NewTek Ships LightWave 3D™
For Apple Power Mac™


Highly Anticipated Premier 3D Software Now Available for Apple Platform


CONTACTS:

Keith Goodman (Vice President, Sales and Marketing)
(303) 448-9700

Steve Herrmann (Director, Marketing Communications)
(303) 448-9700

Hollie Wendt (Communications Consultant)
(408) 688-1193

January 7, 1996

MacWorld, San Francisco, January 7, 1996, NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of LightWave 3D™, Video Toaster™ and the Video Toaster Flyer™, announced today the release of the highly anticipated LightWave 3D 5.0 for the Power Macintosh. LightWave 3D for the Power Mac brings complete broadcast animation, modeling and rendering capabilities to a wide variety of business and education applications, enhancing the ability of Power Mac users to communicate their creative ideas visually.

LightWave 3D 5.0 for the Power Mac is the most powerful animation system available in any price range for any Apple Computer and will support Apple's QuickDraw™ 3D format for viewing changes to graphic objects in real time. Users of QuickDraw 3D gain a real time shading capability that supports the creation of highly realistic animation.

"Deciding to bring LightWave 3D to the Power Mac has proven to be a very good decision. We've had hundreds of orders coming into our offices for the past several months and users just can't wait to get their hands on it," said Keith Goodman, vice president, sales and marketing for NewTek, Inc. "Apple users now have the tools to meet their needs in the creation of projects where success is dependent on realistic animation. We are proud that LightWave 3D played a prominent role in recent projects such as James Bond's Golden Eye, Courage Under Fire, Babylon 5, and Star Trek."

LightWave 3D: Renowned for its comprehensive feature set

LightWave 3D is the most powerful animation system available in its price range, offering features such as full ray tracing, motion blur, depth of field, variable lens settings, and many other special effects allowing users to create stunning images and animations.

Due to its unparalleled quality and ease of use, LightWave 3D is the artist's choice for creating special effects for popular television shows, feature films, and commercials, as well as graphics for corporate videos, video games, print and much more.

"LightWave 3D's implementation of QuickDraw 3D makes real-time solid shaded interaction extremely fluid on the Power Mac," said Grant Boucher, digital effects supervisor, Digital Domain. "LightWave 3D lets us easily use multiple platforms when working on projects because the LightWave 3D work environment is consistent on all platforms so artists feel comfortable and confident working on a DEC Alpha, Pentium Pro, SGI or Power Mac.

LightWave 3D is the only product to break the polygon/spline barrier with the introduction of MetaNURBS™. MetaNURBS performs real time transformations between polygons and splines, enhancing the user's ability to create organic (smooth flowing) 3D objects. Polygons are easier to use than splines but make it difficult to achieve certain effects. Splines, through a more complicated approach, are a more powerful modeling technique. MetaNURBS is the first tool to effectively utilize the strengths of both techniques making it easier than ever to create stunning 3D models on any platform.

With MetaBalls, another powerful modeling feature, spheres can be utilized to quickly approximate complex shapes. The MetaBalls function automatically generates a skin based upon that approximation that will transform the rough shape into a complex 3D model. This is particularly effective when creating animals and characters. NewTek is the only vender providing this high-end feature in the price range of LightWave 3D.

Availability and Pricing

The Power Mac version of LightWave 3D 5.0 available through more than 200 dealers and 25 distributors worldwide. At $1,495, LightWave 3D has the most comprehensive feature set of any 3D program, providing workstation performance at a desktop price.

About NewTek, Inc.

Headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, NewTek Inc. is the leader in providing full featured video editing and special effects tools at a price that allows anyone to produce professional video and graphics. The company's products are used worldwide on projects from home video to feature film and have won awards for television shows such as Babylon 5 and Star Trek. NewTek's sales and marketing office is located in Boulder, Colorado. Contact NewTek at 1200 SW Executive Drive, Topeka, KS, 66615. (913)228-8000. FAX (913)228-8099, http://www.newtek.com.


NewTek is a registered trademark of NewTek, Inc.
Video Toaster, Video Toaster Flyer and LightWave 3D are registered trademarks of NewTek, Inc.