Nalu (demo)
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Nalu is also a character in the movies Barbie: Fairytopia and Barbie: Mermaidia
Nalu is a fictional character created for NVIDIA's technology demo called NVIDIA Demo: Nalu used to promote the GeForce 6800 GPUs of the GeForce 6 Series video card. Nalu is "wave" in Hawaiian, the name is fitting because of her long, flowing hair, which shimmer and undulate in her underwater home and showing off the power of the GeForce 6800 GPUs. She is the daughter of the deep sea, a Mermaid.
NVIDIA's engineer William Donelly, engineer Hubert Nguyen, artist/modeler Bonnie O’Clair and animator Anders Beer were credited with crafting this 3D real-time demo that would surpass the previously done Dawn (demo) which was done before to showcase the company's GeForce FX series.
Her most striking feature is the dense hair-in contrast with Dawn short hairs-which is simulated in real time and lit by a technique called "deep shadows" where the topmost hairs glow brightly from exposure to the light, while the lower hairs are darker.
The effects of gravity and water current on her and her surroundings, the color of the lighting coming through the water, and even the iridescence of her scales, the light refracted through the water's surface lights up her skin, the dynamic visual effect her body and hair casting soft shadows on her as she swims is rendered in real-time. All Of this features realised to demonstrate the power and special effects capabilities of the GeForce 6800 GPUs.
[edit] See also
- Dawn (demo)
- Luna (demo)
