February 17, 1999 - San Jose

Virtools S.A unveils Virtools Dev™ 3D content development platform optimized for the Pentium® III Processor.

Optimization of Powerful 3D Content Production Platform for Intel's Streaming SIMD Extensions Will Deliver Faster Rendering for Developers San Jose, February 17, 1999 - Virtools S.A today announced that Virtools Dev™ has been optimized for Pentium® III processor technology. Virtools S.A is holding presentations of Virtools Dev at Intel's Pentium III Processor Preview Day in San Jose, February 17.

"Virtools Dev enables developers to focus on game design, relying on a robust software architecture and programming only what is needed to make their game truly exceptional," said Bertrand Duplat, Virtools S.A ' Chairman and CTO. "Working closely with Intel allowed us to implement rendering optimizations using the Streaming SIMD Extension (SSE) technology for Virtools Dev. These optimizations will be immediately available for Pentium III processor-based PC users, as they will be integrated in Virtools Dev as early as March."

Based around a behavior engine that handles interactions between 3D objects in real-time, Virtools Dev allows developers to create interactive prototypes in weeks, reuse code, work more closely with the designers, and save time and money. With Virtools Dev's graphic user interface, developers can import 3D models, textures, keyframe animations and sounds, then quickly apply interactive behaviors to them - designing, testing and refining the gameplay on the fly.

"Intel is pleased that Virtools S.A ' Virtools Dev takes advantage of the performance of the Pentium III processor and Streaming SIMD Extensions," said Stan Mo, Director of Tools Technologies, Intel Corporation. "By optimizing for the Pentium III processor, Virtools Dev offers developers a powerful and robust tool for rendering 3D content."

With Virtools Dev's software developers kit (SDK), developers can create new reusable behaviors - as C++ Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) -to expand Virtools's existing library. Since developers can program new behavioral components one time and add them to the behavior library, they will be accessible to each team member through the user interface and be reusable on future projects.

By leveraging some of the higher level features for Microsoft's DirectX 6.1 Direct3D as well as optimizing the application code, Virtools Dev allows users to automatically benefit from the performance enhancements of the Pentium III processor line. "With SSE technology, Intel sets new levels for high performance 3D rendering. With Virtools Dev, Virtools S.A makes that performance accessible to non-programmers", said Bertrand Duplat.