Surface Optics Corporation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Surface Optics Corporation and NVIDIA Corporation Collaborate to Take 3D Graphics Technology to the Next Level of Realism

San Diego, CA (April 27, 2000) - Surface Optics Corporation (SOC) and NVIDIA Corporation today announced a collaborative effort to develop technology that will become the new standard by which realism will be measured in the 3D graphics marketplace. SOC will take its advanced, proprietary Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) technology and embody that into commercial-off-the-shelf software, hardware and databases that are optimized for the NVIDIA family of graphics processors.

The BRDF describes the directional dependence of reflected energy from a surface or material. BRDF is a fundamental optical property and varies from material to material. It describes the complex interaction of light with all objects in nature. Until recently, graphics hardware only supported the Phong lighting model in combination with Gouraud shading. These approaches are gross approximations to the BRDF and produce real-time computer graphics that bear little resemblance to reality.

SOC's suite of software tools, databases and hardware has been used to bring true physics-based realism to government, military and commercial non-real-time simulations for over 20 years. These products will now be available to the global marketplace. Utilizing SOC's advanced technology, the BRDF can now be implemented on most graphics processors currently on the market; however, NVIDIA's breakthrough per-pixel shading technology provides an optimized solution for implementing BRDFs in real-time.

This unique combination of software, data and support of BRDF in hardware creates the realism in next-generation computer simulations that the government, military, CAD, e-business and commercial gaming industries are desperately seeking. "BRDFs are a great way to represent radiance of a surface, basically how a material transfers energy. Software developers want a method to achieve photo-realistic effects. BRDFs allow very complex per-pixel shading effects to represent realistic materials in real-time," said Doug Rogers, Manager of Developer 3D Tools and Technology for NVIDIA.

About Surface Optics
Surface Optics Corporation (SOC) is a 23-year-old, employee owned company based in San Diego, CA. Building upon quantitative optical signature analysis, SOC is known throughout the globe for its BRDF technology, spectral and spatial characterization of materials, high-fidelity multispectral/hyperspectral modeling and simulation of targets and backgrounds (UV through radar), optical measurement services, instrumentation design and manufacture, and coatings design and application. For more information on SOC Technologies, please visit us at our web site http://www.surfaceoptics.com/, call 858-675-7404, or send e-mail to Leif Hendricks.

About NVIDIA
The computing industry recognizes NVIDIA as the global leader in advanced graphics processing technology for mainstream platforms, honoring the company with the most awards in the history of the PC industry. The unmatched breadth of the NVIDIA product family enables gripping multimedia experiences for the entire desktop computer market from workstations to Internet-enabled appliances. In use by large corporations, small-to-medium-sized businesses, and home-based customers, NVIDIA products are the solutions of choice for the top PC OEMs, add-in card designers, and system builders worldwide. NVIDIA graphics processors deliver superior performance and crisp visual quality for PC-based applications such as manufacturing, science, e-business, entertainment, and education. For more information, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.nvidia.com/.

Surface Optics Corporation 11555 Rancho Bernardo Rd. San Diego, CA 92127
Phone: 858.675.7404 Fax: 858.675.2028