Apple Computer licenses ThinkFish rendering technology for real-time non-photorealistic playback; Apple QuickDraw 3D and LiveStyles bring artistic and cartoon-style 3D rendering to Macintosh, PC and the Web.SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 1997--ThinkFish Productions, Inc. today announced that it has licensed its new art rendering technology, LiveStyles, to Apple Computer, Inc. as a plug-in to QuickDraw 3D (QD3D QD3D Quick Draw Three Dimensional ). LiveStyles is an intelligent rendering technology based on concepts originally developed at the MIT Media Lab This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. by ThinkFish founders and staff. LiveStyles views a 3D object and draws the key lines and strokes in user-selectable fine art motifs -- it is the first real-time NPR NPR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Nepal Rupee. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. (non-photorealistic rendering Non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) is an area of computer graphics that focuses on enabling a wide variety of expressive styles for digital art. In contrast to traditional computer graphics, which has focused on photorealism, NPR is inspired by artistic styles such as painting, ) 3D technology. The Apple licensing agreement enables universal playback Universal Playback is a label of Universal Studios Home Entertainment in the United Kingdom, which specialises in releasing Region 2 DVDs of classic and cult television programmes. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known BBC sitcoms. of real-time artistic and cartoon-style rendering in any QuickDraw 3D application on both PCs and Macintosh through a freely distributed plug-in called the ThinkFish LiveStyles Player. Users will be able to download the plug-in Player by the end of the second quarter of '97 from both the ThinkFish (http://www.thinkfish.com) and QuickDraw 3D (http://quickdraw3d.apple.com)Web sites. It will also ship as a standard part of QuickDraw 3D install in future versions of the Mac OS. Graphics software leader Fractal Design Corporation (Aptos, CA) also recently announced a license of LiveStyles -- ThinkFish anticipates a wide range of LiveStyles-enabled applications in desktop publishing, Web-based 3D and 2D/3D art programs through both these relationships. The plug-in Player will allow users to view artistic content created with LiveStyles in any program that supports QuickDraw 3D, such as applications from autodessys, Electric Cafe, MicroSpot, Plastic Thought, Specular spec·u·lar adj. Of, resembling, or produced by a mirror or speculum. spec  u·lar·ly adv.Adj. 1. , Strata, and Vertigo. Users will be able to create LiveStyles content themselves through third-party applications which license ThinkFish Authoring engine. "ThinkFish has the most innovative 3D rendering technology to arrive in a long time," said Sean Safreed, Product Manager for QuickDraw 3D at Apple Computer. "Their flexible styles will let professionals in architecture, 3D modeling, animation and multimedia production provide images of unmatched impact. In a world where everyone is trying to achieve photorealism photorealism, international art movement of the late 1960s and 70s that stressed the precise rendering of subject matter, often taken from actual photographs or painted with the aid of slides. , QuickDraw 3D's flexible plug-in architecture will let artists express themselves in 3D with traditional artistic styles." "QuickDraw 3D is extensible and cross-platform which allows us to deliver LiveStyles to virtually any PowerPC and Pentium-based computers," said Ben Wen, President of Thinkfish. "This arrangement with Apple opens the door for us to quickly license the LiveStyles creation player to any 3D authoring or VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) A 3D graphics language used on the Web. After downloading a VRML page, its contents can be viewed, rotated and manipulated. Simulated rooms can be "walked into." The VRML viewer is launched from within the Web browser. program that uses QD3D." LiveStyles Overview: LiveStyles gives users access to a library of artistic or cartoon motifs, "looks" that are dramatically different from the traditional, photo-realistic style of rendering. These "looks" can be applied as easily as choosing a font. ThinkFish will release an expanding collection of LiveStyles that will be available either in families or individually, much in the way fonts are available for desktop publishing. Styles will range from Picasso to mango, from Klee to cartoon. To create LiveStyles content, an application must license the LiveStyles Authoring engine. Tool companies license this technology directly from ThinkFish for a fee. Once that content is created, its LiveStyles attributes are saved directly into a 3DMF (Distribution Media Format) A floppy disk format from Microsoft that was used to distribute its software. DMF floppies compressed more data (1.7MB) onto the 3.5" diskette, and the files could not be copied with normal DOS and Windows commands. A DMF utility had to be used. file so users can view it in any QuickDraw 3D-enabled application, even without the LiveStyles used to create it. Uses of LiveStyles: -- Give a 2D artistic look to 3D models in a variety of applications -- Create living art/living cartoons -- Create real-time models for distribution either directly or via the web -- Create real-time animation for either direct playback or via the web Company Information ThinkFish Productions, Inc. was founded in 1994 by a group of computer scientists from MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology and CalTech and artists from RISD RISD Rhode Island School of Design RISD Rockwall Independent School District (Texas) RISD Richardson Independent School District (Texas) RISD Roswell Independent School District (Rhode Island School of Design Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) One of the most eminent fine arts colleges in the U.S., located in Providence, R.I. It was founded in 1877 but did not offer college-level instruction until 1932. ). It is a new company devoted to merging the principles of art The principles of art are a set of rules or guidelines to keep in mind when considering the impact of a piece of artwork. They are combined with the elements of art in the production of art. and 3D graphics into consumer-friendly tools and products. The company is focused on creating graphics software which allows users to apply graphic styles to any 3D model or animation in real-time. ThinkFish products fully support both Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. ThinkFish is headquartered at 2800 Twentieth Street, No. 203, San Francisco, CA 94110-2826. For more information on ThinkFish Productions or its technology, please visit our Web site at www.thinkfish.com. For more information about QuickDraw 3D, see the QuickDraw 3D Web site at www.quickdraw3d.apple.com . -0- Note to Editors: ThinkFish Productions, Aegea, Cartoon Reality and LiveStyles are trademarks of ThinkFish Productions, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are properties of their respective holders. All other copyrights and trademarks are properties of their respective owners. -0- Products photography or screenshots are avaible from Horizon Communications. CONTACT: ThinkFish Productions, Inc. Ben Calica, 415/252-1525 Email: calica@thinkfish.com http://www.thinkfish.com or Horizon Communications Jonathan Hirshon, 408/982-2555 Email: jh@horizonpr.com http://www.horizonpr.com |
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