Microsoft’s Corp’s futuristic three dimensional Talisman architecture (CI No 2,975) is to be implemented into a single chip by Trident Microsystems Inc, which will bring the price of a graphics system to under $100, Trident said. The chip will offer photorealistic three dimensional graphics for the PC platform. Talisman works by reducing the memory bandwidth requirement using a process called chunking. It does this by dealing with images in smaller sections, or chunks, rather than as a whole image, explained Dr Young Yau, vice president of strategic marketing and planning at Mountain View, California-based Trident. In addition, this enables the z-buffer to be included on the chip. Other features of Talisman include anisotrophic filtering, antialiasing and affine transformation that minimizes the rendering needed for a give scene and enables a graphics device to produce a large display in true color with more complex scenes. The deal is non- exclusive, although Trident says it is the first to implement the technology in this way. The chip is due to go into sampling during the first half of next year, with full production promised to begin in the second half.
