NVIDIA reported that the rapid adoption of its leading family of 3D graphics processing units (GPUs) has moved it into the number one spot in the Microsoft DirectX 9.0, or high-end performance segment of the market, rising from 26% share in the second quarter of 2004 to 64% share in the third quarter of 2004, according to market analyst firm Mercury Research.
Eovia Corp., developer and publisher of leading 3D animation, modeling and rendering software, has begun shipping its international English edition of Carrara 4, the powerful, approachable, complete 3D solution. Available in two versions, Standard and Pro, Carrara 4 is a major upgrade to an already high-quality 3D animation and design tool. Carrara 4 Standard is the ideal choice as an affordable and approachable entry into 3D.
Maxon and ArchVision announced the immediate availability of an RPC plug-in for Cinema 4D R9. Now Cinema 4D users can take advantage of the amazing content found in the ArchVision object libraries. RPC (Rich Photorealistic Content) libraries of people, trees, cars and more enable Cinema 4D users to add photorealistic content to their scenes faster than ever before.
Corel Painter IX, the powerful Natural-Media painting and illustration software, is currently available across North America, the U.K. and Australia.
Justin Leach chronicles his experiences as 3D CG creator on Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence in this informative production journal.
In the spirit of Halloween, the Career Coach gives some helpful hints on how not to scare off your network on contacts and connections.
Turbo Squid, home of the largest collection of royalty-free 3D assets and worldwide publisher for the Discreets Certified 3ds max Plug-in Program, announced a year-end promotion for students and educators in the U.S. and Canada.
Australia's premiere game developer, Krome Studios, is moving its entire game development pipeline to Maya software. With more than 130 employees, Krome Studios has created successful games for all platforms, with titles including Sunny Garcia's SURFING, EXTREMELY GOOFY SKATEBOARDING, BARBIE BEACH VACATION, JIMMY NEUTRON BOY GENIUS: JET FUSION, the TY THE TASMANIAN TIGER series and KING ARTHUR.
Recognizing the growing importance of Maya software to the 3D game development community, Krome began to evaluate their pipeline tools and talent pool.
Advancing the digital technology capabilities of the entertainment industry, HP announced a three-year extension of its multi-million dollar agreement with DreamWorks.
The agreement with DreamWorks designates HP as its sole preferred technology provider for its core technology purchases, including the computing infrastructure for DreamWorks digital studios. In addition, the companies plan to collaborate on technology innovations in areas such as digital editing, digital cinema and digital asset management.
Now through Dec. 31, 2004, BOXX Technologies is offering special pricing on 3ds max 7 software to customers in the United States who purchase a BOXX certified 3ds max 7 workstation. Call BOXX toll free at 877-877-BOXX or 512-835-0400 for more details.
Sun Microsystems Inc. and NVIDIA Corp. have joined forces to deliver leading NVIDIA Quadro graphics solutions on Sun Java workstations running Solaris, Windows or Linux operating systems. Through this alliance, Sun has bundled NVIDIA technology with its recently announced Sun Java Workstations W1100z and W2100z, based on the AMD Opteron processor with Direct Connect Architecture.
Aided by its normal mapping feature, one of the most important advancements in 3D game development with crossover application in film and design visualization cinematics, Discreets 3ds max 7 begins shipping Oct. 13, 2004.
This major release delivers significant advancements and optimizations to its core features that will greatly enhance the workflow for 3D artists and designers in film, television, games and visualization.
Craft Animations releases its first commercial plug-in suite for 3ds max, Craft Camera Tools, which will be publicly presented at the official release of 3ds max 7, Oct. 14, in Stockholm, Sweden. Craft Camera Tools is used by animators in realtime to steer cameras with a joystick or keyboard in the 3ds max viewport. Four types of cameras and two help tools, are available:
Digital Anarchy announced the availability of CHAOS STOCK VOLUME 1, a new concept in royalty-free background design. By including the Adobe After Effects project files along with pre-rendered footage, CHAOS STOCK gives users enormous creativity and flexibility to create a wide variety of custom designed stock backgrounds.
