionally,
progressive rendering can be employed to obtain initial results
very quickly and then refine quality over time, reusing information
from previous frames to accumulate quality over time. |
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| Q9 |
Are
web technologies such as Flash (wich is more and more able to
display realtime 3D objects) an alternative to RealityServer? |
| A9 |
mental
images does not consider Adobe Flash a competitor to RealityServer.
RealityServer doesn’t depend on the client’s machine,
and can therefore enhance the use of Flash and others like it.
Client side 3D approaches such as those employed in Flash today
will inevitably hit a wall in terms of quality, complexity and
security; even with higher end client side hardware, most clients
are typically not able to handle the complexity which can be
tackled on the server side. Also as complexity of the data increases,
client side approaches see increasing start-up times as the
data must be downloaded or streamed. With server side rendering,
as utilized in RealityServer, the bandwidth requirement is independent
of the complexity of the data being used. |
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