Realtime Rendering Solutions
There is a lot of talk regarding GPU processing and realtime rendering solutions for design visualization. Vray RT is pushing the brute force methodology. Overall it shows a lot of promise but will require some breakthroughs in the near future to be a real contender. With the support behind CUDA though my guess would be that happens sooner rather than later.
VRay RT Technology Demo 1 from Scott Slauson on Vimeo.
A few other solutions that are of interest use Direct X in Windows to drive realtime worlds. The three top contenders seem to be the CryEngine, Lumion and Twinmotion. The interesting thing about these solutions is the environmental approach they are taking. The ability to interactively adjust sun, weather and other atmospheric attributes allows for some very interesting visualization potentials. The simulation of landscape or ecological processes with constructed models inches slowly forward.
The Cryengine 3 trailer is extremely impressive. The improvements in gaming engines is really amazing from the time 3 years ago when we taught realtime landscapes at LSU using the source engine.