***QuickNews
John Carmack Discloses 3D API Views and Plans
In a sharply worded message to the 3D industry, John Carmack of id
Software describes how OpenGL is a better API than Direct3D. As a result
of his experience he has decided not to complete the Direct3D (Immediate
Mode) port of Quake. For the details check his .plan file at:
johnc@idsoftware.com
TGS Acquires Portable Graphics and VRML, Inc.
In two bold industry moves this week, TGS announced that they had
acquired both Portable Graphics and VRML, Inc. Portable Graphics, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of E & S, was a former competitor of TGS in the
OpenGL and Open Inventor toolkits market. Under the terms of the deal, E
& S will acquire a minority interest in TGS. At the same time, TGS also
announced the acquistion of VRML, Inc., a company in which they have
previously made investments.
www.tgs.com
Electric Image Competetive Upgrade
On Dec. 16, Electric Image announced a low-cost competetive upgrade
option for their ElectricImage Broadcast professional Macintosh animation
program. Under the deal, current owners of LightWave, 3D Studio, Strata
Studio Pro Blitz, Infini-D, Ray Dream Studio, Alias Wavefront, SoftImage,
Crystal Topaz and Houdini can buy ElectricImage Broadcast for $1,495, a
full $1,000 less than the full retail price of the software. The program
will be in effect until March 15, 1997. While the software is currently
Mac-only, a Windows NT version is in development; when released, a "side-
grade" offer will allow owners of the Mac version to switch to the NT
version for $199.
www.electricimage.com
(800) RENDER1
New Pricing From Number Nine
New pricing was announced for the Imagine 128 Series 2 family of
accelerators. The new pricing is as follows:
Model Memory Old Price New Price
Imagine 128 Series 2e 4MB EDO DRAM $399 $349
Imagine 128 Series 2 4MB EDO VRAM $699 $499
Imagine 128 Series 2 8MB EDO VRAM n/a $699
www.nine.com
3Dfx Raises More Money
On Dec. 9, 3Dfx Interactive announced that they had raised an additional
$11.6 million in their third round of funding. Founded in 1994, previous
high-profile investors in 3Dfx include Northwest Venture Capital, Chase
Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners and Venrock Associates. Since their
founding, support for 3Dfx's Voodoo Graphics architecture has been
steadily growing, with announced support from a large number of hardware
vendors and OEMs, as well as over 100 Voodoo Graphics-based game titles
currently in development.
www.3dfx.com
Paradigm: Vega-VCR & Investment
Paradigm made two announcements recently:
This week, they released the Vega Class Recorder Module (Vega-VCR), which
allows users to record and play back real-time simulations, with
functionality similar to a conventional VCR. Vega-VCR works in
conjunction with the Vega real-time development tool, and is available
now for $3,495.
Paradigm also announced that they will receive $3 million in new capital
under a new investment deal. In addition, they announced that they have
appointed Dr. Thomas Cantwell (a former CEO and co-founder of Paradigm)
as the president and CEO.
www.paradigmsim.com
3D Design Conference
Event: The 3D Design Conference and Exhibition
Date: June 2-5, 1997
Location: The Mariott Hotel - San Francisco, CA
Contacts: (617) 821-9224 (attendees)
(415) 278-5224 Debra Barstad (exhibitors)
(415) 278-5235 Jessica Rogers (questions or press info)
Description: Conference & trade show, with an educational program and
exhibition featuring 3D hardware, software and services
vendors.
Organizer: Miller Freeman, Inc. (415) 356-3343
Matrox Utilizes ActiveMovie 2.0 and DirectX
Matrox Video Products Group has announced their intent to integrate
Microsoft's ActiveMovie 2.0 and DirectX technologies in their DigiSuite
product line, an "open-architecture, PC-based, broadcast-quality digital
video hardware designed for the professional television broadcast, cable,
post-production and digital media authoring industries." Applications
running on DigiSuite under ActiveMovie have been announced by two
nonlinear editing systems suppliers: SoftImage's Digital Studio and D-
Vision's OnLINE 2.0.
www.matrox.com/video
FCC Approves DTV Standard
The day before Christmas, the FCC at long last adopted the proposed
digital TV (DTV) (see WAVE #615, 12/6/96) standard after about 9 years of
debate and research. The endorsement clears the way for manufacturers to
begin designing consumer DTV equipment, including both the TV and PC
industries, although the first digital TVs are not expected to appear
until 1998 at the earliest. The standard is based on the ATSC's Doc. A/53
with the exception of section 5.1.2, "Compression Format Constraints."
www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/News_Releases/nrmm6032.txt
www.atsc.org
DirectX Problems
It has been reported that a small percentage of users have experienced
problems when installing game titles featuring DirectX, such as system
freezes or other unexplained phenomenon. The problems arise from game
titles using DirectX drivers that are not certified by Microsoft. To meet
these problems, Microsoft has posted a DirectX FAQ sections on their Web
site, and urges users to download the latest version of DirectX (version
3.0). In addition, they are working with both hardware and software
vendors to troubleshoot and post information on DirectX-related problems.
ww.microsoft.com/mediadev/dirxqa.htm
Hellbender Correction
In our game reviews section in WAVE #616, we reported that Microsoft's
Hellbender game was pre-rendered. However, according to Hadden Hoppert of
Real3D, "HellBender is NOT pre-rendered. (It uses the same engine
as Terminal Velocity and Fury 3)."
Microsoft Prepares for Multimedia Strategy Day
Microsoft will hold an event in San Francisco for the press and industry
analysts on 28 January to outline its multimedia strategy. There is every
indication that this will be an important statement by Microsoft.
e-mail: lisam@mkinc.com
Wave Issue 9617 1/3/97 Article 1-01