Geomerics, UCL Get $1 Million Grant For Enlighten Research

UK-based graphics and lighting technology company Geomerics has announced a new research collaboration with University College London, funded by an investment of £525,000 from the Technology Strategy Board's Collaborative Research and Development program. Following the launch of its first lighting technology product, Enlighten, Geomerics and UCL will work together to further develop the technology over the three-year project. Geomerics will receive £330,000 and UCL £195,000 of the total investment. Ultimately, the two aim to further technology that lights fully dynamic worlds in realtime. Enlighten is an SDK used to compute indirect lighting from arbitrary complex direct lighting, and can be implemented either at runtime or offline. It is modular and designed to work alongside existing lighting and shadowing schemes, and is currently available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PCs running DirectX 9 and above. Commenting on the new partnership, UK Science and Innovation Minister Ian Pearson said: "The UK's future global competitiveness depends on innovation. The UK has world class expertise in graphics and we are a global leader across the creative industries, which now contribute over 8% of the country’s GDP." He elaborated, "If the UK is to maintain and extend its role as the world’s creative hub, we need to continue to develop the new, exciting and innovative technologies that will underpin the creative industries in the years to come. This is why we are pleased to support this project, which will bring new and exciting technology to the games industry."