24 February 2003
Reported, written and edited by David Duberman
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MindAvenue
last week released AXELedge V2, the latest edition of its Web design suite. The
software integrates 2D, 3D, video, sound and text, and enables publication and
export in a range of Web graphics formats. AXELedge V2 bridges the gap between
2D and 3D by enabling the creation and export of 3D animations to the
Macromedia Flash file format (SWF) and to Web video formats including MPEG-4.
The new version adds support for publishing interactive 3D QuickTime content.
Other new
export and publishing features include real-time export preview, as well as
support for generating self-contained projector executables, anti-aliased image
renderings and VRML worlds.
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New from
Intrinsic Graphics, Inc., the developer of the Intrinsic Alchemy
game-development platform, is Intrinsic Alchemy for Linux.
"We
expect to be seeing more game-capable embedded Linux systems in the coming
years," said Brian McClendon, vice president of engineering at Intrinsic.
An
evaluation of Intrinsic Alchemy for Linux is available at http://www.intrinsic.com/.
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Paris-based
Virtools, a developer of interactive 3D development solutions, last week
released a new version of its 3D-development environment, Virtools Dev 2.5, and
announced the upcoming release of the Virtools AI Pack, an artificial
intelligence add-on pack for Dev 2.5.
The new
Virtools Scripting Language (VSL) complements the two existing development
interfaces: the Schematic Editor (Dev's GUI), and the SDK (low level access for
C++ programming). VSL provides an interface to the SDK directly in Dev, and
includes an intelligent coloring system, context-sensitive completion, and
function arguments display. VSL also offers full debugging mode with breakpoint
support, watchable variables with value editing, and step-by-step debugging
(also step into/out support).
Other new
features include as the Variable Manager, multi-level undo, and enhanced
replacement. See other new Dev 2.5 features at http://www.virtools.com/solutions/products/virtools_dev_new2_5.asp.
The
Artificial Intelligence Pack for Virtools Dev promises a cost-effective
solution enabling users to implement AI in a variety of different applications
while improving the production process and significantly reducing cost and
time-to-market.
The pack
is an add-on library of building blocks specifically geared to managing
autonomous entities. The AI Pack lets development teams create AI-based
applications within Virtools Dev's intuitive graphic interface.
More
information on the AI Pack: http://www.virtools.com/solutions/products/virtools_aipack.asp.
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Ulead
Systems last week shipped DVD Workshop AC-3, its DVD-authoring software, with
support for Dolby AC-3 audio files. Users can import 5.1 surround sound AC-3
audio files and create stereo AC-3 files within DVD Workshop. The audio file
format, also known as Dolby Digital in theaters, allows audio playback
compatibility, a higher compression rate for producing small audio files, and
the ability to offer Dolby 5.1 surround sound on DVD Workshop authored discs.
The software also includes Ulead AutoPlay, an auto-run DVD playback software
that can be burned to DVD or VideoCD discs.
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VBrick Systems, Inc., a provider of networked video appliances, last week introduced VBXcast, its new MPEG-4 intelligent video appliance. VBXcast is a networked video appliance that connects to standard video devices such as a video camera, DVD player or VCR. VBXcast compresses the video into an MPEG-4 format and delivers the video stream over any network. MPEG-4 uses bandwidth more effectively, allowing it to extend the reach of visual communication to everyone with Internet access. VBXcast is flexible, as a freestanding portable device that can be plugged into the network where and when necessary. It plays video through standard viewers as well as VBrick's freely distributed StreamPlayer viewer.
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Just out
from Montréal-based Kaydara Inc., a developer of 3D character-animation and
motion-capture products, is Motionbuilder Personal Edition (PE) for artists, 3D
enthusiasts, students and freelancers. The product is a full one-year
production license of Kaydara's character-animation software, with printed
documentation, upgrades and customer support. PE is priced at USD $100 until
July 31, 2003.
Feature
highlights in MOTIONBUILDER include:
Motionbuilder
PE also natively supports Kaydara's FBX file interchange format, a format for
3D data that lets users acquire and exchange 3D assets and media from a variety
of sources. FBX is widely supported by 3D content and streaming-media vendors
such as 2D3, Alias|Wavefront, Autodesk/Discreet, DI-O-Matic, Face2Face, Maxon,
ElectricImage, InSpeck, Motek, NewTek, QEDsoft, Reflex3D, Softimage,
Turbosquid, Vicon, and Viewpoint.
