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Softimage Launches ‘3D Love’ Tour

Avid Technology Inc. announced a series of worldwide launch events for SOFTIMAGE|XSI version 5.0, the latest edition of the companys flagship 3D animation software, will take place across North America, Europe and Asia. The events will showcase the powerful new features of XSI v.5.0, including the film-quality map generation capabilities in Ultimapper, the unique property transfer tools in GATOR and the latest migration tools for Maya users. Customers from leading film studios, postproduction houses, and gaming companies will also be on-hand to share how Softimage technology helps their creative workflow. During the tour, the SOFTIMAGE|FACE ROBOT technology preview will also make its international debut.

The 3D industry took notice when we unveiled XSI 5.0 and Face Robot, and since then there has been an incredible demand from new and existing customers around the world to see this technology up close, said Marc Stevens, director of R&D and product management for Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. Thanks to our partners, we will be bringing our products directly to artists in the top 3D centers around the world, and well show them why Softimage technology is the best solution on the market today for delivering the next generation of digital characters and visual effects.

Sponsored in part by HP, the events will feature product demonstrations running on the latest 64-bit hardware platforms from HP, including the xw4300 featuring the Intel Pentium 4 Processor and the xw9300, featuring dual AMD Opteron processors. Combined with native 64-bit XSI v.5.0, these advancements in hardware technology will enable 3D artists to streamline time-consuming animation tasks and surpass 32-bit memory restrictions, allowing for increasingly complex renders.

"Some of the industry's leading filmmakers for cutting-edge visual effects and animation use HP workstations," added Molly Connolly, worldwide digital content and creation segment marketing manager, HP. "With SOFTIMAGE|XSI, HP will exhibit the real differences 64-bit computing can bring to the animated screen with richer and more detailed images and shorter production costs and schedules."

Scheduled cities include: Adelaide, Austin, Beijing, Fort Lauderdale, Honolulu, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Montreal, Mumbai, Paris, New York City, Perth, Raleigh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Toronto and Vancouver.

For more information and to register for these events, please visit www.softimage.com/3dlove.

SOFTIMAGE|XSI (www.softimage.com) is a complete 3D modeling and animation solution for the film, broadcast, post-production and interactive entertainment industries. SOFTIMAGE|XSI software is the creative engine behind the Avid Computer Graphics toolset, and an integral player in Avids Make, Manage and Move Media strategy. It is the industrys first 3D nonlinear production environment providing artists the freedom to make professional computer graphics, 3D animation and vfx. Softimage is proud to count amongst its customers: Troublemaker Studios, CaféFX, Giant Killer Robots, R!OT, The Mill, Stan Winston Studios, Pixel Liberation Front, La Maison, Hybride, Janimation, Quiet Man, PSYOP, Cinepix and Nerd Corps.

Avid Technology (www.avid.com), headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is a world leader in digital nonlinear media creation, management, and distribution solutions, enabling film, video, audio, animation, games and broadcast professionals to work more efficiently, productively and creatively.

Bill Desowitz's picture

Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.