Adobe Atmosphere To Offer Enhanced Interactivity and Animation for Immersive 3-D Web Worlds; Havok Hard Core Physics Engine and Virtools Player to Integrate with Atmosphere.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 2001

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE), the leader in network publishing, will integrate two technologies with Adobe(R) Atmosphere(TM), giving enhanced power and control to builders of 3-D Web environments. The incorporation of Havok's Hard Core Physics Engine and Virtools Inc.'s Virtools Player will enrich the realism, flexibility, animation and interactivity in immersive 3-D environments on the Web.

Adobe Atmosphere, introduced earlier this year, is a complete system for creating and customizing interactive 3-D communities on the Web. It currently includes Atmosphere Builder, the 3-D world authoring tool; Atmosphere Player, the Web browser plug-in; and the Atmosphere Community Server, which enables real time interaction with other users in a shared 3-D Web environment.

With the integration of Havok's Hard Core Physics Engine, characters and objects interacting in an Adobe Atmosphere "world" will have highly realistic physics, similar to many of today's most sophisticated video games. Users of the worlds, represented by "avatars," will be able to interact physically not only with each other, but also with the world environment and the objects it contains. By using realistic physics, world builders can add significant functionality into their worlds without the need for complex motion capture and expensive pre-determined motion planning.

"Bringing Havok Hard Core physics to Atmosphere further develops the new and intuitive ways people can interact in 3-D on the Web," said Hugh Reynolds, chief executive officer of Havok. "3-D artists whose work was difficult to distribute on the Web will now find it easy to display their creations online."

Adobe is also developing a plug-in architecture for the Atmosphere Player that will allow interactive content developed in a variety of systems and authoring environments to become full featured members of the Atmosphere environment. Characters, behaviors, animations and objects "owned" by a plug-in will display and interact with other objects in the Atmosphere "world," helping to extend the creation of realistic virtual communities.

The first such plug-in under development is the Virtools Player plug-in. The Virtools Player component will automatically download and self-install in the Atmosphere Player on demand. In addition, Virtools authoring tools will import the Adobe Atmosphere world format in order to "set the stage" for its behavioral simulations.

"The Virtools plug-in adds a new level of sophistication to immersive 3-D worlds created with Adobe Atmosphere," said Michael Kaplan, senior engineering manager of Adobe Atmosphere. "Now, designers will be able to add rich world and avatar behaviors to their 3-D environments by incorporating characters, objects and behaviors from Virtools."

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Founded in 1982, Adobe Systems Incorporated (www.adobe.com) builds award-winning software solutions for network publishing, including Web, ePaper, print, video, wireless and broadband applications. Its graphic design, imaging, dynamic media and authoring tools enable customers to create, manage and deliver visually-rich, reliable content. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Adobe is the second-largest PC software company in the U.S., with annual revenues exceeding $1.2 billion.

Note to Editors: Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Atmosphere are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.