Tiburon, CA, (November 29, 1994)—MacUser, the leading monthly magazine for buyers of Macintosh computers and products, has selected The VALIS Group’s MovieFlo' as the 1994 Editors’ Choice Award finalist for Best New Special Effects Software. The “Eddy” Award recognizes the best Macintosh hardware and software products released throughout the year. Finalists were selected based on their technological innovation, quality, performance, user friendliness, and value to Macintosh users.
“This year, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Eddy Awards, it's clear that the 1994 finalists represent the best products of the year and set the stage for product innovation in the future,” noted MacUser editor-in-chief, Maggie Canon.
At Siggraph '94, The VALIS Group released MovieFlo'™ Plasticity, Synthesis & Morphing for QuickTime™ Movies (SRP $899) for Macinstosh and Power Macintosh in addition to Power Macintosh versions of their popular Flo'™ (SRP $199) and MetaFlo'™ Image Synthesis and Morphing Software ($595). MovieFlo' turns imported movies and static images into rubber sheets which can be distorted and combined into new movies. Movies and images are placed onto separate layers and woven into unique movies with user defined special effects. Users can apply local distortion and morphing across multiple movies or movie frames and mix animations created from still images.
The results are the mixing of live action with organic computer generated animated elements and spcial effects without rotoscoping individual frames. For example, using Freeform Plasticity in MovieFlo', a still image can be smoothly animated and composited with an imported movie to appear as though it was part of the original live action. Distortions can also be applied across the frames of the movies for post processed special effects.
MovieFlo' is an expanded version of MetaFlo'™ (which also received the MacUser Editor's Choice Finalist Award in 1993). MovieFlo' provides users with the ability to import movie sequences and turn them into rubber-like sheets for post processing user defined distortion effects. Now the tools available in MetaFlo' for use on static images can be applied to movies. You can composite any number of movies or images, each as a separate masked layer. The freeform lasso interface lets you treat each layer or a group of layers as a rubber sheet so that you can stretch, pull, etc. parts of a frame or image while holding other parts in place (without using points or a mesh). For post processing movies, select the sequence of frames to apply the effect to and the program does the rest. Our proprietary interpolation engine and object based environment gives you unlimited UNDO & REDO even after the file is saved. Field rendering, SMPTE time support, ease-in ease out, dynamic morphing, morphing between images and to a template; resolution independence, transparency and masking controls allow you to produce professional post effects to QuickTime™ movies, and still images (TIFF, PICT).
The 1994 Editors’ Choice Awards will be presented to products in 36 categories at a gala black-tie ceremony on January 3, 1995, in San Francisco. Special awards will honor the Hardware and Software Products of the Year as well as recognize the Breakthrough Technology of the Year. In addition, two personal achievement awards will be presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the Macintosh industry.
MacUser is a monthly magazine dedicated to providing comprehensive, comparative, lab-based evaluations of Macintosh products. Its rate base of 500,000 reaches the most involved, active business buyers in the industry. Headquartered in Foster City, California, MacUser is published by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, the leading publisher of computer magazines.
The VALIS Group specializes in producing freeform graphics and animation software. In 1991, VALIS was the first company to commercialize and publish VG Shaders for Pixar's 3D RenderMan® products. In 1993, VALIS introduced Flo' Freeform Plasticity for Macintosh and MetaFlo' in August of that year. VALIS also publishes PixelPutty Solo™, a standalone freeform organic 3D modeling application for MacRenderMan™ and Rib-O-Matic,™ a post processing batch RIB editor for Macromedia Three D™ users.
