Technology

Technology policy

DMP is researching advanced technologies in a wide range of different areas related to computer graphics. We benefit the experience we have acquired through many years of involvement in graphics and cutting-edge semiconductor technologies to provide our customers to low-cost, energy-efficient hardware that incorporates seamlessly with the advanced rendering technology that market demands.
In addition to comply with industry standard APIs such as OpenGL ES, we have also completed successful R&D progress in MAESTRO as a technology that differentiates DMP from its competitors. We are constantly producing cutting-edge technology, such as a technology called 3D SQUARE, which combines solid 3D display technology with existing 3D graphics rendering technology.

DMP MAESTRO technology

MAESTRO technology has emerged from a fusion of advanced semiconductor design technology that has been cultivated through many years of experience combined with leading-edge technology for developing graphical rendering algorithms. MAESTRO technology not only contributes to the ability to render images with even higher resolutions, it also contributes to cost reductions at the system level as a resulting smaller content sizes and lower memory bandwidth. MAESTRO technology can also be used as an extension of industry standard APIs.

Flexible primitive generation

The geometry shader is a programmable shader that has been adopted in cutting-edge, high-end computer graphics.
MAESTRO is a technology for embedded graphics, but this geometry shader has made it possible to implement leading-edge functions such as polygon subdivision, particle systems and silhouette generation. Polygon subdivision and particle systems generate primitives from a minimal set of control points, thereby enabling a wide range of expressions to be achieved with smaller content. Silhouette generation can be used in a wide range of expressions, such as tones and soft shadows.

Polygon subdivision

Particle systems

Tone shader

A wide range of expressions with configurable fragment shaders^*

Programmable shaders are mainstream in the world of high-end graphics. MAESTRO technology uses a configurable fragment shader to achieve similar fragment-level advanced graphical expressions at low cost, low power consumption and high performance.

Fragment shading function

MAESTRO technology provides fragment-level shading technology via a configurable fragment shader.

Fragment lighting

Lighting can be performed at the fragment level. This technology uses an optimized hardware implementation with a configurable shader in the pipeline to deliver the kind of material expressions that are normally implemented using a programmable shader. Lighting that is realistic to the shape of objects can also be achieved using DMP’s original extended material expressions, as well as of course common shading techniques such as Phong shading, the Cook-Torrance lighting model, and anisotropic reflections.

Anisotropic reflection shader

Semi-transparent glass shader

Skin shader

^* Fragment: The smallest processing unit in graphical processing. Usually a pixel.
^* Configurable fragment shader: A fragment shader pipeline that can be configured with flexible settings.

Mapping functions

A wide range of representations can be rendered using bump mapping, tangent mapping, shadow mapping and procedural textures. Shadow mapping allows to render soft shadows and self shadows in real time. Similarly, procedural texture mapping is a technology that renders textures without having to prepare them in memory first, using a function that generates images within the pipeline. This makes a significant contribution to reducing power consumption and minimizing memory usage.

Bump mapping

Shadow casting

Procedural texture

Gaseous object rendering function

The gaseous object rendering function renders particle objects such as smoke, clouds and flames. Unlike the typical sprite-based rendering method, this function produces realistic rendering by precisely depicting the intersection of polygon objects at the fragment level.

Clouds

Explosions and flames

Comparison of polygon intersection

3D²(3D SQUARE)

3D SQUARE is a technology that combines solid 3D display technology with the existing 3D graphics rendering technology that DMP has developed over many years. Generally, displaying solid 3D images increases the load of rendering 3D graphics, but 3D SQAURE technology achieves maximal performance by optimizing the 3D graphics pipeline for rendering solid 3D displays.

View a demonstration