Nvidia serves up free Gelato
Still charging for the Pro release, though
2nd May 2006 15:37 GMT
Nvidia has opened its Gelato 3D rendering software to all, releasing a free-of-charge version of the once high-end only application that will run on any Nvidia GPU - from the GeForce 5200 upwards.
The Quadro-specific version is still available, as Gelato Pro 2.0. The freebie release lacks the Pro version's support for distributed rendering across a network, its ability to leverage a multi-threading processor, its support for DSO shading operations, and for Nvidia's own Sorbetto interactive relighting system. Unlike Gelato Pro 2.0, Gelato 2.0 isn't 64-bit native and doesn't come with dedicated support.
The upshot is Gelato 2.0 is going to take rather longer to render a given scene than its Pro sibling, but at least it gives the rest of us the chance - however slowly - to play with this film-standard rendering system. Nvidia is hoping quite a few digital content creation types try the free version and then cough up the $1,500 asking price for the Pro release. The price includes a year's maintenance and support - annual renewals cost $300 per licence.
Both versions provide high-quality anti-aliasing, smooth motion blur, raytracing, global illumination and the inclusion of plug-ins for Autodesk's Maya and 3ds Max software, Nvidia said.
Both versions can be downloaded from Nvidia's website. ®
Print
Facebook
Retweet
Intel Core i7 I7-920 Quad Core Processor (2.66GHz, 4x256kB, 4.8GT/s QPI, LGA 1336 Socket B)
Asus P7P55D Motherboard (Intel Socket H LGA1156, P55 Express, ATX, 16GB DDR3)
Intel Core i5 750 Qaud Core Processor (2.66GHz, 8MB L3 Cache, 2.5 GT/s Bus, Socket H LGA1156)
Asus M4A785TD-V EVO Motherboard (AMD Socket AM3, 785G, ATX, 16GB DDR3, 5200 MT/s Bus)
Micro Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Quad Core Processor (3.2GHz, 6MB L3 Cache, 4x512kB L2 Cache, 2000 MHz Bus, Socket AM3)
