Caligari Announces New Tool for Creating Online Interactive 3D Environments on the World Wide Web; 3D pioneers adopt VRML as key standard for taking virtual reality technology online.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 1995--Pioneers in the realm of interactive 3D technology, Caligari Corporation today announced its plans to create a new tool, the Caligari 3D World Builder, that will enable developers to create three dimensional graphical environments on the World Wide Web. To achieve realtime, navigable 3D worlds on the Web, Caligari will build support for VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), the newly announced 3D graphics format that is rapidly becoming a standard, into its new product.

The Caligari 3D World Builder will make it easy to create VRML output, transparently publish across the Internet, and link 3D objects to HTML pages, video or other common media types on the World Wide Web. The 3D World Builder will allow users to arrange 3D objects, cameras and lights through simple dragging and dropping, and it will also include many of the features currently only available in trueSpace2, the company's flagship professional 3D graphics and animation package.

To make lifelike worlds, creators of home worlds will have access to advanced modeling functions such as 3D Booleans, organic deformations and surface sculpting. The Caligari 3D World Builder will read 3D Studio, DXF, Wavefront, LightWave and Imagine formats, and will take advantage of 3D hardware through Intel's 3DR and Microsoft's RealityLab.

As with all Caligari products, the 3D creation process will be highly interactive. The 3D World Builder will allow users to work in natural perspective space and to directly manipulate texture-mapped objects in real time. While interactivity encourages experimentation and stimulates the creativity of content authors, the resulting worlds themselves will have to be highly interactive to be enjoyable for the people exploring 3D worlds over the World Wide Web at 14.4 modem speeds. The Caligari 3D World Builder will address this issue through in-lining and Levels of Detail, two unique features of VRML. Caligari believes that the move from 2D to 3D, the growing acceptance of online communications, the affordability of workstation-class PCs, and the trend towards more realistic and intuitive interfaces are paving the way for shared virtual worlds where people communicate, play and work.

Just as two-dimensional iconic interfaces supplanted one-dimensional command-line interfaces, Caligari believes that compelling 3D interfaces will soon begin to replace 2D desktop interfaces. Since the interface immerses the user in a virtual world, knowledge from the real world PP such as pushing a door handle to open a door PP will be directly applicable to accomplishing a task. With immersive interfaces, the PC will become transparent and eventually invisible. Caligari intends to be the first company to introduce virtual worlds that are not static but evolve just like the world around us. Caligari anticipates the first public demonstrations of their new 3D World Builder product in August at SIGGRAPH.

"For more than a decade, we have predicted the emergence of 3D as the natural way for people to interact in cyberspace. Caligari plans to be a major provider of tools to make the Internet truly three dimensional with realtime online interaction," said Roman Ormandy, president of Caligari Corporation. "With our current trueSpace and viewSpace products, we've begun our move in this direction. Now, VRML technology is poised to become the standard for 3D on the Web and help make our vision a reality. I am truly excited to see our vision finally coming to fruition."

Ormandy also credits recent hardware advancements such as the Intel Pentium and 3D graphics accelerator cards for making Caligari's 3D online vision possible. Caligari expects that base-level home PCs will soon have the processing power to generate and display virtual worlds, in which users can interact with realistically-rendered virtual objects and personae in real time.

"The newest release of our 3D graphics software product, trueSpace2, supports 3D hardware acceleration and allows users to interact with fully-colored, texture-mapped 3D objects in real time. Caligari has worked diligently to establish close relationships with several 3D hardware vendors so we can quickly provide an integrated solution for 3D virtual world builders on the World Wide Web," Ormandy said.

Caligari has more than ten years of experience in 3D modeling and animation and proven expertise in immersive 3D interface design. With trueSpace, Caligari has proven its ability to create an easy-to-use interface for the creation and exploration of virtual worlds. As 3D moves into the mainstream, Caligari plans to use this expertise to create a framework that will allow millions of users to communicate, play and work in distributed virtual world environments.

Caligari trueSpace2

On May 31, 1995, Caligari will ship a vital new version of its award-winning trueSpace 3D modeling, rendering and animation application for Windows. 3D Boolean operations and Shaded Graphics Modeling(TM) (or interactive solid rendering) are the key innovations in trueSpace2. The real-time rendering allows users to work in full color and progress beyond the CAD-like world of wireframes. For the first time, PCs with high-speed processors and graphic acceleration cards can perform at workstation-class levels for 3D graphics and animations.

trueSpace2 seamlessly integrates organic modeling, photorealistic raytracing and broadcast-quality animation within a usable VR-style interface that encourages experimentation, stimulates creativity, and gives users the ability to easily create stunning renderings and animations. This interface immerses users in a three-dimensional perspective workspace where they can shape objects as naturally as if working with clay. Lights and cameras can be positioned and multiple objects can be edited simultaneously. Photorealistic ray-tracing allows for effects like refractions and reflections of light on water or glass. At $795 trueSpace2 is aimed at traditional animators, game developers and multimedia producers, as well as 2D graphic artists interested in incorporating 3D into their existing work.

Caligari trueSpace has been awarded the following editorial awards: PC Magazine 1994 Award for Technical Excellence; Byte Magazine 1994 Award of Merit; Computer Shopper (UK) 1994 Editors' Choice of the Year Award (for all categories of computer software); and PC Professionell (Ziff Davis Germany) 1994 "Innovation of the Year" in the Application Software category. Additionally, trueSpace was selected by Vogel Verlag, publisher of Germany's most prestigious computer publications, including CHIP, WIN, TeleCom and Business Computing magazines, as the "Best Application Software" of 1994's CeBIT show.

About Caligari Corporation

Caligari Corporation was founded in 1985 with the mission to facilitate human communication through the development and marketing of software-based 3D environments. This mission is based on a paradigm shift from seeing the PC as a machine serving existing communication media (such as press or video) to seeing the network of PCs as a new communication medium itself. The company has a proven track record in immersive 3D interface design and has continued to develop and improve its core 3D technologies over the last ten years. Caligari Corporation is headquartered at 1933 Landings Dr., Mountain View, California, 94043. Phone: [phone] or 415-390-9600. Fax: [phone].

Caligari, Caligari trueSpace and viewSpace are trademarks of Caligari Corporation. Other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

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