CoreImage FAQ

[Dave Marsh]

What bothers me about this "no ripple effect" for non-supported cards because "it's too slow" to pass off to the CPU, is that the World Book Encyclopedia application shipped with iBooks over the past few years shows this ripple effect just fine. If you start up the program, wait for the music to start and the moving images to start floating across the window, then click on the blue background of the window, you'll see a ripple effect. Now, since I haven't seen the ripple effect with the new Dashboard applets, I don't know if they're the same, but others who have say they are.

Just thought I'd pass that on, since it suggests there may be some other rationale at work here if this feature is actually turned off on non-Core Image GPU equipped Macs.

 

[Dave Marsh]

GPU Chipset Specs & Code Names

Here's a link to check whether your GPU card meets the Shader 2.0 specification:

http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/

Here's a link to translate that System Profiler manufacturer chip code name (e.g., ATI RV360) to the commercial GPU name (Radeon 9550, 9600SE, 9600 XT (low-k)) (go about 2/3 down the page):

http://users.erols.com/chare/video.htm

Enjoy!

 

[Abstract]

Just came in to say that this is the best FAQ I have ever read at MacRumours.

Very much appreciated. Must have taken a lot of your time.

 

[Applespider]

Some good news for those without 'rippled' graphic cards that I spotted while at MacFixit

CoreImage on unsupported machines MacFixIt reader Randy Smith has some positive feedback regarding CoreImage functionality on an unsupported machine.

Randy writes:

"Having an eMac 800Mhz G4 my graphics card was not on the list as supporting Core Image and Core Video. I compiled a program called Core Image Fun House which is included in the XCode2 Developer tools folder and to my surprise I could use the program. The results were not real time like higher power card provide but the screen updated at intervals of 200 - 500 milliseconds depending on how many Core Image effects I had stacked up. Not real time but much faster than using photoshop for the same effects!

 

[Catfish_Man]

What bothers me about this "no ripple effect" for non-supported cards because "it's too slow" to pass off to the CPU, is that the World Book Encyclopedia application shipped with iBooks over the past few years shows this ripple effect just fine. If you start up the program, wait for the music to start and the moving images to start floating across the window, then click on the blue background of the window, you'll see a ripple effect. Now, since I haven't seen the ripple effect with the new Dashboard applets, I don't know if they're the same, but others who have say they are.

Just thought I'd pass that on, since it suggests there may be some other rationale at work here if this feature is actually turned off on non-Core Image GPU equipped Macs.

Totally different. One is rendering over arbitrary content on your computer (say, multiple transparent movies), in an arbitrary shape (the shape of the widget), while the other one is rendering on a fixed background.

 

[DXoverDY]

Totally different. One is rendering over arbitrary content on your computer (say, multiple transparent movies), in an arbitrary shape (the shape of the widget), while the other one is rendering on a fixed background.

i haven't seen world book on the mac, but i'd imagine it's just a video they play, it's not being rendered real time.

 

[Over Achiever]

Hmm so my Rev A 17" Powerbook isn't supposed ... =/ And I liked my NVIDIA GeForce4 MX card ... I thought 64 MB would be more than enough.

 

[DXoverDY]

Hmm so my Rev A 17" Powerbook isn't supposed ... =/ And I liked my NVIDIA GeForce4 MX card ... I thought 64 MB would be more than enough.

nope, not supported. It lacks a programmable Shader based card. About 2 generations behind sadly. CoreImage will function but it won't use the graphics card to do it.

 

[cb911]

i remembered reading that the 9600 was supported by CoreImage... then i re-read Apple's supported cards list and nearly flipped out when i saw it's not on there. well it's good to know that it is supported.

now just to finish backing up and i'll check for myself.

edit>>

now i'm embarassed to say that i forgot...
thanks for the FAQ!

 

[DXoverDY]

now i'm embarassed to say that i forgot...
thanks for the FAQ!

everyone who said thanks. You're all very welcome. I'm glad you're all enjoying Tiger with a bit more knowledge about CoreImage. So everyone who has said thanks, many welcomes to you all. Least I could do for everyone who has helped me.

*tips his hat to you all* a FAQ is worthless without readers.

 

[Peace]

ATI 9600

I can confirm the ATI 9600 Mobility has the "ripple" effect on my PB 1.0Ghz 15"

Cool too!

