Discreet announced on April 9, 2001 that
it has begun shipping reactor, an integrated extension for 3ds max 4.
Reactor, powered by Havok, incorporates technology that realistically
simulates cloth, rope, liquid and hard-/soft-body objects that
collide, bounce, break and stretch. Reactor officially launched last
month at the Game Developers Conference. Reactor features include
rope dynamics that simulate any deformable chain from realistic hair
to knots of climbing ropes; cloth dynamics that give objects

The final beta version of Silicon Grail’s RAYZ multi-platform compositing software is now available for public beta testing. The beta-testing period will last through April 22, 2001 when RAYZ will be officially launched at NAB. The software is available in versions for SGI IRIX, SGI IRIX (64 bit), Windows NT/Windows 2000, Intel Linux and Alpha Linux. The product is resolution independent making it equally suitable for feature film, large format film, HDTV and standard definition video projects.

Ascension Technology has announced the addition of the X-IST FaceTracker to their line-up of motion-capture tracking devices. The X-IST FaceTracker is a lightweight, head-coupled facial expression tracker using 36 reflective markers to collect real-time motion data on strategic locations such as lips, cheeks and eyelids. Its automatic search, labeling and marker tracking are designed to accelerate production time. The real-time data, transferred to an animation workstation, integrates with Filmbox, Maya, Typhoon, Softimage and other leading software programs.

Toon Boom Technologies, a leading supplier of 2D animation software for major film and television studios, announced Toon Boom Studio 1.0, a new software program the brings high-end 2D animation tools and capabilities to the Web. Targeted at Web designers, advertising agencies and other online content creators, the software is designed to simplify the creation process by automating traditional animation tasks. The new software derives its high-end features from Toon Boom Technologies' acknowledged expertise in the animation market.

On April 4, 2001, Cambridge Animation Systems, makers of Animo software, announced the upcoming release of Swiffworks, a new plugin that delivers Macromedia Flash format output to Alias|Wavefront's Maya users. The newsoftware is based on the Maya scene interpreter developed for Cambridge's Inkworks plugin, used in the feature film RUGRATS IN PARIS. The new plugin allows users to choose Swiffworks material or use the default Phong material provided by Maya.

Electric Rain announced the development of a plugin version of their Swift 3D product that will allow LightWave 3D users to export content directly to the Macromedia Flash file format, as well as other types of vector-based formats. Scheduled for a late Spring, 2001 release, the plugin will support both PC and Macintosh platforms, and will accurately render complex models as vector outlines, 1-4 color shaded cartoon files and realistic gradient shaded files.

Alias|Wavefront announced on April 10, 2001, that next month it will be releasing a Maya exporter plugin that will transfer content into Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio software. The Maya Shockwave 3D Exporter plugin will provide an export solution for the rapid refinement of content for the soon-to-be-released 3D version of the Shockwave Web platform. The plugin will be available for both Windows and Macintosh platforms.

Macromedia, Inc. and Intel Corporation announced on Tuesday, April 10, 2001, that the coming release of Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio will include new jointly developed 3D authoring capabilities, as well as a new version of the Shockwave Multiuser Server and support for both Flash5 and streaming RealMedia content. According to the announcement, the new software is integrated with existing 3D solutions to ensure developers do not have to abandon their 3D authoring software of choice, but rather import that content into Director.

On April 1, Testarossa ToolsInMotion, a developer of human motion editing applications for the 3D content creation market, announced the release of VROOM FOR MAYA, a motion-capture plug-in library for Alias|Wavefront's MAYA 3D animation software. The library includes plug-ins that let users read
and write skeletal animation in the Acclaim ASF/AMC, Biovision BVH,
and Motion Analysis HTR mocap file formats, as well as import the
motion of a mocap skeleton into a MAYA skeleton regardless of the
reference pose and skeletal structure. The library also provides

Electric Image announced that its
Universe 3.0 3D modeling, animation and rendering system is shipping
for Windows NT/2000. Universe is an upgrade and a replacement for the
award-winning ElectricImage Animation System (EIAS), which has been
available on the Macintosh for over ten years. Universe 3.0 is
available for $1,995. "There has been a consistent demand for a
Windows version of Electric Image software for several years now, and
we are very proud to release Universe 3.0 in this market," said