Electric Rain Inc. announced the upcoming release of Swift 3D Xpress for Mac OS X. Swift 3D Xpress is a 3D extension accessible directly from within the Macromedia Flash MX 2004 interface. Swift 3D Xpress allows Flash MX 2004 users to select any vector object on the stage in Flash, open it into the Xpress editing interface, customize their 3D scene by extruding, rotating, lighting and animating the vector object, and then render it out to a self-contained Movie Clip in either vector or raster form.
SGI workstations running ART VPS' accelerated ray tracing chip sets were demonstrated publicly for the first time at the SGI Technology Forum in Paris. The AR350 chips, configured in sets of eight and 16, are expected to be available in SGI workstations within the next two months.
Toon Boom Animation announced the release of Symphony. With features such as morphing, basic inverse kinematics and "glue" (automatic joint connecting) that enhance the paperless animation production process, Symphony enables studios to produce high quality digital animation. Advanced drawing and asset management tools combined with a seamless, integrated workflow saves significant overhead costs while adding value to their animations. Symphony also building on the advanced features provided by Opus and Concerto.
![NewTek Introduces VT[4] LIVE!](https://www.awn.com/sites/default/files/styles/small_featured/public/image/featured/16022-newtek-introduces-vt4-live.jpg?itok=dZBJf9dI "NewTek Introduces VT[4] LIVE!")
![NewTek Introduces VT[4] LIVE!](https://www.awn.com/sites/default/files/styles/tiny_featured/public/image/featured/16022-newtek-introduces-vt4-live.jpg?itok=WfIW9Qu3 "NewTek Introduces VT[4] LIVE!")
NewTek Inc. announced the release of VT[4] LIVE!, an integrated production suite that provides a comprehensive toolset for all professional SD video production needs. VT[4] LIVE! offers computer-based live production capabilities, able to handle anything from switching and titling for network broadcast to serverless Web streaming. VT[4] LIVE!
Eden FX (STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE) is integrating modo, the new subdivision surface and polygonal modeling platform, into its production pipeline. Eden FX chose modo for its speed, advanced toolset and intuitive workflow.
Thanks to a new strategic alliance between Softimage and gaming middleware provider Criterion Software, developers using Criterion's RenderWare solutions now have access to a suite of plug-ins and import/export tools designed to facilitate the integration of sophisticated 3D content created in SOFTIMAGE|XSI.
Di-O-Matic, a leading developer of character animation software, announced the upcoming release of Facial Studio for Windows, providing more than 500 controls over the 3D head creation process. This award-winning suite of plug-ins for 3ds max will now be available in a complete stand-alone Windows version, offering new features such as PhotoMatching that allows you to create heads based on photos or drawings in less than 10 minutes.
ArchVision Inc. announced the availability of the RPC Plug-In for Maxon's Cinema 4D 9 (PC only) for $99. Cinema 4D 9 offers customers enormous performance increase and simplifies the 3D learning curve. The RPC Plug-in for Cinema 4D 9 provides an easy to use interface for placing and editing RPC (Rich Photorealistic Content) within Cinema 4D.
ResPower Inc. now supports rendering for e-on Softwares Vue 4 Professional scenery on the ResPower render farm.
BOXX Technologies has entered an agreement with Avid to offer Softimage|XSI Foundation and Essentials software as an optional upgrade for it series of award-winning workstations.
As game developers worldwide prepare themselves for the increased challenges associated with producing next-generation gaming content, many are choosing CAT 1.2 as the basis for their character animation pipelines. Developed by Character Animation Technologies, CAT (Character Animation Toolkit) is a fully integrated character animation plug-in for Discreet's 3ds max. Game studios that have already made the move to CAT include Relic Ent., Remedy Ent., Obsidian Ent., Relentless Software, GlyphX Games and Rainbow Studios.
