August 10, 1999 - Siggraph '99 - Los Angeles, CA

Virtools and Discreet Collaborate to Provide Character Development Solutions for Next Generation Game Developers.

Virtools Chosen as Test-Bed for 3D Studio MAX R3 and Proof-of-Concept Demo Environment for Real-Time Oriented Character Development Technology.

Virtools S.A. announced that its Virtools™ interactive 3D authoring tool has been chosen from among all available commercial real-time 3D development solutions by Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., as a proof-of-concept environment for real-time character animation included in 3D Studio MAX R3.

The result of a three-month collaboration between the two companies, this enhanced integration between 3D Studio MAX R3 and Virtools provides 3D Studio MAX users with a fast-path for prototyping and final authoring of interactive titles without any or very little programming. In this scenario, Virtools can be used for the final game, along with other engine technology that a content development company writes or purchases. Both 3D Studio MAX R3 and Virtools products work best in combination with proprietary game engine technology for next generation title development.

	Bezier Patch technology - Bezier patch tessellation code
	Skin Modifier - Mesh-to-bone binding and deformation
	Flex Modifier - Spring-based, soft-body dynamics
	SoftSelections - weighted influence for soft-body dynamics

As a proof-of-concept , Discreet demonstrated its latest character animation technology in Virtools today at its annual SIGGRAPH 3D Studio MAX Developer Conference in Los Angeles. Authored in 3D Studio MAX R3 and Virtools, the demonstration seamlessly combined the newly released 3D Studio MAX C++ source code components that Discreet programmers adapted with the Virtools Dev SDK to create identical behaviors in the Virtools environment. With the Virtools behaviors they created, the Discreet R&D team could now see identical 3D Studio MAX character animation results in Virtools's real-time authoring environment, allowing them to rapidly design and pre-visualize real-time character animation.

The demonstration also put Virtools's clean code and easy-to-use architecture to the test as the project team was working under a three-week deadline that they met with flying colors. Due to the success of the demonstration and the two company's complimentary strategies for real-time markets, Discreet and Virtools plan to jointly present this technology demonstration in the months ahead to next generation game developers around the world.

"Virtools was a clear choice to showcase 3D Studio MAX software's powerful capabilities for interactive content development," said Jim Guerard, VP of Product Management and Marketing for Discreet. "Virtools's 3D Studio MAX integration, usability, and extensive SDK allowed our next generation development team to dive in and generate impressive results in a matter of weeks."

"3D designers and programmers have relied on 3D Studio MAX's outstanding modeling and animation capabilities for many years; now Virtools will become a mainstay of their tools arsenal," said Bertrand Duplat, CEO of Virtools S.A. "As the acknowledged industry leader in 3D design software, we are delighted to be collaborating with Discreet to provide the best quality 3D content development in a truly real-time environment."

Virtools Products
The Virtools product family is made up of two software solutions: Virtools Dev™ and Virtools Creation™. Virtools Creation is a package targeted at independent multimedia authors and companies seeking to integrate real-time interactive 3D into their content.

	The Virtools core engine, the foundation of the Virtools technology.
	The Virtools application (the end user graphic interface).
	The standard behavior building blocks library (including more than 300 behavior building blocks).
	The Virtools Player (as a stand-alone exe file and as an Internet Explorer/Netscape plug-in for Web deployment).

Unlike Virtools Creation, Virtools Dev is specifically designed to meet the needs of cutting-edge 3D game development. It comes with all of the features of Virtools Creation, and also includes the Virtools SDK, giving developers low-level access to Virtools technology.

	Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 or Windows 95
	A Pentium 200 or faster CPU (Pentium II recommended)
	48 MB of RAM (64 MB recommended)
	60 MB Hard Disk Space
	Direct3D™ or OpenGL™ compatible 3D accelerator card

About Virtools S.A.
Headquartered in Paris, Virtools S.A. is one of Europe's leading providers of 3D interactive media authoring tools, serving the game development, post-production and presentation markets with the company's flagship product, Virtools™ Creation. Virtools allows non-technical users to graphically and intuitively add behaviors and interactivity to 3D models, scenes and environments without any programming skills. Virtools has received a number of industry accolades and is in use throughout Europe and North America.

Specific details may be found at www.virtools.com.

About Digimation, Inc.
Digimation, Inc., Discreet's Preferred Plug-in Publisher, develops and distributes plug-in technology for 3D software as well as standalone graphics oriented programs for the PC marketplace. This award winning technology has been used by film and video, game and graphics professionals around the world for a range of commercial and corporate projects. Digimation products are sold through a network of worldwide dealers and distributors as well as direct. Digimation, Inc. is headquartered in St. Rose, Louisiana at 107 Mallard Street, Ste. D, St. Rose LA - USA.

More Information at www.digimation.com.