RealityEngine is a 3D graphics hardware architecture and a family of graphics systems which was developed and manufactured by

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...

during the early to mid 1990s. RealityEngine was positioned as the company's high-end visualization hardware for its MIPS/

IRIX IRIX ( ) is a discontinued operating system developed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) to run on the company's proprietary MIPS workstations and servers. It is based on UNIX System V with BSD extensions. In IRIX, SGI originated the XFS file system ...

platform. RealityEngine is designed for deployment exclusively within the company's

Crimson Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple. It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, '' Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red c ...

and

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family of visualization systems, which are sometimes referred to as "graphics supercomputers" or "visualization supercomputers". The RealityEngine was marketed to large organizations, such as companies and universities that are involved in computer simulation, digital content creation, engineering and research. It was succeeded by the

InfiniteReality InfiniteReality refers to a 3D graphics hardware architecture and a family of graphics systems that implemented the aforementioned hardware architecture that was developed and manufactured by Silicon Graphics from 1996 to 2005. The InfiniteReal ...

in early 1996, but coexisted with it for a time as an entry-level option for older systems.

RealityEngine

The RealityEngine is a board set comprising a Geometry Engine board, up to four Raster Manager boards, and a DG2 Display Generator board. These boards plug into a midplane on the host system. The

Geometry Engine Geometric manipulation of modelling primitives, such as that performed by a geometry pipeline, is the first stage in computer graphics systems which perform image generation based on geometric models. While geometry pipelines were originally implem ...

is based on the 50 MHz Intel i860XP.

VTX

The VTX is a cost-reduced RealityEngine and as a consequence, its features and performance are below that of the RealityEngine. It is not the VGX or VGXT board set.

RealityEngine2

The RealityEngine2, stylized as "RealityEngine²", is an upgraded RealityEngine with twelve instead of eight Geometry Engines. The Reality Station workstation is based on RealityEngine2. In February 1995, SGI reduced the entry price of Reality Station to . RealityEngine2 was succeeded by the

in early 1996. It uses the GE10 Geometry Engine board, RM4 Raster Manager board and DG2 Display Generator board.

References

* {{Silicon Graphics 3D computer graphics Graphics chips SGI graphics