Geomerics Explained
Geomerics was a software company based in Cambridge, UK, that specialised in creating lighting technology for the video game industry.
The company's main product was Enlighten, software code that calculates indirect lighting ("radiosity") in real-time for live action games running on systems such as the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and personal computers. The company licensed this code to game companies for incorporation into their proprietary rendering engines.[2] [3] [4] [5] The software was ported to Nvidia's CUDA platform in 2011.[6]
The first system to incorporate the middleware was the Frostbite 2 engine,[7] created by the EA DICE studio, used in Battlefield 3 (2011)[8] and (2011).[9] Enlighten has also been licensed for a variety of other titles,[10] including Eve Online,[11] has an integration for Unreal Engine 3 & 4,[12] [13] and was built into Unity from version 5 to 2020 LTS.[14] [15]
Advanced real-time global illumination system Enlighten has since become property of and is further developed by Silicon Studio.[16] [17] [18]
History
The company was formed by Angle PLC[19] an LSE listed company (LSE:AGL) in 2005. The project was led by Chris J. L. Doran as a spin out from Cambridge University.[20] Its chief executive included Gary Lewis,[21] who prior to joining the company was the Global Chief Operating Officer at Take 2 Interactive in New York.[22]
The development of Enlighten started in 2006 and saw major distribution with the release of Battlefield 3 in 2011 and updates to ongoing massively multiplayer online game Eve Online.[23] According to the company, "Enlighten's revolutionary technology ensures that, for the first time, lighting can be updated in real time, in game, on today's consoles."[9]
In December 2013 ARM, a Cambridge-based mobile CPU and GPU designer, acquired Geomerics, "for a number of reasons but foremost was Enlighten, Geomerics' award-winning technology for real-time lighting" said Dennis Laudick, ARM's vice president of partner marketing.[24] The terms of the deal were not made public.[25] In July 2014, Geomerics was awarded £1 million from the United Kingdom's Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to take the company's real-time graphics capabilities from computer gaming to film-making.[26]
See also
External links
Notes and References
- http://www.tenshiventures.com/partners/jules-davis/ Bio for Jules Davis
- https://web.archive.org/web/20120426180859/http://www.edge-online.com/features/codeshop-step-light Codeshop: Step Into The Light
- Game Developer, 16 (11), December 2009, Page 35
- Keith Stuart, Becoming Enlightened, Guardian Online, 5 February 2008.
- Sam Martin (Geomerics), Per Einarsson (DICE) "A real-time radiosity architecture for video games 2", in Advances in Real-Time Rendering, SIGGRAPH 2010
- http://s2011.siggraph.org/for_attendees/real-time-live.html Real-Time Live!
- Kenny Magnusson (DICE),"Lighting you up in Battlefield 3", GDC 2011
- EDGE, May 2011, p. 28-29
- Web site: Enlighten: Case Studies. Geomerics. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20131202030515/http://www.geomerics.com/enlighten/case_studies.html. 2 December 2013. 6 September 2019.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20120326173809/http://www.angletechnology.com/newsfull.php?nId=92 Press release: Geomerics Sales Progress
- Web site: Eve online and world of darkness to use Enlighten. Geomerics. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120326020727/http://www.geomerics.com/news/geomerics_ccp.html. 26 March 2012. 6 September 2019.
- Web site: Geomerics Announces New Enlighten Integration with Unreal Engine 3 . Unreal Engine . 21 October 2021.
- Web site: Enlighten: Real-Time Global Illumination in Unreal Engine 4 . Unreal Engine . 21 October 2021.
- Web site: Unity Technologies Debuts Unity 5 at GDC . Animation World Network . en.
- Web site: Enlighten will be replaced with a robust solution for Baked and Real-time GIobal Illumination . Unity Blog . 21 October 2021.
- Web site: RiME from Grey Box, Six Foot and Tequila Works first game on Nintendo Switch™ to feature "Enlighten" Global Illumination . www.siliconstudio.co.jp . 21 October 2021.
- Web site: Silicon Studio's post-effect middleware "YEBIS" and global illumination system "Enlighten" adopted by "GOD EATER 3" from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment. www.siliconstudio.co.jp. en. 2019-11-18. dmy-all.
- Web site: Enlighten global illumination releases version 3.10. www.siliconstudio.co.jp. 2019-11-18. dmy-all.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20120326174003/http://www.angletechnology.com/geometric.php Angle PLC
- https://web.archive.org/web/20130801082105/http://www.develop-online.net/features/126/Game-Changers Game Changers
- Financial Times, 2 February 2007, Page 4.
- Patrick Garratt, Gary Lewis joins Geomerics as CEO, gamesindustry.biz, 31 January 2007. Retrieved (via Google cache) 5 July 2011
- Web site: Enlighten research. https://web.archive.org/web/20110929180047/http://www.geomerics.com/downloads/londongraphics2011.pdf. 29 September 2011.
- Web site: Chris Doran and Dennis Laudick discuss what developers can expect now that Geomerics is part of ARM. Chapple. Craig. 8 April 2014. Develop News in Depth. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20140411015042/http://www.develop-online.net/analysis/geomerics-spotlight-what-arm-s-acquisition-means-for-the-enlighten-tech-firm/0191553. 11 April 2014. 25 February 2015.
- Web site: Myslewski. Rik. ARM swallows graphics software biz Geomerics to tart-up mobile games. The Register:Biting the Hand that Feeds IT. 25 February 2015. 13 December 2013.
- Web site: UK Govt Backs Geomerics to Revolutionize the Movie Industry. 10 July 2014. Business Wire. 25 February 2015.
