The dual-processor unit was running a developer release of Mac OS X and reportedly performed more than twice as fast as a single-processor G4 system. Last spring, at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC), the company revealed a prototype dual-processor Power Mac G4 in a closed-door session. Another is Maxon Computer (Thousand Oaks, CA), which recently shipped a new version of its 3D modeling and animation package, Cinema 4D. NewTek is one of a relatively small number of vendors that has continued to develop professional-level 3D applications for the Mac in recent years. The G4 chip is optimized for heavy floating-point calculations, which LightWave relies on to produce its rendering. 'The G4 chip loves the LightWave code,' comments Brad Peebler, vice president of 3D graphics tools for NewTek (San Antonio, TX). 'There is significant headroom for increased performance.'Įven without multiprocessing, the current G4 architecture is proving attractive to some 3D developers. 'We have already achieved performance on a par with OS 9, and we are just beginning to optimize OpenGL for the final release of OS X,' he reports. Users should also find OpenGL performance much improved under OS X, according to Chris Bourdon, Apple's product manager for OS X. As a result, all Mac OS native applications should realize significant speed gains without having to be recoded. With the release of Mac OS X (due out January 2001), the Macintosh operating system will be multithreaded.

In 3D applications, speed is king, and Apple's lack of integrated multiprocessor support cost the company significant marketshare in digital prepress and video production as well as in the 3D market. Looking back over the events of past years, it seems clear that Apple got left in the dust when 3D development turned to NT, with its integrated OS support for powerful multiprocessor architectures. But will the changes mean anything to users involved in 3D content creation? Especially to those of us already churning out work on NT and SGI workstations? The short answer is: Yes. Given the performance boost the Macintosh platform has achieved with its latest G4 processors, optimized architecture, and advanced connectivity standards, Apple should have no trouble furthering its already strong position in the graphic design, publishing, and prepress markets.

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