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Improvements
to SpeedTreeRT delivered in the newly released version 1.4 include enhanced
rendering speed, better control over lighting and LOD transitions, and
extensive collision detection support, all of which have made possible the
creation of vast, highly-realistic real-time forests.
Says
Michael Sechrest, chief programmer and vice president at developer IDV,
"SpeedTree can now be used to render huge forests with thousands of trees
just as easily as it can be used to render a handful of fantastically detailed
trees."
The
changes have enabled the creation of a 300,000-tree, real-time forest, covering
200 square miles. In a publicly available PC executable, visitors can fly
through the forest interactively, with the trees blowing in the wind and
smoothly transitioning through LODs without the popping or flashing seen with
trees in typical real-time game and simulation environments. Frame rates on
commodity 3D hardware (NVIDIA GeForce3 and 1.8 GHz processor) average 50 Hz.
Developers are invited to download a free evaluation of the new SpeedTreeRT
SDK, which includes the source code to the forest flyover application.
Other
important enhancements to 1.4 include:
http://www.idvinc.com/speedtree
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ARM, a
provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions, and Canesta, a
developer of electronic-perception technology, announced at last week's 3GSM
Congress, Cannes, France, that Canesta has joined the ARM PrimeXsys Community
Program. Canesta will be bringing to the Community, a technology that enables
electronic devices to "see" by tracking nearby objects in three
dimensions in real time.
The first
application of the Canesta technology is the company's "projection
keyboard." By integrating the three-chip chip set into a wireless device,
a full size "QWERTY" keyboard and mouse will be created by projected
beams of light.
Building a
projection keyboard into a wireless device make it practical to enter large
amounts of data into small, untethered devices.
The ARM
PrimeXsys Platforms provide system developers with hardware, software and
verification IP for design a system-on-chip (SoC). Canesta has ported its
projection keyboard technology to the PrimeXsys Platform. Wireless device
manufacturers using the ARM PrimeXsys Platform including Canesta's technology
will now be able to easily and quickly integrate this new capability to their
devices, offering customers an easy-to-use and familiar method for typing text
in applications.
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SciTech
Software Inc. and Hyperion Entertainment VOF have enterered into a strategic
partnership in which SciTech's SNAP technology will be integrated into AmigaOS
4.x, currently under development by Hyperion for PPC-based systems.
SciTech
SNAP, SciTech's graphics device support, allows for the development and
deployment of embedded solutions across multiple platforms and currently
already supports over 170 different graphics chipsets including all the latest
offerings from ATI, nVidia and Matrox.
Hyperion
Entertainment is a privately held Belgian-German company, founded in March of
1999. The company specializes in 3D graphics and the conversion of
entertainment software from Windows to niche-platforms including Amiga, Linux
(x86,PPC) and MacOS (OS 9/X). Hyperion has undertaken contract work in the
field of 3D graphics for companies such as Monolith and has developed
small-footprint technology to bring 3D graphics to low-power digital devices
such as PDAs and STBs.
Hyperion
is currently working on AmigaOS 4.0, an enhanced PPC-native incarnation of the
groundbreaking OS introduced by Commodore in 1985.
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Sony
Computer Entertainment America Inc. last week released Dark Cloud2, a 3D
action-adventure, role-playing game (RPG) for PlayStation2. The follow-up to
the 2001 release features a new character-driven story with two playable
characters, cell-shaded graphics tech, the return of the Georama feature that
lets players create, build and customize an interactive 3D world, and the
introduction of the Invention System, which lets players create items for later
use in battle and exploration.
Gamers
assume the roles of two characters: Maximilian and Monica. Maximilian is a
young inventor with the heart of a hero who always lets curiosity get the
better of him. Monica is a warrior from the future and a master of magic who
favors her graceful sword and possesses a magical bracelet. When Maximilian,
who has never set foot outside of his town, uncovers a secret involving the
fate of the world, Monica leads Maximilian on a journey through the past,
present and future to prevent an evil madman from destroying the world. In the
process, they find themselves assisting a diverse group of villagers, battling
monsters, rebuilding the world and unlocking secrets that will lead them to
their ultimate destiny.
