Alias|Wavefront announced that its recently unveiled mental ray for Maya technology will be available as an optional plug-in renderer for Maya before the end of the year 2001. mental ray for Maya, currently in beta testing, is an optional and fully integrated plug-in renderer for Maya that offers all the features and tools available in mental images' mental ray renderer version 3.0. It will be available to customers in either node locked or floating license configurations. Alias|Wavefront will make mental ray for Maya and the mental ray Stand Alone renderer available in December 2001.

The Gnomon Workshop has released six new training videos on inverse kinematics and dynamics in Alias|Wavefront's Maya. This series, which includes two tapes on Inverse Kinematics and four more tapes on Maya's Dynamics engine, marks the fourth round of video releases and brings the total number of titles available from The Gnomon Workshop to 24. Each tape has 110 minutes of instruction. The objective of the tapes is to explain the tools with a focus on workflow, using a wide range of example effects.

Toon Boom Technologies Inc., has released Toon Boom Studio for Mac OS X Version 10.1. Toon Boom has optimized the performance of its software to fit to Apple's OS X upgrade. The free beta update installer, available for download at www.toonboomstudio.com, provides users with Toon Boom Studio's complete desktop application for Web productions. Based on feedback from participants, the beta update for Mac OS X Version 10.1 will be released in November and will be free for licensees of Toon Boom Studio.

BOXX Technologies, provider of digital content creation systems for the entertainment and digital film industries, has included the new AMD Athlon MP processor in their 3DBOXX R1 series of high-performance workstations and the RenderBOXX R1 series of rendering systems. The new AMD Athlon MP processor features QuantiSpeed architecture and Smart MP technology and is designed to provide the optimal performance needed for computation-intensive applications while providing IT managers with the highest standard in platform stability and reliability.

NVIDIA Corporation and Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation (E&S) have agreed to a broad strategic alliance under which NVIDIA will license its Shader Technology to E&S while acquiring key 3D graphics patents from the company. Additionally, the companies agreed to a broad cross-license of technology. The NVIDIA Shader Technology is a collection of patented 3D technologies enabling the creation of interactive, cinematic-quality realism through the use of highly programmable processing elements.

Viewpoint Corporation, a provider of digital marketing technologies, has launched the newest version of the Viewpoint Media Player. This latest version showcases Viewpoint's HyperView feature, which enables viewers to expand rich media content beyond the browser window and utilize the entire desktop as real estate for the content. The Viewpoint Media Player allows for the integration and interaction of rich media formats such as Flash, 3D, animation, text, audio and zoomable 2D graphics.

Epic Games, best known for creating the hit games UNREAL and UNREAL TOURNAMENT, has installed a 12-Camera Vicon 8i Real-Time motion-capture system at their development studio in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Vicon 8i optical motion-capture system allows actors to move freely, unrestricted by wires, awkward suits or large body markers. The system can capture multiple actors simultaneously, and with Vicon's million-pixel resolution MCam, motion data is recorded at near perfect accuracy.

Software designer Ashlar-Vellum Inc. is offering a free beta test-drive of Neon, the company's 3D publishing tool. From now until November 15, 2001, users can download and use the $495 value software free of charge. In addition to its easy-to-use rendering features, Neon enables the publication of any engineering-grade 3D file in the most popular Web and print publishing formats including Macromedia ShockWave 3D, Viewpoint VET, Apple QuickTime, Adobe Illustrator, VRML and more.

Caligari Corporation’s aniPak, a collection of 11 third-party animation plug-ins and libraries for Caligari trueSpace5 users is now available. aniPak includes three new plug-ins, DreaMotion PoseMixer, IK-Anchor 1.0 and SkeleTool 1.0. DreaMotion PoseMixer allows users to combine individual poses of characters into a seamless animation. The movements of all affected joints can be influenced simultaneously, without adjusting each element separately. IK-Anchor 1.0 keeps the constrained side or edge of the bounding box locked in position.

Activeworlds Corp, provider of three-dimensional technology on the Internet, has released Active Worlds' version 3.2, the most sophisticated addition to its 3D software. Version 3.2 will offer users many significant improvements including OpenGL support, software-rendering support, simplified modes for new users, skyboxes, cell grids, increased visibility ranges and additional firewall support. The new version is available for consumers to download free at http://www.activeworlds.com.