Design Article
HMI Tools Save Time and Cost in Auto Applications
By Waqar Saleem, Fujitsu Semiconductor America, Inc.
1/29/2013 9:56 PM EST
System Benchmarking
It is also highly desirable that the tool be capable of determining hardware requirements for the intended graphics application well ahead of time. For example, the tool could help determine the minimum number of MIPS needed for graphics. It could provide guidance about how powerful the GPU needs to be to run the application. Lastly, it could give some indication about the internal bus throughputs and external graphics memory bandwidth requirements. The possible reduction in hardware iterations and project time as a result of this could immensely benefit the initiative.
CGI Studio
CGI Studio is an HMI tool chain targeted for automotive clusters and infotainment systems. The tool has been specifically designed from the ground up for automotive applications. The flexible licensing model covers a variety of usage scenarios, such as tool evaluation, prototyping, reference design and product development for one or more vehicle platforms. The tool chain is hardware and OS agnostic. Besides meeting other needs, the tool's additional infrastructure or modules enhance its adaptability and globalization capabilities.
The tool consists of different blocks or modules—including Scene Composer, Candera Engine and Player—which will be discussed in detail in the following section.
Scene composer
Figure 2: Scene Composer IDE Snapshot
As its name implies, the Scene Composer module composes 2D and 3D scenes, and allows combining 2D and 3D content, enabling the seamless process flow. Within a scene, 2D and 3D content can be separated into distinct layers to address their respective needs. The application can have any combination of graphics: 2D only, 3D only, or both at the same time.
One input to this tool is the graphics assets, such as models and geometry in FBX format, textures, 2D TrueType fonts, and 3D fonts. These assets could be generated using industry-standard 3D and 2D authoring tools.
Another key input to the Scene Composer is the widgets. As mentioned earlier, these blocks of code assign behavior to the graphics elements. For example, a widget could control the movement of a needle for a cluster application. Other inputs to the tools are animation and the shader program for the GPU.
Scene Composer allows imported 2D/3D graphics assets and widgets to be dragged and dropped. This enables easy 2D/3D scene composition and object configuration. Controls for light and camera are also available. The tool is capable of creating animations and also configuration and assignment relative to 2D/3D widget properties. Scene Composer is “display controller layer and multi-display” aware. It has a mechanism to export its output for running on either the host or the target.
Next: Active scene rendering
It is also highly desirable that the tool be capable of determining hardware requirements for the intended graphics application well ahead of time. For example, the tool could help determine the minimum number of MIPS needed for graphics. It could provide guidance about how powerful the GPU needs to be to run the application. Lastly, it could give some indication about the internal bus throughputs and external graphics memory bandwidth requirements. The possible reduction in hardware iterations and project time as a result of this could immensely benefit the initiative.
CGI Studio
CGI Studio is an HMI tool chain targeted for automotive clusters and infotainment systems. The tool has been specifically designed from the ground up for automotive applications. The flexible licensing model covers a variety of usage scenarios, such as tool evaluation, prototyping, reference design and product development for one or more vehicle platforms. The tool chain is hardware and OS agnostic. Besides meeting other needs, the tool's additional infrastructure or modules enhance its adaptability and globalization capabilities.
The tool consists of different blocks or modules—including Scene Composer, Candera Engine and Player—which will be discussed in detail in the following section.
Scene composer
Figure 2: Scene Composer IDE Snapshot
As its name implies, the Scene Composer module composes 2D and 3D scenes, and allows combining 2D and 3D content, enabling the seamless process flow. Within a scene, 2D and 3D content can be separated into distinct layers to address their respective needs. The application can have any combination of graphics: 2D only, 3D only, or both at the same time.
One input to this tool is the graphics assets, such as models and geometry in FBX format, textures, 2D TrueType fonts, and 3D fonts. These assets could be generated using industry-standard 3D and 2D authoring tools.
Another key input to the Scene Composer is the widgets. As mentioned earlier, these blocks of code assign behavior to the graphics elements. For example, a widget could control the movement of a needle for a cluster application. Other inputs to the tools are animation and the shader program for the GPU.
Scene Composer allows imported 2D/3D graphics assets and widgets to be dragged and dropped. This enables easy 2D/3D scene composition and object configuration. Controls for light and camera are also available. The tool is capable of creating animations and also configuration and assignment relative to 2D/3D widget properties. Scene Composer is “display controller layer and multi-display” aware. It has a mechanism to export its output for running on either the host or the target.
Next: Active scene rendering
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