** THE WAVE REPORT ON DIGITAL MEDIA **
3D --- Media Creation --- Shared Space
Published by 4th WAVE, Inc.
Issue #607 8/30/96
CONTENTS
607.1 QuickNews by David Lohse and Malisa L. Burkeen
Syndesis Releases InterChange Version 4.0
Syndesis Corp. recently released version 4.0 of their InterChange software. InterChange gives 3D modelers and content creators much greater flexibility by allowing them to easily convert models from one format to another; several modelers can collaborate on one project, each using their own favorite modeling package. InterChange now has support for more than 40 different file formats, including: SoftImage, 3DS, AutoCAD, LightWave, Wavefront and trueSpace, among others. The full retail price of InterChange is $495, and upgrades from previous versions are $25.
Contact: http://www.threedee.com
QuantumWorks Announces Geppetto
QuantumWorks Corporation's (QWC) newest product is Geppetto, a tool for animating the faces of computer characters. Geppetto was developed using the 3Dfx Interactive Voodoo Graphics adapter installed in a NeTpower Calisto 200mhz P6 PC, and the Motion Analysis Face Trackerä. This tool allows developers to add lip sync, facial control and other expressions to their 3D characters. QWC has other game-development tools and services to support 3D game developers. Contact Steve Tice for availability and pricing information.
Contact: setpci@aol.com or 818-906-3322.
Microsoft's Hellbender game, which will be available this fall, is the first in a series of Direct3D games developed on 3Dfx's Voodoo Graphics chipset. Hellbender, an "intense action shooter," is expected to showcase Voodoo Graphics' high-performance capabilities. To date, more than 100 developers have joined 3Dfx's developer program, Total Immersion.
Contact: http://www.3dfx.com
ENGAGE & Concentric Network's Gaming Network
ENGAGE Online Games has announced that they are developing an online gaming network in collaboration with Concentric Network Corp. They will provide both low and fixed latency connections to ENGAGE's family of games. The network is based on an ATM/frame-relay backbone, and will utilize advanced networking technology including distributed data centers, adaptive call processing and partitioned network management. The network will be accessible through the Internet as well as the major online services, and will offer up to 15 games by the end of the year.
Contact: http://www.gamesonline.com
Avid recently unveiled the latest release of their popular Elastic Reality morphing and compositing program. Version 3.0, for the Windows NT, Macintosh and SGI platforms, features an optional hierarchical animation module and tools for shape creation, matte creation and compositing, morphing and warping, color correction and animation. Pricing for the SGI platform starts at $6,000; pricing and availability for the Windows NT and Macintosh platform will be announced at a later date.
Contact: http://www.avid.com
At a press conference during SIGGRAPH a few weeks ago, the Graphics Performance Characterization (GPC) Group (which is becoming the de-facto industry standard group for 3D benchmarking) made a number of announcements and demonstrations, including:
Contact: http://www.specbench.org/gpc/
Number Nine Imagine 128 Series 2 Accelerator
Number Nine Visual Technology has announced another entrant to the "low- cost-high-performance" graphics accelerator market, their Imagine 128 Series 2e board (a lower-cost version of the Series 2 board) for the consumer market. Following the current trend towards full integrated multimedia functionality, it provides 2D, 3D and video acceleration.
Billed as one of the "only true 128-bit graphics card(s) in the world," (along with the other products in the Imagine 128 line), it features a 256-bit video engine with support for software-based MPEG decoding, OpenGL 3D acceleration, and will display 256 colors at resolutions up to 1600 x 1200. The board ships with 4 MB of EDO DRAM, and will be available in September for an estimated street price of $399.
Contact: http://www.nine.com
607.2 3Name3D Correction by David Lohse
Much apologies to 3Name3D. In our last issue we incorrectly stated the recently updated pricing and availability of their 3D "clip art" collection. According to Sandeep Divekar, the CEO of 3Name3D:
"3Name3D has 12 libraries of 100 models each available in DXF, OBJ, 3DS and Softimage HRC formats. 3Name3D also has several hundred hi-res models of cars, etc. available. Each library of 100 models costs $49.95 (not $395). The six new libraries were available at SIGGRAPH. 3Name3D is also the first company to make its models available on the web using secured credit card transactions. Models can be purchased individually for $5 each or as custom collections at a small premium through the web."