 

[yellow]

****! My GeForce 4 Ti is note CoreImage useful. DAMNIT!

 

[mkrishnan]

****! My GeForce 4 Ti is note CoreImage useful. DAMNIT!

Crap! Can anyone confirm that my Pentium 150 will be coreimage compliant when I install PearPC on top of Win95?

 

[yellow]

Crap! Can anyone confirm that my Pentium 150 will be coreimage compliant when I install PearPC on top of Win95?

How does that correlate?

 

[mkrishnan]

How does that correlate?

I'm sorry, I was being facetious. If it makes you feel better, my iBook isn't CI compliant either.

 

[yellow]

Are you saying that my card is old?

It was one of the choices of video cards offered in G4 Desktop models from the Quicksilver '02 up until the first MDD w/ FW800.

 

[DXoverDY]

Are you saying that my card is old?

It was one of the choices of video cards offered in G4 Desktop models from the Quicksilver '02 up until the first MDD w/ FW800.

problem is apple seems to be pretty far behind on the video card line up in their machines. Seriously. a GeForce 4 ti is an old card. yes, no it's not your fault, it's apple's fault for not keeping their machines in line with good video cards. as far as i'm concerned a Radeon 9800 Pro or NVidia Gt 6600 should be standard equipment on ANY new powermac with the only exception being the single 1.8ghz model.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Great post.

My G4 misses the cutoff date by about two months... How sad... Oh well, this time next year I'll be running a 2.3GHz G5 with a 23" display.

 

[bigdz68]

ATI 9200 PCI & NVidia 6800 ultra ?

OK. So Ive read everything about CoreImage and Im a little confused. I have a NVidia 6800 Ultra running my 23" Cinema and another 17" flat panel. I also had to install a ATI 9200 PCI to support my 3rd 17" flat panel. This is running on my PMDual2.5 w/3G RAM. What will happen with CoreImage on my system? Will it not allow it whatsoever due to the PCI card? And is it worth losing that extra real estate and removing the card to get CoreImage? I could always get rid of the PCI card but after I purchase another 23" Cinema I wouldnt mind having two 17"ers runnin on the PCI card. Just thought someone here may be able to help or point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance
Dave

 

[nagromme]

Thanks! Bookmarked.

And my PowerBook from 2003 makes the cut

What about today's new 64 MB VRAM eMacs?

 

[mkrishnan]

I have a NVidia 6800 Ultra ... I also had to install a ATI 9200 PCI ... What will happen with CoreImage on my system?

That's a really interesting question.... I'm not sure of an easy way to find out, beyond the ripple test after installing Tiger. But Tiger is hugely worthwhile outside of CI, unless you have apps that are on the blacklist.

 

[DXoverDY]

Thanks! Bookmarked.

And my PowerBook from 2003 makes the cut

What about today's new 64 MB VRAM eMacs?

just updated to include the new iMacs, new eMacs, and the new PowerMacs that were just recently released.

 

[stcanard]

What will happen with CoreImage on my system? Will it not allow it whatsoever due to the PCI card?

You'll have to experiment to find out! One of the most core image "sped up" programs I have seen is iPhoto 5, if you have that try zooming an image then straightening it.

My gut feel is that you probably still will get GPU accelerated core image, because in this case the GPU is essentially being treated as a co-processor to do transformations then fed back to the memory, so it shouldn't really matter what the displays are hooked up to, as long as there is a CI capable GPU. This is different from QE or QE2D which are using the GPU for the actual drawing of the images.

Hmm, that leads to an interesting thought -- if you have two CI supported GPUs, will both of them get used?

 

[bigdz68]

Thanks mkrishnan and stcanard! I appreciate the responses. I also thought it wouldnt be a problem but just thought someone out there may have tested it. I will have to test it out after I install Tiger and then test out Quartz extreme stuff too since I had issues what that also after installing the 9200. Thanks again. And btw...thanks for all of ur input on the other threads...I rarely post and I learn a lot from reading your input on many things!

 

[joeuu]

CoreImage isn't suypported by the ATI Mobility 9600 card in the Powebooks according to Apple.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreimage/

Dang! That's my card.

I installed 10.4 last weekend and I believe my 15" pb with the 9600 is supported, see my info--

ATI Mobility Radeon 9600:

Chipset Model: ATY,RV350M10
Type: Display
Bus: AGP
VRAM (Total): 64 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x4e50
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-xxxxx-117
Displays:
Display:
Type: Display
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 1280 x 854
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display:
Status: No display connected