Digitised Humans Come Alive with NVIDIA Graphics

Digitised Humans Come Alive with NVIDIA Graphics


SANTA CLARA, California, November 25 /PRNewswire/ -- 

 NVIDIA Technology Key to Stunning and Biomechanically Accurate Animation in 
             Discovery Channel's Xtreme Martial Arts Documentary 



NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing 
solutions, revealed that the NVIDIA Quadro(R) FX 3000 was the key technology 
used by 3D body scanning and motion capture studios to create digitised humans 
with biomechanically correct skeletons and muscle for the Discovery Channel 
Xtreme Martial Arts (XMA) documentary. This fascinating look at martial arts 
and the human body combines live-action fight sequences with physical and 
behavioural-based animation to illustrate the science of martial arts by 
highlighting moves normally impossible to analyse with the naked eye. View XMA 
clips at:  http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/xma/video/video.html


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    "This combination of live-action footage, spectacular visuals, and 
biomechanically-sound animation may redefine the way we look at human motion 
and bring it to the screen," said Mickey Stern, executive producer of XMA for 
BASE Productions. "The entertainment value is self-evident; the value for 
scientific study and learning is unlimited. Martial artists push their bodies 
to super-human levels, and only with NVIDIA Quadro graphics could we have 
measured and illustrated it down to the bone and tissue level." 


    Each martial artist in XMA stepped into Nexus Digital Studios' laser 
scanner for the 3D body scan necessary to create a life-like virtual model of 
a human being. With scan data comprising hundreds of thousands of polygons, 
the NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 created a 3D image of each performer in real time. 
Next, biomechanically accurate, animated skeletons were scaled to fit the body 
size of the performers according to their scans. As the artists fought, 
Motional Analysis Studios (MAS) used digitising cameras to capture the 
subtlety and precision of their acrobatic and often deadly moves. MAS used 
this behavioral data and NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 graphics to bring the 3D body 
scans to life by imposing natural movement onto the digitised characters. 


    "The key technology behind the groundbreaking animation in XMA was the 
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000," said Domi Piturro, studio director at Nexus Digital 
Studios. "This professional graphics board easily transformed huge datasets 
generated by full body and facial scans into photo realistic 3D images with a 
level of precision that ensured high-quality results. Because of great people 
and the precision and performance of NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 graphics, viewers 
will have a look inside martial arts and human body in ways never seen 
before." 


    To blend live action and animated sequences in real time, the studios 
combined scanned human characters with streaming motion capture data and 
mapped those moving, 3D characters onto 35mm digitised film. In one portion of 
the documentary, for instance, a martial artist jabs the end of a weapon into 
the torso of another. The resultant jolt to bones is shown to viewers through 
an animated x-ray technique mapped to the torso of the live action martial 
artist. This created the illusion that animated bones and tissue were those of 
the live performer. 


    "With its ability to draw more than a hundred million triangles a second, 
only NVIDIA graphics had the horsepower necessary to transform the body scan, 
motion capture, and muscle sensor data generated while making XMA into the 
stunning animation that defines it," said Scott Gagain, vice president of 
project development at Motion Analysis Studios. "With the NVIDIA Quadro FX 
3000, we had more than enough 'oomph' to get the job done. That makes a big 
difference in a production environment." 


    For a new look at the ancient tradition of martial arts, tune in to XMA on 
the Discovery Channel Sunday, November 30, 2003 at 9:00 p.m. and midnight; 
Thursday, December 4, 2003 at 9:00 p.m. and midnight; and Sunday, December 7, 
2003 at 5:00 p.m. All times EST and PST. XMA was produced by BASE Productions, 
Inc. for the Discovery Channel, John Brenkus, directing. 
 


    About NVIDIA 


    NVIDIA Corporation is a market leader in visual computing technology 
dedicated to creating products that enhance the interactive experience on 
consumer and professional computing platforms.  Its graphics and 
communications processors have broad market reach and are incorporated into a 
wide variety of computing platforms, including consumer digital-media PCs, 
enterprise PCs, professional workstations, digital content creation systems, 
notebook PCs, military navigation systems, and video game consoles.  NVIDIA is 
headquartered in Santa Clara, California and employs more than 1,700 people 
worldwide.  For more information, visit the Company's Web site at 
http://www.nvidia.com . 
 


    Certain statements in this press release, including any statements 
relating to the Company's performance expectations for NVIDIA's family of 
products and expectations of continued revenue growth, are forward-looking 
statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause 
results to be materially different than expectations.  Such risks and 
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, manufacturing and other delays 
relating to new products, difficulties in the fabrication process and 
dependence of the Company on third-party manufacturers, general industry 
trends including cyclical trends in the PC and semiconductor industries, the 
impact of competitive products and pricing alternatives, market acceptance of 
the Company's new products, and the Company's dependence on third-party 
developers and publishers.  Investors are advised to read the Company's Annual 
Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the 
Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled 
"Certain Business Risks," for a fuller discussion of these and other risks and 
uncertainties. 
 


    NOTE:  All company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks 
and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are 
associated.  Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject 
to change without notice. 
 
SOURCE  NVIDIA Corporation 



    NOTE TO EDITORS:  If you are interested in viewing additional information 
on NVIDIA, please visit the NVIDIA Press Room at 
http://www.nvidia.com/page/press_room.html





CONTACT:  Charlie Rasch of NVIDIA Corporation, [phone], or 
[e-mail]
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    (NVDA)

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