Contact: http://www.3dsite.com
607.3 High-Speed Internet Access From Home: xDSL by David Lohse
The Digital Subscriber Line (xSDL, where x refers to one of four varieties of the technology: Asymmetrical, High-Speed, Symmetrical or Very-High Data Rate) emerged three years ago from the local telephone companies as a video-on-demand technology. As history well knows, VOD failed to take off, leaving the telecos with an advanced but unused access technology - that is, at least until the Internet revolution created the stampede for bandwidth.
xDSL offers a high-bandwidth downlink channel of 1.5 Mbs to 6.1 Mbs and a low-bandwidth uplink channel of 16 kbs to 640 kbs (the most common configuration available today provides 1.5 Mbs downstream and 64 kbs upstream). The most appealing feature of the xDSL technology is that it relies on the twisted-pair copper cabling already in place, using advances in digital signal processing to eliminate echos and other line noise. Since there are an estimated 600 million copper access lines in the world today (750 million by the end of the century), xDSL already has a vast infrastructure in place.
Each xDSL connection requires a line card at the C.O. and a modem on the customer's end, with a total cost of about $2,000 to $3,000 per line, although costs are expected to decrease as xDSL popularity grows. According to Dataquest, the equipment revenue per line, which is $2,000 in 1996, will drop to $400 by the end of the decade, while the total revenue from xDSL equipment will rise as high as $1.3 billion.
Of course xDSL is emerging at the same time as cable modems, and the two will go head-to-head in the battle for providing consumer Internet access. With large cable initiatives, such as TCI's @Home network (which, btw, just announced a large list of content providers including leading television, media and entertainment companies) also debuting, the competition will benefit consumers and finally begin to push the stagnant networking technology past the kilobit.
A new report by Dataquest has just been released, titled "xDSL: Inviting the Elephants to Dance," with information on DSL and related technologies.
Contact: http://www.dataquest.com
For a list of up-to-date press announcements regarding xDSL, check out: http://www.telechoice.com/xdslnewz/news.html
607.4 Post-SIGGRAPH VRML by David Lohse
After the VRML blowout at SIGGRAPH this year we talked to some of the players in the VRML community to get their reactions and feelings as to where VRML was going. Overall, the response to the 2.0 spec was warm - all of those asked felt the spec was solid and ready to go. The only shortcoming seen is already well-known, as commented on by Rick Denny of OZ Interactive: VRML 2.0's lack of support for avatars/multi-user environments. While several companies are developing VRML-based multi- user environments (including OZ Interactive and Black Sun Interactive among others), their multi-user capabilities are based on proprietary solutions rather than an industry standard, a fact which could slow or stall the development of VRML as a multi-user platform.
The primary concerns voiced over the future direction of VRML were primarily related to content and education: all of those asked felt that the primary hurdles for VRML 2.0 are the lack of good content as well as the lack of public education about what VRML is actually good for. That should be the primary responsibility of the VRML Consortium, at least according to Harry Vitelli, the VP of Marketing at Axial (the first venture capitalist-funded VRML company), who felt that the success of the Consortium depends on a "good business-oriented management team in place that will focus on *marketing*."
Over the question of whether VRML can actually make money for anyone, the respondents were somewhat wary. While many obviously feel that VRML can in some way generate income (just look at the number of VRML companies that have sprung up in the last couple of years), no one is completely sure how, especially in light of the Internet model (with free browsers and low-cost tools); some argue that the only ones that will make money will be content developers, while others are basing their business models on selling multi-user servers and environments.
607.5 Kinetix: "Yes... but:" by Malisa L. Burkeen
WAVE #606 contained two stories addressing recent moves by Kinetix. Our e-mail has since contained "just a few clarifications" from them, which we thought should be passed on.
According to Kinetix, "The +10K number of MAX sales was of June 30th and did not include localized version sales (which had just been released in 5 languages then)." In addition, "The attractive upgrade offers are still in effect for Asia/Pacific and Europe (which is over 1/2 of our installed base). . .we cannot disclose more accurate numbers, only that +10K was at that date."
Labeling Kinetix's move from NT a "crisis of confidence" was hotly denied. The reason for the shift was explained: "The compatibility was done primarily to help those users that have requested it (the majority of these being in the education market)."
And finally, Kinetix claims that the decision to hold the DEC Alpha version was not because of insufficient volume of Alpha NTs, as previously stated, but was "due to price/performance comparisons to the multipe/P6's and the floating point exception particular to the Alpha."
Take it all in and decide for yourself - we thought it would only be fair to print both sides of the story.
Contact: http://www.kinetix.com
Copyright 1996 4th WAVE Inc.
May be redistributed in full for individual readership and posted to newsgroups, Web, and FTP sites. May not be reprinted or redistributed for profit. Short quotes are permitted but must be attributed to the WAVE Report on Digital Media.