The OpenGL Performance Characterization (OPC) project group is updating its Viewperf 3D graphics benchmark and will be introducing a new viewset designed with Pro/DESIGNER (TM) software from Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC). The Pro/DESIGNER viewset will replace the CDRS (Conceptual Design Rendering Software) viewset.
The new version of Viewperf, scheduled for completion this summer, will allow the OPC group to work with independent software vendors (ISVs) to update and add to its current viewsets. The Pro/DESIGNER viewset is expected to be available in the third quarter of this year. The CDRS viewset will be phased out six months after the first reporting of results for the Pro/DESIGNER viewset.
Viewperf measures the 3D rendering performance of systems running under the OpenGL application programming interface (API). Viewsets are the test files that run under Viewperf. Developed for the OPC group by ISVs, viewsets represent the same mix of graphics rendering and manipulation found in the actual applications. The CDRS viewset is based on the industrial design software originally developed by Evans & Sutherland and purchased by Parametric Technology Corporation in March 1995. PTC implementation engineers are working with the OPC group to develop the new Pro/DESIGNER viewset.
Pro/DESIGNER is part of Parametric Technology Corporation’s Industrial Design Solutions. It is a comprehensive software package that contains powerful tools to easily create, modify and evaluate complex, free-form models. The accuracy of the surfaces created in Pro/DESIGNER enables the geometry to be used directly by engineering – thoroughly integrating the design-through-manufacturing cycle.
"Benchmarks and test files have to change with graphics technology," says John Spitzer of Silicon Graphics Inc., chair of the OPC project group. "It's time to update both Viewperf and its viewsets to better reflect the newest generation of applications and to ensure that there's enough headroom to meet the benchmarking demands of current and future graphics systems."