In the
Invention System, when players portray Maximilian, they obtain a camera that
they can use to take photos within the environment. These photos help to give Maximilian
ideas on items he can create for later use to assist him in battle and
exploration. The game features an enhanced detailed weapons system, allowing
players to upgrade their weapons by leveling up, spectrumizing, synthesizing or
building them up. The improved battle system enables close and long range
attacks, special maneuvers and evasive moves.
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Korea's
NCsoft last week launched the latest chapter to its multiplayer game, Lineage,
in North America today. Episode XII: Aden represents the final segment in Part
I of the ongoing Lineage saga. Lineage first launched in 1998 and has grown to
more than three million active subscribers worldwide.
In Episode
XII, players can explore the city of Aden and its surrounding lands that
include the Twilight Mountains, where giants run amok, the Tower of Insolence,
a mysterious place where only the best adventurers survive, or the Scar of
Lindvior, a crater made when Lindvior the wind dragon crashed to the earth. In
the center of town lies the Great Castle of Aden, which offers enormous rewards
to the players who conquer its walls. Siege and triumph over Aden, and you'll
become the ultimate ruler of all the land and wield influence over Lineage's
other six castles.
Aden also
introduces new game systems to enhance the player experience. The hometown
system allows players to register as a resident of a village. The selection of
the town's mayor is based on each registered players' contribution to
protecting the area. All players who register with a village, city or town are
paid a monthly dividend for their contributions to keeping it safe. This
"cyber-community" within Lineage represents a redistribution of power
and wealth through more democratic means. Additionally, the new alliance system
means pledges in Lineage can band together to become more powerful than ever.
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The
virtual universe of Sweden-based Project Entropia has gone gold with the
release of its latest version update 4.2. New features include:
http://www.project-entropia.com
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Sojourn
Development (http://www.sojdev.com),
developer of Glympse, a multiplayer online game scheduled for release in 2004,
will use Pandromeda's MojoWorld technology to create a virtual spherical world
roughly the size of Mars.
"Pandromeda's
fractal algorithms allow us to create an immense spherical world with a file
weight of a couple hundred kilobytes," said Dave Cerra, COO of Sojourn
Development, LLC. "Sojourn is now free to include unlimited modes of
transportation for players such as flight and water-based vehicles, as there is
no 'edge of the world' to resolve. Players will be able to use the planet's
curvature to intelligently plot trade or invasion routes. Additionally, the
sheer size of the planet allows players to enter into the excitement of
player-vs-player combat or to simply avoid it all together without having to
impose artificial PvP zones or 'toggle' options. And most importantly, the
small size (in kilobytes) of the planet allows us to make drastic modifications
and additions to the 'physical' world of the game while negligibly affecting
our players' download rates."
Pandromeda's
procedural technology models terrain in real time, freeing up storage and
bandwidth on both the client and servers for other uses.
The world
of Glympse is a world in which technology and Plexus have developed in tandem.
Plexus, the elemental energy form of the universe, is battled over by several
distinct factions, spread across two different races. Players can fight one
another directly, or choose never to pick up a weapon and opt for a more
peaceful life. Features include a combination
of player-created, randomly generated, and developer-driven quests, plus
tracking the outcomes of players' actions to develop the over-arching
storyline.
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Game
designer BigBrainGames and Bearded Toad Entertainment will announce the release
of their first jointly-designed game at the Game Developer's Conference in San
Jose, Calif., March 4-8. BugLord will be launched in three different platforms
simultaneously, with plans to release for additional platforms later in the
year. The real-time strategy, multi-player game will be released for Microsoft
Pocket PC, Palm OS, and Microsoft Windows. A Mac OS X version will be released
soon, along with GameBoy Advance and a version specifically developed for Sony
Ericsson phones.
By
leveraging Bearded Toad Entertainment's proprietary cross-platform game
technology, BigBrainGames was able to design BugLord specifically for each
individual platform without the typical extended development time that is
usually associated with porting content over to several different devices.
An
original real-time strategy game of entomological combat, BugLord pits armies
of bugs against each other in a struggle for survival. The player commands a
diverse colony of insects, from simple worker ants to mortar-firing beetles,
and fights to conquer as much territory as possible. In this world, only the
strong will survive, and the dominant army feeds off the spoils of war. To be
victorious, players must wage war on multiple fronts, and an ever-evolving
enemy is sure to keep things challenging.
