Gelato (software)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gelato | |
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| Developed by | Nvidia Corporation |
| Latest release | 2.2 Beta3 / November 2007 |
| OS | Windows XP, Linux (Red Hat, SUSE or Ubuntu) |
| Genre | 3D computer graphics |
| License | Proprietary, Freeware |
| Website | Nvidia's Gelato site |
Gelato is a hardware-accelerated, offline renderer created by graphics card manufacturer Nvidia. It was originally intended for use with its Quadro FX GPU, although a Quadro class GPU is no longer a requirement, as it now also supports GeForce cards. Designed to produce film-quality images, Gelato uses a shading language very similar to RenderMan's. Gelato was first released in April 2004.
With the release of Gelato 2.0, and in a push to popularize GPU accelerated rendering (as opposed to the traditional CPU rendering), Nvidia released a free version of Gelato for PCs. Some of the more advanced features on this version were locked out, such as those used for production rendering. This was done to encourage more professional users to purchase the full product.
[edit] History
The renderer used to cost several thousand United States dollars (USD) per node. To boost the adaption of the product by a wider user base, in late 2006, Nvidia decided to split the product up into two versions. A free one called just Gelato and a Gelato Pro version which sold for 1,500USD per render node and included the following extra features:
- Nvidia Sorbetto interactive relighting technology
- DSO shadeops
- Network parallel rendering
- Multithreading
- Native 64-bit support
- Maintenance and support from Nvidia’s high-quality-rendering team
On May 29 of 2008, Nvidia made Gelato Pro free as well. Thus, there is only one verison of the renderer, now called "Gelato Pro" which also contains all of the above features.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Nvidia Gelato Blog
- Other GPU based renderer
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