Santa Monica, California-based Station X Studios is licensing the
production version of its proprietary animation software tools, code named
"Project: messiah," as a commercial software product. The high-end
animation production software, developed to animate the studio's
forthcoming live-action/CGI feature film DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: THE MOVIE, can
be used on computers utilizing the Microsoft Windows NT operating system
with either Intel compatible or Alpha compatible processors. A Mac version
is also in the works. The product will be available for a limited time at a
special price of $395 per seat. "While it may seem counter-intuitive to
sell proprietary technology to your direct competitors, becoming a
significant software company was always part of our business strategy.
Besides, Station X still has exceptional creative and technical in-house
assets to help us keep our edge in digital animation and effects," says
Fori Owurowa, president of Station X. Some of the advanced features of
Project: messiah include: easy character setup; real-time interactivity;
local/world coordinates on-the-fly; forward/inverse kinematics;
procedural/key-frame animation blending; and interactive soft-body
dynamics. Effects can modify multiple objects so users can animate one
skeleton and let it operate on an entire army. Designed for Windows 95/98
or NT Intel or Alpha CPU, the package's system requirements also include
eight megs of available disk space, 32 megs of RAM, CD-ROM drive, and
NewTek's LightWave3D or Inspire. Station X Studios, which opened its doors
in 1997, specializes in photo-real 3D/digital animation and visual effects
utilizing state-of-the-art supercomputers powered by Compaq Computer
(formerly Digital Equipment Corp.) Alpha CPUs running Microsoft's Windows
NT operating system.