Products: ART VPS

The render wars are heating up. Graphics card makers and softwarerendering coders battle each other as they continue to introducespeedier, more all-inclusive products.

Now ART VPS drops entry-level prices while providing an easierupgrade path for its RenderDrive hardware-accelerated ray-tracingsystems. The Cambridge, England-based company made the first-everray-tracing chip in 1997; it uses them in its RenderDrive 3Dvisualization systems. With plug-ins for Maya, 3ds Max, and AutodeskViz, the RenderDrive architecture provides full-frame previews inseconds while speeding up iterations for tasks such as lighting setup,shot composition, and material mapping.

ART VPS' entry-level model, the RD3500 with 12 AR350 chips, drops inprice by $5,000 to $13,000. As an introduction to hardware-accelerated,ray-traced rendering, ART VPS also now offers the eight-chip PURE PCIcard for $3,400. www.artvps.com