IS YOUR COMPUTER POWERFUL ENOUGH?

Computer graphics require a lot of computational power. If your computer isn't fast enough you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THIS COURSE! To determine if your computer is fast enough for this course perform the following tests. If your computer is not fast enough you will have to use a DIFFERENT computer for this course, or you can contact your professor to obtain a graphics workstation computer that is pre-loaded with the software required for this course.

1) Web3D Tests: Using Internet Explorer visit the Web3D Ready area of Web3DWeb.com and run the THREE tests provided there (1 "SOFTWARE RENDERING" test that uses Java, and 2 "HARDWARE RENDERING" tests that use VRML and Shockwave). Be sure to read the instructions and record your results. For the Shockwave HARDWARE RENDERING test be careful to use ALL of the settings specified (turn on all the rendering options as specified in the test description otherwise you won't get an accurate result).

2) Photoshop Bitmap Test: Download the 9MB MonsterTILES.png image from the sample images area of our course resources (be careful to use MonsterTILES.png, NOT Monster.jpg). Open  MonsterTILES.png in Adobe Photoshop, and then apply the Radial Blur filter to the entire image (Filter > Blur > Radial Blur). Pay attention to the amount of time it takes your computer to apply Radial Blur when the blur settings are set with the AMOUNT to 10, BLUR METHOD to "Spin", and QUALITY to "Good" as shown in the following screen shot, and then click OK. IF YOUR COMPUTER TAKES LONGER THAN 60 seconds TO COMPLETE THIS TEST IT'S NOT FAST ENOUGH:

Set Radial Blur AMOUNT to 10, BLUR METHOD to "Spin", and QUALITY to "Good"
IF YOUR COMPUTER TAKES LONGER THAN 60 seconds TO COMPLETE THIS TEST IT'S NOT FAST ENOUGH.