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Activision
recently announced Empires: Dawn of the Modern World from designer Rick Goodman
and Stainless Steel Studios. The real-time strategy game lets players command civilizations
as they battle to forge mighty empires during the days of longbows and charging
knights to the land, air and sea battles of WWII involving Tiger Tanks, storm
troopers, Spitfires, and submarines.
Said
Goodman, "Players will be able to build up massive empires by utilizing
each civilization's unique historical abilities, battlefield weapons and
special technologies. The differentiation between these historically-based
civilizations is unprecedented."
Stainless
Steel Studios, Inc., founded by Goodman in 1997 and based in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, previously developed Empire Earth, which was released in
November 2001. Prior to founding SSSI, Rick was the co-founder of Ensemble
Studios and lead designer for Microsoft's Age of Empires.
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The
International Game Developers Association (IGDA) will recognize game developer
Gunpei Yokoi for the work he produced during his career. Yokoi will be honored
with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards
ceremony on March 6 during CMP Media's Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San
Jose, Calif. Last year's recipient, Yuji Naka, will be presenting the award,
which Yokoi's family will be accepting on his behalf.
In a
career spanning nearly three decades, Yokoi is best known as the creator of the
Nintendo Game Boy. The Game Boy and its successors have sold more than 142 million
units worldwide.
During his
early years at Nintendo, Yokoi led the company's entry into the video game
space, creating the Game & Watch - a credit card-sized video game that
introduced the cross-shaped directional pad. He went on to collaborate with
Shigeru Miyamoto to design arcade classics such as "Donkey Kong,"
"Mario Brothers" and "Metroid."
In 1996,
Yokoi founded Koto Laboratory, while continuing to consult for Nintendo.
Tragically, Yokoi was killed in a traffic accident the following year.
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3ds max artist Tomek Baginski of Platige Image (Poland) was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Animated Short Film category for "The Cathedral." His first Oscar nomination, Baginski spent 15 months working on "The Cathedral" using Discreet 3ds max and character studio software to realize his creative vision. The complete list of nominees for Best Animated Short is at http://www.oscars.com/nominees/nom_32121.html.
"The Cathedral" tells the story of a pilgrim arriving at a strange, forest-like cathedral where he finds his presence there has a purpose he has not anticipated. With a limited team working on the project, Baginski and Platige Image created the animated short film relying on the professional modeling, animation and rendering tools in Discreet's 3ds max and character studio. Baginski won the 2002 SIGGRAPH Best Animated Short Award for "The Cathedral" and was the cover feature of Computer Graphics World magazine in July 2002.
This is the second year in a row a 3D artist using Discreet animation software has been nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Animated Short Film. Ireland-based Ruairi Robinson was nominated for the 2001 Best Animated Short Oscar with his "Fifty Percent Grey" animation.
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Warren
Buckleitner, coordinator of the 2003 Bologna New Media Prize, last week
announced 20 finalists for the prize, chosen from 815 children's interactive
media products considered from around the world. The jurors are now working to
narrow this list to six winners, to be announced during the opening ceremony of
the Bologna Children's Book Fair.
The 20
products will be demonstrated during a new conference on children's new media
design called "Dust or Magic Bologna -- From Paper to Pixels" to be
held prior to the Bologna Children's Book Fair (March 31 - April 1).
Finalist
List: 2003 Bologna New Media Prize:
To learn
more about Dust or Magic Bologna: From Pixels to Paper -- http://www.childrenssoftware.com/dustormagic
To learn
more about the Bologna New Media Prize-- http://www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it/standard.asp?l=1&m=12&p=Libro2001prize
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In his keynote
address at the 2003 O'Reilly Bioinformatics Technology Conference, Lincoln
Stein predicted that the term "bioinformatics" will be obsolete by
2012. Stein's assertion created a stir among the 683 biologists, computer
scientists, software engineers, mathematicians--all bioinformaticians to
varying degrees--who attended the conference in San Diego earlier this month.
