Freescale, Nvidia go mobile with lifelike 3D experiences

Consumers will soon be able to enjoy 3D graphics on portable multimedia devices as a result of a collaborative effort between Freescale Semiconductor Inc. and Nvidia Corp. The collaborative reference design consists of Freescale's i.MX21 multimedia applications processor and the Nvidia GoForce 3D 4500 wireless media processor (WMP).

The i.MX21 and GoForce 3D 4500 platform solution provide the necessary elements for 3D graphics development including the hardware platform, reference software drivers, middleware, demo content software, documentation and tools. With the reference design, OEMs and application developers will be able to accelerate time-to-market and provide mobile multimedia devices.

The i.MX21 multimedia applications processor includes an on-chip enhanced multimedia accelerator (eMMA) that offers independent pre- and post-processing modules, as well as simultaneous MPEG-4 and H.263 encode and decode acceleration, that can significantly reduce the memory, CPU cycles and power requirements to drive video.

The Nvidia GoForce 3D 4500 WMP provides graphics-on-the-go and enables a whole new level of interactive content not previously possible on mobile gaming devices, PDAs, or other portable handhelds. Additionally, mobile devices powered by the new 3D WMP will be able to synthesize realistic environments with objects that behave according to complex physics and intelligent characters with true-to-life personalities.