Contact: Beth Fisher, Regis McKenna Inc. (415) 354-4436
Sally Swift, Regis McKenna Inc. (415) 354-4464
Coleen Lim, MacroMind Inc. (415) 442-0200
MacroMind Announces MacroMind Three-D
SAN FRANCISCO, February 21, 1990--MacroMind® Inc., the leading vendor of multimedia software, announced today the addition of MacroMind Three-D,™ a three-dimensional animation, rendering and image manipulation tool for the Macintosh® personal computer to its growing family of multimedia software tools.
Designed for multimedia producers, animators, and other professional users, MacroMind Three-D works as a stand-alone product or as part of powerful production system when combined with MacroMind Director. MacroMind Three-D allows the user to create computer animations and renderings to a level of quality that, until now, had been restricted to high-end equipment costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Intuitive controls provide direct manipulation of lights, cameras and shapes over the three spatial dimensions and the fourth dimension of time. MacroMind Three-D accepts input from a variety of Macintosh modeling and CAD programs, such as Swivel 3D,™ Super3D,™ MicroStationMac,™ AutoCad™ and others.
MacroMind Three-D consists of three separate modules that operate together: 3DWorks, RenderWorks and ImageWorks. 3DWorks is the animation studio, where you move models, cameras, and lights in three-dimensional space. 3DWorks' powerful Score provides key parameter-based animation editing for sophisticated motion- and object- parameter control.
RenderWorks takes models, removes hidden surfaces and jagged edges and adds texture, depth and realism. Images can be rendered at 8 or 32 bits-per-pixel, and dithered for display on any screen. Additionally, MacroMind Three-D will provide Pixar RenderMan™ compatibility by exporting scene descriptions in the RIB format.
ImageWorks lets you perform anti-aliased digital compositing on your finished animations. It then outputs them as a series of still images, or as PICS files for real-time preview in MacroMind Accelerator, or to use in MacroMind Director. ImageWorks
provides the capability to record 32 bit broadcast quality animations frame-by-frame onto videotape using video controllers from ARTI, Diaquest, Lyon Lamb, and Videomedia.
"With MacroMind Three-D, your Macintosh can possess the functionality of many high-end animation systems," said Marc Canter, MacroMind's chairman and founder. "MacroMind Three-D's intelligent, easy-to-use design also allows less-experienced animators to take advantage of its tremendous power."
"MacroMind Three-D is the first accessible product to bring high-end 3-D animation and rendering capablities to the Macintosh platform," said Jeff Smith of Infinite Point Design, a graphics and animation production company specializing in broadcast-quality video. "MacroMind Three-D is by far the most sophisticated product that I've seen. It has a lot of power, but it's also easy to use. I can now offer my clients 3-D animation at an affordable price. This product will open up new markets for animation." Smith's clients have included Pacific Bell, Eclipse Productions, Printz, New City Communications, and Apple Computer.
MacroMind Three-D ($1,495) will be available directly from MacroMind during the second quarter of 1990. MacroMind Director version 2.0 ($695) will be available in retail stores in April 1990. MacroMind Director version 1.0.1 ($695) and MacroMind Accelerator ($195), a software utility program that speeds up and smooths animations for professional-quality output, are currently available from computer dealers and other resellers. The company also offers clip sound and animation sequences in CD-ROM format ($195) or floppy-disk format ($59.95 per disk).
Established in 1984, MacroMind is a privately held company backed by the Cole Gilburne Fund and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
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MacroMind and MacroMind Director are registered trademarks of MacroMind Inc.
MacroMind Three-D is a trademark of MacroMind Inc.
Macintosh and HyperCard are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc.
Swivel 3D is a trademark of VPL Research Inc.
Super3D is a trademark of Silicon Beach Software.
MicroStation Mac is a trademark of Bentley Systems.