Stein's
presentation was just one of many thought- and debate-provoking sessions held
during the four-day conference. Stephen Wolfram, known in scientific circles
for his Mathematica software and his recently released tome, "A New Kind
of Science," delved into his book's issues and their ramifications for
bioinformatics in his keynote presentation, which spilled over to a question-and-answer
session following his formal talk. Just prior to his keynote talk, Jim Kent was
presented with the Benjamin Franklin Award for promoting freedom and openness
in the field of bioinformatics by J.W. Bizarro, president of
Bioinformatics.Org. Kent developed the "GigAssembler," a 10,000-line
program that he wrote in a month and then used to assemble the public human
genome fragments, helping to keep the data in the public domain and
unrestricted by commercial patents.
Representatives
from Sun Microsystems and the Blueprint Initiative, part of the Samuel
Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, chose the
O'Reilly Bioinformatics Technology Conference to announce that the Initiative
had acquired more than $5 million in Sun hardware, software, and storage to
support the standard-setting BIND (Biomolecular Interaction Network Database).
BIND is a growing repository of data on how the proteins that make up all life
interact and control cellular life, and will benefit researchers in proteomics--the
study of protein interactions.
Designed
to bridge gaps between communities, sessions at the second O'Reilly
Bioinformatics Technology Conference appealed to academic and industry
audiences, wet lab denizens, and "chip heads" alike, exploring topics
such as interaction networks, Web services, grid computation, visualization,
genomics, algorithms, pipelining and automation of data, and building open
source applications. Other speakers at the conference included experts such as
Alvis Brazma, Microarray Informatics Group Leader, European Bioinformatics
Institute; James Gosling, co-inventor of Java, and VP and Fellow, Sun
Microsystems; Francis Ouellette, Director, University of British Columbia
Bioinformatics Centre; Steven Brenner, Assistant Professor and leader of a
computational genomics research group at the University of California,
Berkeley; Damian Conway, Research Fellow, Monash University; Nat Goodman,
Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Systems Biology and an Affiliate
Professor of Bioinformatics at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center at the
University of Alaska; Chris Dagdigian, founding partner of BioTeam Inc.; and
Bill Day, Staff Engineer and Technology Evangelist at Sun Microsystems.
Other
notable conference events included tracks planned by Bioinformatics.Org and I3C
(including the LSID specification), and a GMOD (Generic Model Organism
Database) meeting, which was open to developers and curators of model organism
system databases.
For
information about the conference, including interviews with Lincoln Stein,
Stephen Wolfram, and Jim Kent, and slides of speaker presentations, visit: http://conferences.oreilly.com/biocon/.
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The 3D
Awards Committee announces the International 3D Awards 2003, to be held on 9
May 2003 at 3D Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. The 3D Awards is an
industry-wide set of awards recognizing excellence in the field of 3D design,
animation and digital visual effects. The Awards covers all aspects of 3D
creativity, from high-end digital effects in film and television to independent
animations and student short films. The 3D Awards Committee also announces the
launch of the 3D Awards Website at http://www.3dawards.org.
The 3D
Awards contains a variety of fields such as interactive 3D gaming to feature
film animation, digital effects, independent and student animations. Categories
for the 3D Awards 2003 are:
The 3D
Awards is to be held annually at 3D Festival, the world's largest creative 3D
event in Copenhagen, Denmark. The 3D Festival is a celebration of 3D
creativity, held over a four day period and comprising three conferences: 3D
Festival Conference for high-end 3D animation and digital effects, Game
Developers World for creative game production, and the Architectural
Visualization Conference.
The 3D Awards
is an independent, global event and will have coverage online on the 3D
Festival Website (http://www.3dfestival.com)
and through CGTalk (http://www.cgtalk.com),
an industry community for computer graphics artists.
The 3D
Awards is presented by the 3D Awards Committee, comprising professionals in the
3D, digital visual effects, gaming and architectural visualization industries.
The Committee is in charge of all organization and judging for the event. The
committee members are:
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Spectrum is an independent news service published every Monday for the interactive media professional community by Motion Blur Media. Spectrum covers the tools and technologies used to create interactive multimedia applications and infrastructure for business, education, and entertainment; and the interactive media industry scene. We love to receive interactive media/online-development tools and end product for review.
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©Copyright 2003 Motion Blur Media. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any for-profit or revenue-generating venue in any form without written permission from the publisher.