Press Release
For Immediate Release
7/08/2003
HI CORPORATION
HI CORPORATION Enters into Global Alliance with
Sanshin Electronics Co., Ltd.
on Mobile 3D Graphics for Mobile Communication Devices
Mobile 3D rendering technology pioneer HI CORPORATION (head office: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; paid-in capital: 289.25 million yen; President & CEO: Kazuo Kawabata; http://www.hicorp.co.jp; hereinafter "HI") and 2D/3D graphics IP core developer and provider Sanshin Electronics Co., Ltd. (head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; paid-in capital: 14,811.39 million yen; president: Mitsumasa Matsunaga http://www.sanshin.co.jp; hereinafter "Sanshin") announced that the companies have agreed to a 3D graphics technology alliance in mobile communication devices both within Japan and worldwide, and to cooperate in domestic and international marketing efforts. According to the agreement, HI will port its Mascot Capsule Engine Micro3D Edition to Sanshin's GSHARK plus, while Sanshin will provide technical support to HI for the porting. The companies also intend to introduce each other's products together with their own products to customers worldwide in a market development effort.
Through this alliance, HI's 3D graphics engine will be enabled on Sanshin's GSHARK plus. Consequently, every customer environment employing GSHARK plus will also be able to use Mascot Capsule Engine Micro 3D Edition. Thus, mobile phones and other mobile communication devices using GSHARK plus will gain 3D rendering capability, and be able to be embedded with 3D graphics applications.
The companies have also decided on alliances for joint marketing, technology collaboration, and joint business development in Japan and abroad. These activities fuel expectations of faster penetration of 3D throughout the mobile communication industry.
| About Mascot Capsule Engine Micro3D Edition |
Mascot Capsule Engine is 3D rendering engine software capable of driving real-time display and motion of 3D models on the PC desktop, Web pages, embedded devices, mobile gaming devices, mobile phones, etc. Manufacturers of handsets, including models C3003P and A5302CA released by KDDI/au, J-Phone models, and the NTT DoCoMo 504i series and 505i series of devices have already adopted this engine. Mascot Capsule Engine has come to represent the de facto standard for 3D engines in the mobile telecommunications market.
Mascot Capsule Engine Micro3D Edition runs in operating environments with constrained resources for any CPU capable of 32-bit integer operations at a clock speed of 10MHz or higher (floating point and division operations are not required). The engine is compatible with commercially available 3D graphics authoring tools including 3D Studio MAX and LightWave, and has an unlimited display capacity (proportional to allocated memory size). Its rich 3D expressions and small footprint assure performance for superior user interfaces in a myriad of devices. |
| About GSHARK plus |
GSHARK plus is a hardware 2D/3D graphics engine developed for embedding in mobile phones, information terminals, etc. GSHARK technology (see http://www.gshark.com) embodied in compact architecture delivers outstanding functionality and low power consumption in real-time rendering of 3D graphics on mobile information devices, a capability recognized as quite difficult to achieve. The geometry engine employs a high- precision floating point unit that achieves a broad color range and wide dynamic range, rendering multiple, complicated 3D objects with associated lighting effects. Combined with sophisticated texture filtering and advanced texture mapping, objects can be enhanced with greater detail. Equipped with a sprite engine for 2D graphics, GSHARK delivers sophisticated 2D processing while high-quality anti-aliasing smoothes images and lines.
The performance of GSHARK plus will enable artists to freely produce previously unattained, creative visual effects, which is in turn are expected to contribute to more exciting and advanced mobile applications. |
| Sanshin Electronics Co., Ltd. |
| Established in 1951, Minato-ku, Tokyo. Paid-in capital: 14,811.39 million yen. As a technology trading company in semiconductors, other electronic products, and technologies, the deals with a wide range of electronic devices produced by NEC Electronics Corporation and other leading manufacturers. In addition to the extensive product lines carried, the company also provides full technical support and services to meet customer needs with optimum solutions that include device selection, software development consulting, and contracted development. Among recent active efforts to develop new markets that leverage accumulated unique expertise, the company released the 3D graphics engine "GSHARK" for mobile devices in June 2002, and developed the upgraded "GSHARK plus," for which licensing commenced in May 2003. |
- Mascot Capsule is a registered trademark of HI CORPORATION.
- GSHARK/GSHARK plus, and GSHARK Technology are registered trademarks of Sanshin Electronics Co., Ltd.
- The names of other products and companies mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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