Animation World News

Technology
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Alias|Wavefront Releases Maya Real Time SDK. Alias|Wavefront released Maya Real Time SDK (Software Developers Kit) at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose. The new release demonstrates the first comprehensive "Art to Engine" solution for creating interactive content on next-generation games platforms. The Maya Real Time SDK is designed to allow games developers to deliver film quality characters and graphics in their titles for new games platforms such as PlayStation 2. Obviously Alias|Wavefront understands the potential that the "next-generation" games market holds -- they have made several major games-related announcements in the last month. With PlayStation 2 set to take over the world later this year, there will be a demand for the higher quality 3D graphics Sony says the new platform can deliver. Someone needs to provide the artists with tools to create these new amazingly high-quality images, and it looks like Alias|Wavefront could lead the way into film quality graphics for games.

Alias|Wavefront Ships Maya Fusion 2. High-end 3D software developer Alias|Wavefront began shipping Maya Fusion 2. Maya Fusion is Maya's NT-based compositing and effects software, which is integrated within the Maya UI to give artists the power to combine their live action footage with their Maya CG elements realistically. Key new features in Maya Fusion 2 include: Maya Marking Menus -- patented UI technology that offers fast and intuitive workflow; Maya TimeSlider -- a tool that enables several time-related parameters to be viewed and edited simultaneously; UI tabs -- these offer quick and easy access to all sections of the UI; Image Data Streaming -- a feature that allows any image sequence to be played from system disks, and assists in media management and clip visualisation; Dynamic Tracking -- a tool which enables precise tracking in difficult situations; and Fringe Colour Correction -- which is added to all keyers for cleaner more convincing composting results. Maya Fusion 2 is available now at US$5,000.

NewTek Ships Lightwave [6] For NT. During the week of March 6, 2000, NewTek began shipping the eagerly anticipated Windows NT versions of LightWave [6]. This is NewTek's most significant upgrade to LightWave in 10 years, and the new upgrade features advanced modeling tools, groundbreaking rendering capabilities, advanced character animation features and a refined working environment. The new version boasts more features than we could possibly list. The most interesting ones are: Radiosity and Caustic Rendering -- NewTek claims that LightWave [6] can deliver the nuances of lighting better than any other 3D package on the market; VIPER (Versatile Interactive Preview Renderer) -- this tool provides users with an interactive preview of key elements of a scene that would usually require the time of a full scene render; Skelegons -- these are a new type of polygon that appear like 3D bones, however, Skelegons are automatically updated as users make modifications to their model, as well as providing a wealth of tools for creating bone structures and control and maintenance of characters; and Endomorphs -- a feature that allows users to change the expression, mood or action by training a single model. Endomorphs are ideal tools for lip-synch and complex morphing scenarios. There is no doubt that LightWave [6] is a massive upgrade, and the new tools and features will become invaluable to LightWave users. However, we've been waiting a long time for this, and after all of the hype and pre-release publicity NewTek has been building up, I truly hope LightWave [6] can not only live up to, but exceed our expectations.

SOFTIMAGE Gives Birth To XSI. SOFTIMAGE, the producers of popular 3D tool SOFTIMAGE|3D, announced that their eagerly anticipated next-generation 3D system code-named Sumatra has been given a name. Sumatra is to be released simply as SOFTIMAGE|XSI — a very humble and straight-forward name, but an effective one all the same. Why SOFTIMAGE|XSI? Unfortunately there's no funny story as to why SOFTIMAGE chose this name, it is simply the file extension of SOFTIMAGE's interactive media format. This file format is central to the creative process for games, film and multimedia developers, therefore the product formerly known as Sumatra will be the first component in streamlining the creative process. SOFTIMAGE is gearing up to release XSI at NAB in April.