Press Release

HI to Develop a new 3D Rendering Engine MascotCapsule® eruption

- For enhanced process speed and functions
and well-developed support tools for developers -

HI CORPORATION (Headquarters: Meguro-Ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Kazuo Kawabata hereinafter "HI") announced today that the company has developed MascotCapsule eruption, the latest version of the 3D rendering engine MascotCapsule series (hereinafter "eruption").

In developing eruption, HI focused on improving the process speed that is most required in content processing and utilizing HI's know-how in every aspect of the product including data structures, API, and coding to realize a dramatically improved speed engine process compared to traditional products. By using this product, users can get the best performance from 3D hardware accelerators whose process speeds are ever improving in order to enjoy the contents of higher frame rates.

eruption has five major features:

1. Performance
   Improved process speed compared to traditional 3D rendering engines. Enhanced performance to display more polygons in one window (*1).
   
   
2. Renditions and effect
   Enhanced functions of effects such as particles, bump maps, and light maps (*2). Various rendition functions allow users to enjoy rendering 3D, not just drawing 3D.
   
   
3. Avatar (*3) control
   Equipped with improved functions related to avatars, which are frequently used in community functions and online games for easier development and users' fun, such as a function to add items to an avatar and an item management function to support item changes.
   
   
4. Development environment
   Enhanced development tools to fully utilize various functions including a tool to create a particle effect such as smoke or splashes of water. Users can specify complicated renditions and functions using tools in a graphical and intuitive manner.
   
   
5. Support and expandability
   High expandability allows a quick response to a rapidly changing mobile development environment. Enhanced technical support is provided, including the developer's site that provides abundant demos and example codes. Of course, commercial 3D production tools are supported (*4) like the previous MascotCapsule series.

The new engine and development environment that has been developed by combining HI's 3D rendering engine development technology and 3D content development technology allows content developers to realize a wider range of 3D graphics renditions more easily and with higher performance. Capcom Entertainment, Inc. has already appreciated the features of this engine. The latest version of the popular series "Resident Evil 4 Mobile Edition", which is planned to be released for cellular phones, was developed using eruption.

HI CORPORATION expects to provide more familiar and enjoyable 3D graphics such as mobile 3D games and online games, virtual communities, avatars and user interfaces.

[ Expected execution environment of MascotCapsule eruption ]

• CPU
  Capable of 32-bit integer arithmetic and with clock speed of about 150MHz (floating point arithmetic is not required)
  
  
• Memory
  About 200KB
  
  
• Work area
  About 1MB including the data load area (depends on content data)


• 3D hardware accelerator
  Supports accelerators that have OpenGL-ES1.x, 2.0 interface
  
  
• Supported platforms / OS
  BREW, Java, Linux, Microsoft Windows CE, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Symbian OS, etc (and other environments that support C language)

*1 The specific process speed and number of polygons that can be displayed depend on the executing environment.
*2 Each is a 3D graphics effect. Particle is an effect to draw a set of particles in a batch based on parameters such as movement and change of shapes etc. Bump mapping renders effects without increasing the calculation amount as the surface is irregular. Light map uses light distribution as texture.
*3 A character that is used in 2D/3D Internet communities etc. as an alter ego, or the service that enables using it.
*4 XSI, Maya, 3ds Max, and LightWave, etc.

* MascotCapsule® is a registered trademark of HI CORPORATION in Japan.
* Other company names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.