“Arnie” became world famous through the Terminator films. In addition to an appearance in World of Tanks’ Holiday Ops, it also earned him unexpected honors at a software developer. (Image montage: World of Tanks)
Only suitable specialists are familiar with compression software for game development. Or have you already heard of the AMD program Compressonator
heard?
The Terminator
Almost everyone knows it, as the name of the program shows. However, with such special software you don’t necessarily expect to encounter Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cult role from 1984.
The name literally says it all, which we will discuss in the article section What is the program good for?
go into more detail briefly. Regardless of this, if there were ever any doubts about the origin of the approximately 20-year-old tool, they have now been dispelled.
We have none other than Raja Koduri to thank for this. That’s what it says in one current tweet from him as follows:
Every time I see the name “Compressoronator” I smile. If I remember correctly, Seth Sowerby came up with the name at ATI, inspired by the then “Governator” of California.
The man from whom the quote above the picture comes is very well known in the tech scene: Raja Koduri (Image: EEtimes.com)
Who is Raja Koduri? He has held senior positions in graphics chip development at the biggest names in tech, including Apple, Intel and AMD. The Compressor software even dates back to his ATI days.
As a reminder, the GPU manufacturer from Canada was bought by AMD in 2006. The well-known brand name Radeon
continues to be used by AMD graphics cards to this day.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California during the ATI era. Due to his history as a famous actor in the Terminator films, he was often referred to as Der Governator
designated.
What is the program good for?
When the compressonator comes along, unnecessarily large textures no longer appeal to the hand.
The pun in the name of the compression software based on Arnie’s Terminator role fits the content quite well.
After all, it is the job of the terminator to terminate or eliminate something – and that is exactly what compression is essentially about.
In relation to games, the basic idea is to use compression techniques to make elements such as textures as small as possible without the graphic quality visibly suffering (too much). So here it is, so to speak unnecessary
used storage space is terminated.
The following article describes another unexpected meeting of films and technology:
What is Koduri doing today? Koduri founded a company called MIHIRA in 2023 (via Aninews). It is intended to help game developers with suitable tools to significantly expand their storytelling thanks to support from AI functions.
GPU know-how and AI are an obvious combination when you consider how much money GPU manufacturer Nvidia makes in this area.