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The VALIS Group
PO Box 831
Tiburon, California 94920-0831
The VALIS Group Announces PixelPutty Solo™
A New Standalone Freeform Organic Modeler For
MacRenderMan™
Supports RenderMan, MacroMind Three D, DXF for Macintosh®
November, 1994—Comdex '94, Las Vegas, Nevada. The VALIS Group announces PixelPutty Solo™ —a complete 3-D freeform organic modeling application powerful enough for professional 3D artists yet wonderfully intuitive for beginners (list price of $349). PixelPutty Solo will run on any Mac with an FPU 4 MBytes of available RAM; 32 Bit QuickDraw; and System 6.0.7 or higher with a minimum of 1 MByte of hard disk space. The look and feel of PixelPutty is designed to mimic the way a person would work with clay and allows users to create very complex, organic 3-D models using our new technology based on fluid-dynamics. PixelPutty Solo gives models a realistic 'feel' unavailable in other Macintosh™ based modelers. PixelPutty incorporates a variety of 17 robust tools for surface sculpting and includes advanced modeling features such as: freeform deformations twisting and tapering along a spline; Boolean operations which retain an ordered mesh rather than converting to polygons and displacement mapping. PixelPutty Solo also provides:
A large selection of primitives which give the artist as many options as possible for starting the creative process. PixelPutty™ covers them all, from simple shapes like spheres and cubes, to complex interpolating surfaces like lofting. PixelPutty™ supplies the artist with a total of 9 basic primitives. Each primitive has a number of options, giving the user an almost infinite number of possibilities.
Physically-based surface constraints which make objects bend and bulge like real surfaces. PixelPutty™ uses a complex, and proprietary set of routines based on fluid-dynamics principles.
Export of standard file formats which allow the models to be incorporated into a variety of animation and scene creation applications. PixelPutty™ supports the 3 most widely accepted formats: RIB (RenderMan), DXF (Infini-D; Strata Studio Pro; Electric Image) and 3DGF (Macromind Three D).
Support for as many quadratic curves as possible which gives the artist complete freedom to model with his/her favorite type of spline. PixelPutty™ supports 9 different spline types including B-Splines, Catmull-ROM, NURBS, Hermite, Cardinal, Tau, Beta, Tensed B-Spline and Linear.
A real-time wire frame display for the interactive development of complex, organic shapes. PixelPutty™ has one of the fastest screen refresh times of any Macintosh modeler.
A rendering module with quick shading for preview purposes. This gives the 3-D artist a feel for what he/she is modeling. Wire frame, Hidden Line, Flat, Constant and Gourad shading are all available within PixelPutty™. There’s even depth cueing and back-face culling options. For more robust rendering, RenderMan™ is fully supported.
The ability to break an object down into infinitely smaller component parts for refining even the most minute details.
The ability to retain an ordered mesh, no matter what type of operation is applied to the surface.
With RenderMan, Boolean operations are supported which permit the merging of two shapes to form a third shape. PixelPutty™ does this, without converting to polygons.
Spline-based deformation, tapering and twisting tools.
PixelPutty Solo is the fully expanded standalone version of our PixelPutty Plug-in for Pixar’s™ Showplace™ 2.0 and 2.1. The plug-in allows Showplace users to simply select one of four starting shapes: sphere, cylinder, cone or a rectangular mesh and immediately start pushing and pulling on various parts of the model to mold it into a new shape. At any stage, the model can be brought into the Showplace workspace and rendered with MacRenderMan™ using flat shading or sophisticated Looks™ from Pixar and The VALIS Group. The model can be brought back into the plug-in at any time to continue the design process.
Some of the unusual tools found in PixelPutty Plug-in include: 3 variations of Mesh Move and Pinch; a Flex slider to control the degree of flexibility of the current point selected. Additionally, PixelPutty includes a Mirror tool, which allows you to mirror your movement across one of the three planes (X, Y or Z) so that you can, for example,
produce "ears" or shapes that are symmetrical all in one step.
PixelPutty Plug-in contains two versions: A Catmull-Rom Mesh version and a NURBS version. Catmull-Rom surfaces are better for realistic "skin" surfaces and NURBS are better when extremely smooth surfaces are preferred. Both versions can be purchased for $129. Contact The VALIS Group directly at 800 VALIS 04, (415) 435-5404 or FAX (415) 435-9862.
