Category: Technology

San Jose, California-based Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced Adobe After Effects 4.1. After Effects is a tool for motion graphics designers and visual effects artists working with film, video, multimedia and the Web. Among the new features are: support for enhanced media exchange, performance enhancements, workflow refinements, and extended creative options and control. Adobe After Effects 4.1 will be available in September 1999 in the US and Canada for an estimated street price of US$699 for the standard version and US$1,499 for the production bundle.

Italy, Rome-based Digital Video S.R.L. has announced Toonz version 4.3,which provides 2D users with new tools to be more creative and efficient ontheir job. The digital exposure sheet is much more user friendly, includingmany new special effects, complete keyframe capabilities on all parameters,and enlarged number of mathematical expressions for more controllablemotion. Enhancements of display features include icons in the level headerarea for quick reference of elements. Texture mapping has been strengthened

Cambridge, UK-based Cambridge Animation has released Animo ProductionTracker - new software that allows studios to use the Internet, intranetsand internal networks to track every aspect of a production cycle. AnimoProduction Tracker software automates management of the thousands ofdrawings and different personnel involved in a typical project, allowingusers to better ascertain progress, determine costs, allocate resources,and eliminate duplication. The new software is fully integrated with Animo,

San Francisco-based MetaCreations Corp., which develops and markets 2D and 3Dvisualization software for graphic artists and the World Wide Web, hasannounced Carrara 1.0, a 3D modeling and animation solution for print,video and the Web. Carrara will contain a hybrid Ray Tracer, advancedshader editors, multiple modelers, real-time Metaballs, particle systems,3D light sources, lens flares, motion blur, key framing, physical effects,deformers and more. Carrara will introduce a workflow called SmartFlow that

Santa Monica, California-based Station X Studios is licensing theproduction version of its proprietary animation software tools, code named"Project: messiah," as a commercial software product. The high-endanimation production software, developed to animate the studio'sforthcoming live-action/CGI feature film DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: THE MOVIE, canbe used on computers utilizing the Microsoft Windows NT operating systemwith either Intel compatible or Alpha compatible processors. A Mac version

San Francisco, California-based Macromedia, Inc. has announced that itsFlash Player, which enables internet browsers to play web animations, willbe available free on September 1, 1999 for Linux, Sun Microsystems, Inc.'sSolaris, and Silicon Graphics Inc.'s Irix platforms. Flash is the standardfor creating high-impact, vector-based Web sites that deliver motion,sound, interactivity, and graphics. Flash Player versions for UNIX will beavailable for download at no charge from the Macromedia Web site.

SGI has begun volume shipments of the Silicon Graphics 1600SW digital flat panel monitor for Apple Macintosh computers. The monitor is bundled with the new Macintosh version of the Number Nine Revolution IV-FP graphics accelerator in the Apple Macintosh version of the Digital Flat Panel Solution Pack. The graphics card provides the digital display interface, and features 32MB of graphics memory. The monitor features a 19-inch CRT-equivalent, 17.3 inch 1600 x 1024 pixel screen. It offers three times the brightness and five times the contrast of a comparably-sized CRT, with no flicker.