Graphics chips expanding fast

LOS ANGELES: One of the hottest races of computer development is the one to make the imaginary look real. While any home computer sold this year will do word processing as fast as you please, when it tries to make the screen a window into a three- dimensional world, as many games try to do, the results are hardly realistic.

Everything looks blocky, surfaces have no texture, and if there are people in the scene, the clothes look like they are painted onto their jagged bodies.

Several companies are rushing to close the realism gap with their graphics chips. Originally designed just to send a video signal to the monitor, some of these chips are now as complicated as main processors like the Intel Pentium III.

``The ultimate goal is to model what the eye can see, so there's always room to add new features.'' Said Mr. Derek Perez of Nvidia Corp., one of the leaders in the field.

Nvidia and other companies demonstrated their chips at the Electronic Entertainment Expo here last week. Their high-end chips now produce stunning results in 3-D games.

- New York Times

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