Bristol Technology and TGS Team to Add 3D to MFC on UNIX.SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 1996--Bristol Technology and Template Graphics Software (TGS TGS Tokyo Game Show TGS Ticket-Granting Service TGS Ticket-granting Server TGS The Good Shepherd TGS Teen Girl Squad TGS The Gargoyles Saga TGS Texas Gourd Society TGS Tomato Growers Supply TGS Trinity Grammar School TGS Tomographic Gamma Scanner ) Thursday announced an agreement which will enable interactive 3D graphics applications to be developed on PC systems using Open Inventor Open Inventor, originally IRIS Inventor, is a C++ object oriented retained mode 3D graphics API designed by SGI to provide a higher layer of programming for OpenGL. Its main goals are better programmer convenience and efficiency. OI for short. (TM) for Win32 and Microsoft Foundation Classes (programming) Microsoft Foundation Classes - (MFC) Software structures in C++, the Windows base classes which can respond to messages, make windows, and from which application specific classes can be derived. (MFC (Microsoft Foundation Class) An application framework for writing Microsoft C/C++ and Visual C++ applications. See application framework. MFC - Microsoft Foundation Class )(R) and deployed to Digital, Hewlett-Packard, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Silicon Graphics(R) and Sun UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). workstations. TGS' implementation of Silicon Graphics' Open Inventor(TM) across multiple platforms Refers to two or more operating environments, which typically include the CPU family and operating system. For example, if versions of a program run on Windows and the Macintosh, the software is said to support multiple platforms. , combined with TGS' Interactive Visual Framework(TM) (IVF IVF in vitro fertilization. IVF abbr. in vitro fertilization IVF 1 In vitro fertilization, see there 2. Intravascular fluid ), a 3D extension to MFC currently available only on Windows(R) NT and Windows 95, enables Windows developers to quickly build 3D graphics applications. The IVF, when integrated and used with Bristol's Wind/U(R) MFC and Win32 libraries on UNIX, provides for complete cross-platform support. Separately, Microsoft announced that a number of 3D graphics tools from TGS, including the Open Inventor IVF 3D extension to MFC, will be available on the upcoming release of Visual C++(TM) 4.1. The agreement between Bristol and TGS, coupled with the Microsoft announcement, results in a complete cross-platform environment for developing sophisticated Open Inventor based 3D graphics applications that can quickly migrate between PC and UNIX systems. "In the past year, with the introduction of faster processors and affordable 3D graphics acceleration cards, Windows NT has become an attractive platform for 3D graphics applications traditionally developed only on UNIX systems," said Don Johnson, Product Manager, Internet Platform and Tools Division for Microsoft. "By supporting the IVF 3D extension to MFC on Windows and UNIX systems, Bristol and TGS are enabling wider use of new and existing hardware for 3D applications." Under the agreement, TGS will enhance its existing Open Inventor products on UNIX to include IVF, using the MFC and Win32 interfaces delivered with the Bristol Wind/U(TM) product. Developers creating 3D graphics applications using Open Inventor for Win32 on PC systems will have the ability to deliver and market their applications on a wide range of UNIX 3D graphics workstations, including those from Silicon Graphics Inc. "Open Inventor has become the dominant cross-platform 3D toolkit, at a time when MFC is becoming the leading application framework," said Terry Baker, President of TGS. "By joining with Bristol, we can offer the Interactive Visual Framework 3D extension to MFC on UNIX as well as PC systems, resulting in the best portability solution to professional 3D developers." "Bristol Technology is committed to the seamless migration of applications between PC and UNIX systems," said Keith Blackwell, president of Bristol Technology. "Wind/U's support of 3D through IVF integration represents the merger of two leading technologies, and offers significant value to graphics developers." Bristol Technology is a leading licensee of Microsoft Windows, MFC, ActiveX and Win32 source, and has delivered the Wind/U product for Digital OpenVMS and all major UNIX systems. Open Inventor(TM) is a popular general purpose 3D C++ class library developed by Silicon Graphics and source licensed to TGS. Open Inventor is used to develop applications in simulation, virtual reality, modeling, data visualization and Internet 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. . TGS provides Open Inventor on all major non-Silicon Graphics UNIX systems, as well as PC versions for Alpha, Intel, MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second) The execution speed of a computer. For example, .5 MIPS is 500,000 instructions per second; 100 MIPS is a hundred million instructions per second. and PowerPC systems. About Bristol Technology Inc. Ridgefield, Conn.-based Bristol Technology Inc. develops, markets and supports the Wind/U family of Windows and UNIX cross-platform development products. Founded in 1990, the company has posted an operating profit Operating profit (or loss) Revenue from a firm's regular activities less costs and expenses and before income deductions. operating profit See operating income. for 15 consecutive quarters. In addition to Wind/U, its products include HyperHelp, software for creating UNIX-based on-line help systems with WinHelp functionality; and Xprinter, software for adding sophisticated printing capabilities to UNIX-based applications. About Template Graphics Software Inc. San Diego-based Template Graphics Software Inc., along with its subsidiary, G5G in Bordeaux, France, produces cross-platform graphics software for Fortune 500, government, independent software vendors, and academic and research organizations. TGS has offered standards-based graphics tools for PCs to supercomputers since 1982, and is the largest independent software supplier of graphics tools based upon ANSI/ISO PHIGS (Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Graphics Standard) A graphics system and language used to create 2D and 3D images. Like the GKS standard, PHIGS is a device-independent interface between the application program and the graphics subsystem. +, Silicon Graphics' OpenGL(R) or Open Inventor. Template Graphics Software is a member of ANSI/ISO X3H3 graphics committees, the OpenGL Advisory Forum, the VRML Technical Forum, and is active in establishing new standards and directions for computer graphics technologies. -0- NOTE TO EDITORS: Product art is available via http://www.tgs.com/Marketing/Press/. Visual 3Space is a trademark of Template Graphics Software Inc. Silicon Graphics, the Silicon Graphics logo and OpenGL are registered trademarks and Open Inventor is a trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc. and are source licensed to Template Graphics Software Inc. Wind/U is a registered trademark of Bristol Technology. Microsoft, MPC (1) (Mobile PC) A handheld or laptop computer. See handheld computer, laptop computer and Ultra-Mobile PC. (2) (MultiPath Channel) See multipath. , Win32 and OLE are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks belong to their respective companies. CONTACT: Template Graphics Software Inc., San Diego Diane Connolly, 619/457-5359 619/452-2547 (fax) WWW WWW or W3: see World Wide Web. (World Wide Web) The common host name for a Web server. The "www-dot" prefix on Web addresses is widely used to provide a recognizable way of identifying a Web site. : http://www.tgs.com or The Townsend Agency, San Diego Julie Reynolds, 619/457-4888 619/453-7010 (fax) |
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