PixelPutty Plug-in for Showplace system requirements: Showplace, MacRenderMan and QuickTime™ must be installed and the system requirements are the same as those required for Showplace 2.0.
All registered trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
The VALIS Group Ships Flo'™ And Flo'™ Lite,
Outrageous Freeform Plasticity Software For Windows®
Also available for Mac II and Power Macintosh™
COMDEX/Fall, Las Vegas, Nevada (November 14, 1994)—Remember creating funny faces by pressing images onto Silly Putty® and tugging on it? That's basically the premise of Flo' and Flo' Lite, the only products available with Freeform Plasticity™ technology on the desktop. The VALIS Group announced a Windows version of their popular Macintosh product, Flo'™ Freeform Plasticity (SRP $199) which turns any image including
photographs into a rubber canvas which can be reshaped for subtle or humorous effects and animated. Flo' Lite is a lower-priced version without animation (SRP $99). A freehand lasso is all that is used to select the area to be reshaped. The user simply pulls, moves and twists the area selected and the results are quickly drawn to the screen. No points, no mesh, no morphing between two images is required to produce outrageous images just for laughs or images intended for professional use.
Regular Flo' lets the user change an image and set the change to a keyframe. Any number of keyframes can be created and the program generates all the in-between frames for the final animation. Flo’™ Freeform Plasticity™ Software was introduced earlier for Macintosh by The VALIS Group also at a list price of $199. All versions of Flo’ turn an image into a plastic-like surface which can then be manipulated without degrading the original image quality and animated. Game developers, multimedia producers, animators and video
professionals can use regular Flo' to create high quality animations. For home hobbyists, Flo' Lite is perfect for fun with photos of family and friends; even for favorite pet pictures! Flo’ and Flo' Lite are also ideal for professional photographers, designers, cosmetic
surgeons, othodontists, security/law enforcement suspect compositing, and anyone
interested in having serious fun. Flo' and Flo' Lite support most image file formats (Tiff, TARGA, PICT, JPEG, etc.). In their Booth at Comdex, VALIS will also be showing Metaflo’™, Movieflo™’ and their new Freeform 3D animation product, Pixel Putty™ Solo with RenderMan® support for Macintosh.
Flo' for Windows Minimum Requirements:
Windows 3.1 and above Compatible PC System
386 Processor With 4 Megabytes RAM
Super VGA Monitor
Special Discount Offer for Pixar Customers
All 6 VG Shader™ Libraries for $495!
VG Shaders are for non-Pixar applications such as VIDI Presenter Pro™, Macromedia Three D™, MacroModel™, PixelPutty Solo™
VG Looks™ format for Pixar Typestry™ and Showplace™ available directly from Pixar on the Pixar Looks™ CD Call 510/236-4000
VALIS ToolKit™ ($95) and VALIS ToolKit™ Plus ($195)
for Mac Only Includes:
2 applications for RenderMan picture-making on the Macintosh; ShaderDetective™ for quick shader parameter editing and previewing; & ColorMinder™ for custom color control.
Prime RIB™ 3-D Objects & PickTure™ ($195 each) Mac Only
Volume 1 Includes: 215 3-D Objects for 3-D Picture-Making with Showplace™
Volume 2 Includes: Darryl's MicroBots 28 vehicles and human like robots seen in Computer Graphics World magazine.
VALIS Rib-O-Matic™ ($295)
Rib-O-Matic is a tool that was created by 3D experts to meet the demanding needs of professional animators. Now for the first time, you can include shadows and displacement when using MacroMind Three-D and MacRenderMan together to produce high-quality RenderMan animation sequences.
Rib-O-Matic gives you access to the full range of RenderMan settings, including the powerful Esoterica options and attributes. Rib-O-Matic lets you tap the full power of RenderMan.
For serious RIB Hackers, Rib-O-Matic gives you complete freedom to edit your MacroMind Three-D RIB files. With the VALIS Toolkit, you can add ShaderDetective and ColorMinder code directly into your RIB files for even more flexibility.
