BOXX Technologies Inc., has added Tarari The Acceleration Co. to the growing list of partners in the Ultimate Swag Bag promotion, celebrating NAB 2005 by giving back to the digital content and video community with the ultimate swag for digital creativity. As a top sponsor, Tarari will contribute a Tarari Encoder Accelerator for Windows Media valued at more than $13,000.
Iridas, a leader in direct-from-disk playback technologies, announced the release of FrameCycler Digital Daily System (DDS) 3.5, the most powerful edition yet of its uncompressed daily playback application. FrameCycler DDS 3.5 is built on Iridas new multi-platform architecture and is the first high-end facility review software to run on Mac, PC and Linux.
Imagineer Systems, the U.K.-based developer of mokey and monet visual effects tools, announced the immediate availability of monet 1.5. Aimed at the broadcast, film and video post-production markets, monet is a vital tool offering a start to finish solution for replacing elements in film and video and is being used frequently for product placement. It is available in two versions monet software and monet extreme, both of which will be on display at NAB 2005 (booth #SL253).
Corel announced the Corel Painter IX Art Pen Brush Pack, a collection of new Corel Painter IX brushes that take advantage of the new Wacom 6D Art Pen to provide a heightened level of realism in digital art. Corel is offering the Corel Painter IX Art Pen Brush Pack to customers as a free download from its website at www.corel.com/painter.
NewTek announced the launch of a qualified beta program for the forthcoming LightWave 64-bit port. Registered owners of LightWave [8] are eligible to participate in the open beta program, if they have access to a 64-bit platform running Windows 64-bit beta OS. The requirements, application and confidentiality agreement are available to owners registered with the U.S. office who log in to the registration system at www.register.newtek.com and click on the LightWave 64-bit Beta Banner. Overseas registered owners should email lw64beta@newtek.com to request information.
Bauhaus Software Inc. announced the immediate availability of Animators Toolbar, a powerful new suite of 2D animation automation tools for Mirage Studio 1.5. Animators Toolbar was designed from the ground up for integration with Mirage Studio 1.5, Bauhaus flagship paperless 2D animation, paint and effects system. Animators Toolbar dramatically broadens the capabilities of traditional 2D animators and significantly accelerates their production workflow.
NVIDIA Corp. announced the immediate availability of the company's new NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition media and communications processors (MCPs) for Intel platforms. This new line of core-logic solutions incorporates a host of new, leading edge, NVIDIA features never before available on the Intel platform, including NVIDIA SLI technology, hardware-based firewall security, advanced storage solutions and native Gigabit Ethernet networking.
Dan Ritchie, author of the award-winning paint and animation software Project Dogwaffle and PD Pro, has announced the availability of a new update called version 3.1, available for as a free download to users of PD Pro 3.0 and as a full version installer to new users.
Timothy Albee, creator of the 3D-animated KAZE, GHOST WARRIOR short, has released, in conjunction with programmer Mac Reiter of Mac Reiter Creations, has released the facial animation tool developed for the project that cut his production time considerably.
Luxology Llc. announced the immediate availability of a free production evaluation version of modo, its powerful new subdivision surface and polygonal modeling platform. Fully functional and unrestricted, the production evaluation version of modo is unique to the industry where software demos and learning editions often disable features or create other limitations.
Mary Ann Skweres examines the connections between the visual effects industry and medical visualization.
Autodesk Inc. introduced Toxik, collaborative compositing software for the creation of digital visual effects. Featuring advanced creative tools as well as integrated, enterprise-level collaboration, Toxik brings new capabilities to feature film production a market that is demanding increasingly sophisticated levels of creativity, collaboration and image processing quality. Redefining the way visual effects are created, managed and shared, Toxik will be shown publicly at the National Assn. of Broadcasters Convention (NAB) in Las Vegas, April 18-21, 2005.
Vfx designer Eric Hanson, who has developed three instructional DVDs on 3D urban environments at The Gnomon Workshop, discusses this thriving sector with Karen Raugust.
Rendercore, the leading remote rendering solutions company, now supports full automatic remote rendering for NewTeks LightWave 7.5 and 8.2. Users will be able to remotely manage and submit render jobs without any user intervention.
Remote rendering includes:
* Simplified Service Flow* Login with RenMan* Analyze LightWave scene file* Set LightWave Content Directory* Upload through Scene Manager* Submit LightWave job* Monitor and manage jobs through Job Manager* Download outputs
Massive Software, developer of the Academy Award-winning 3D animation system for AI-driven characters and digital stunts, announced that Digital Domain is integrating Massive into its vfx pipeline. Massive, originally developed by Massive Software founder Stephen Regelous for use on THE LORD OF THE RINGS large-scale battle scenes, has been adopted by premiere creative facilities worldwide, including Rhythm & Hues, Animal Logic, WETA Digital, The Mill and many others.
Digimation has released its affordable new 2005 3D model collections and libraries.
Autodesk Inc. has begun shipping combustion 4 software for Windows, the highly anticipated upgrade to its visual effects desktop software solution.
Combustion 4 software features a complete set of sophisticated tools for visual effects creation, including vector paint, particles, effects, animation and 3D compositing. Version 4 provides motion graphics and compositing artists new creative capabilities, interface improvements, new paint tools and enhanced interoperability with third-party applications.
Key new features include:
Toon Boom Animation Inc. and Corel Corp. are now offering special pricing, until May 31, 2005, to customers who purchase both Corel Painter IX and Toon Boom Studio v2.5, a natural pairing for professional animators to create traditional, hand-drawn animation.
Mary Ann Skweres examines the connections between the visual effects industry and medical visualization.
Instant Effects Inc. announced new product developments to create and deliver 3D presentations from within the presentation standard already mastered by millions, Microsoft PowerPoint. Expanding the product family, Instant Effects announced the latest version of its flagship product OfficeFX, for use by consumers, educators and business presenters, and also unveiled OfficeFX Professional.
RE:Vision Effects has released ReelSmart Motion Blur (RSMB) for SOFTIMAGE|XSI. RSMB automatically tracks every pixel in a sequence and blurs based on calculated motion. RSMB is fully integrated with the 3D scene, so it also works from Motion Vectors generated by shaders and user-supplied points (such as tracker positions). RSMB also gives XSI artists extremely fast, intelligent 2D motion blur for 3D renders, dramatically speeding up the rendering pipeline.
Christopher Panzner ponders the future of 3D and visual effects in creating immersive worlds beyond what can be imagined today.
Character Animation Technologies Ltd., a New Zealand-based developer of innovative character animation software, announced the public, beta release of CATMuscle, its proprietary muscle deformation system. CATMuscle adds a whole new dimension to the company's flagship product, CAT (Character Animation Toolkit), a complete character system for 3ds max. The muscle system allows artists to achieve full-range, realistic movement in shoulders and other difficult areas with a minimum of setup. CATMuscle is the only muscle system that can be imported directly into a game engine.
wondertouch announced the release of "wondertouch Particle Emitters for Motion," a particle emitter package designed for customers using Motion, the high-performance motion graphic design and production application from Apple. The emitter package features a selection of more than 300 preset particle effects, based on the company's award-winning, standalone particleIllusion software technology, that have been converted to operate in Motion.
Turbo Squid, home of the Web's largest collection of royalty-free 3D products available for download and worldwide publisher for the Discreet Certified 3ds max Plug-in Program, announced the availability of four new market specific software collections.
