The Virtools Newsletter | January 2008 | www.virtools.com
Best wishes for 2008!2007 has been a year of great evolution and expansion for Virtools. Now part of Dassault Systèmes’ most recent brand 3DVIA, Virtools technology has known a worldwide success with the revelation of projects like the Khufu pyramid, games like Horsez 2 (Ubisoft) or Diego Animal Park (GlobalVision for NickJR.com), and applications like Galerie des Glaces and Lumec 3D. Our community is also continuously growing: new universities are teaching Virtools technology worldwide, students now benefit from a new dedicated website, and 14 millions 3D Life players were downloaded this year! We would like to thank you warmly for your interest and support, and we are very happy to begin this New Year beside you, wishing you all the best for 2008! |
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Partners |
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Best Virtools’ reseller AwardsThe success of Virtools would not have been possible without our partners and resellers, who helped us demonstrate Virtools cutting-edge technology all around the world. In 2007, two distinct VARs reached outstanding results, both in terms of quantity and quality, and we are proud to reward them with the Virtools best VAR award 2007. |
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Best reseller in Europe for 2007: RealiconRealicon provided Virtools Technology in the “Das Schloss Project”, bringing their technical expertise for the creation of the largest ever Virtools VR configuration. Located at the Berlin shopping mall Steglitz, this VR configuration is composed of three domes connected by two 20-meter long ceilings where 72 projectors broadcast amazing visuals. An image of 60 million pixels is broadcast through a 50-node PC cluster. The application development has been performed by Virtools user companies Fractalis and Bogengang, and the integration by VR Logic. |
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Best resellerfor revenue in Asia for 2007: Axis 3DAxis 3D has helped promoting Virtools technology in numerous projects, such as the Beijing Film Academy, which is the second CAVE installation in Beijing and the first game training focused academy in China. Axis 3D and Virtools were also chosen to be the VR partner of Yulon Motors in Taïwan, in order to build a Power Wall type VR design center for car design concept and show in Tapei. |
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Latest News |
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Wii SolutionWe are proud to release the new Wii solutions for a better prototyping and full game production! The Wii solutions are add-on libraries of building blocks specifically dedicated to Wii game prototyping and game development. Game developers will be able to test on the console anytime during the development, using the power of Virtools 4 and its 500 building Blocks and accessing the Wii Remote information from a Virtools application running directly on the PC. Thanks to this fully integrated solution combining a wide range of Virtools features like the Behavior Engine and the VSL compilation along with the new Wii dedicated functionalities, Virtools Wii solutions give the developers the opportunity to validate game design decisions much faster and focus on gameplay production and optimization, creating games with outstanding graphics and cutting edge interactivity!
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Communities |
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Learn Virtools in the New York University Tisch School of the Arts in SingaporeThe New York University Tisch School of the Arts Asia opened an entertainment media campus in Singapore three months ago. One of its three programs is a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree (MFA), beginning Fall2008, in Animation and Digital Arts, including interactive animation using Virtools. Students in Tisch Asia's program will focus on characters, gestures, postures, style and expressions, motion capture and ways to animate a puppet, a digital character or even a robotic device. They will explore new forms of storytelling using real-time and interactive technologies with Virtools 4. The application deadline is February 1st. |
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Two more universities have chosen Virtools TechnologyThe Moscow State University and the Technical University of Sofia have joined the community of more than 400 universities and training centers currently using Virtools solutions in their educational programs worldwide. |
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References |
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Virtools presents “Empty Museum – Full of Experiences”As Media Producer student at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Cornelius Wider presented his bachelor project "Empty Museum - Full of Experiences" at the Darmstad-Dieburg's Mediale07 exhibition in Decembre 2007. His setup uses a 6-DOF tracking system EOS which locates the view and position of the visitors' head and sends this information via WLAN to a notebook the visitor carries on a backpack. The visitor wears an HMD which shows a scene in stereo, visualized by Virtools4 with the VR Pack supported by Realicon GmbH. The scene shows a table of choice of which monument the visitor wants to see (see key-visual), in this case the Eiffel tower which was one of the 21 candidates of the New7Wonders global vote in 2007. Inside this virtual 3D Eiffel tower scene, the visitor can freely look and walk below the Eiffel tower, take the lift to the 1st level and enjoy a view supported with 360° panoramas of VRway Communication. Such prototype, which was succesfully shown to the public at the Mediale07, allowed Cornelius to team up with Invirt GmbH, a media architecture startup company, and stay in line with the idea of virtual walkthroughs. |
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Toyota Auris Ice Experience 2: Ready to compete?Visit www.toyota.fr and discover the last Virtools’ game produced by Ad-Invaders for Toyota. Before competing on the new snow-bound track of this second Ice Experience edition, have a look at the virtual showroom and to more about the Auris universe. Challenge yourself to win jackets, sweatshirts and tickets for the Trophee Andros Finals taking place at the Stade de France in Paris on February 16th. Hurry up, the competition ends February, 2nd! |
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Virtools Events |
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VR Workshop with VTT and Virtools1st February 2008, Tampere, Finland The 1st of February, Virtools invites you to participate to a workshop on VR with our partner VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland. This workshop will enable you to discover the human-centered design VR application from VTT, to visit the laboratory of Virtual Reality of VTT and the laboratory of Tampere University. |
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Game Developers ConferenceFebruary 18-22, 2008. San Francisco, USA Virtools eagerly looks forward to attending GDC, the year's key trade show where programmers, artists, producers and game designers come together to network, exchange ideas and shape the gaming industry. |
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Les Matinées Virtools
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Virtools Technical Overview - Web SeminarsVirtools invites you to take part in its online seminars, designed to give you an overview of the company and the Virtools Software Suite. |
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Contact Virtools |
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ContactsMarketing/Press: marketingteam@virtools.com Sales - Europe and Asia: info@virtools.com Sales - North and South America, Canada: info.america@virtools.com |
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Worldwide presence!New units have been created in Japan and the USA (in addition to our Canadian office). Their mission is to cover the Asian and North American markets in conjunction with each local DS office. |
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