Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96 Brings Americans' "Freedom of Expression" to PCs This Election Year; GOP conventioneers to use cutting-edge software to create instant caricatures.SANTA CLARA Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 1996--Voters' suspicions are confirmed: politicians can be more than merely "two-faced," and the proof lies in Cartoon-O-Matic(TM): Election '96 from nFX Corporation (www.nfx.com). A "Living Graphics" software program, Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96 allows Windows 95 users to manipulate caricatures of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Robert Dole and Ross Perot H. Ross Perot (born June 27, 1930) is an American businessman from Texas, who is best known for seeking the office of President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 1962 and later sold the company to General Motors and founded Perot in real time on their desktops, creating politicians with thousands of faces. Cynical voters can make Clinton actually inhale in·hale v. 1. To breathe in; inspire. 2. To draw something such as smoke or a medicinal mist into the lungs by breathing; inspire. , get him "wired," even make him look honest or see a sleepy, heroic or wimpy Wimpy sloppily dressed comic strip character; always “forgets” to pay for hamburgers. [Comics: “Popeye” in Horn, 657–658] See : Irresponsibility Dole. They can add a body, background, some accessories (see Bill -- or Hillary! -- in a beard and shades) and start printing their own political propaganda. Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96 uses nFX' proprietary technology to deliver a new dimension in graphics, allowing users to make thousands of unique changes to an image and see the results in real time. And, unlike the candidates' campaign strategies, Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96 is goof-proof because no matter what the user does to them, nFX technology ensures that a candidate's image always looks good. Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96 also includes a screen saver A utility that was originally created to prevent a CRT from being etched by an unchanging image. After a specified duration of time without keyboard or mouse input, it blanks the screen or displays moving objects. Pressing a key or moving the mouse restores the screen. that offers a constantly changing caricature of either Clinton, Hillary, Dole or Perot (talk about politicians being "in your face"). Delegates to the 1996 Republican National Convention will have the opportunity to render their political humor (or spleen) at the Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96 station in the Youth Pavilion, Embarcadero South. Each day, the convention daily will select the best one for publication the following day. Beginning in late August, the voting public also may exercise its Constitutional "freedom of expression" online by going to the Election '96 section of nFX' Web site (www.nfx.com). Here they will have a chance to create caricatures of the candidates, add a funny caption and practice their political propaganda skills. "Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96 is a small sample of the next generation of more compelling, personalized, interactive graphics for multimedia and the Internet, an area which currently is limited to static images or linear, pre-scripted animation," said Joel Voelz, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , nFX Corporation. "nFX is paving the way for innovations in communication graphics technology." How It Works With Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96, users pick "normal" caricatures of the candidates and then can manipulate their expressions by clicking and dragging the control levers. After choosing the face of their favorite (or least favorite) politician, users can change the face to make it "happy or sad," "honest or shifty shift·y adj. shift·i·er, shift·i·est 1. Having, displaying, or suggestive of deceitful character; evasive or untrustworthy. 2. ," shrink it, rotate it, attach a body, add accessories, a background, and so on. As users adjust one feature, they see the impact of the change in real time. They can mix expressions to see a "Shifty/Wired" Clinton, a "Wimpy/Sleepy" Dole, a "Poor/Paranoid" Perot or a "Laughing/I Can't Recall" Hillary. "To make these original, creative, professional quality images, all you need is imagination, and a mouse," explained Voelz. "Based on the user's input, the nFX technology creates new, original art and doesn't just bring up a set number of pre-drawn or pre-programmed images." Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96's underlying nFX technology is based on neural-net technology and vector graphics The representation of a digital image as points, lines and other geometric entities. All computer-aided design (CAD), drawing and diagramming programs create vector graphics formats, such as AI, DXF and WMF (see graphics formats). . It goes far beyond standard morphing Transforming one image into another; for example, a car into a tiger. The term comes from metamorphosis. Morphing programs work by marking prominent points, such as tips and corners, of the before and after images. capabilities. First, while typical morphing is two-dimensional -- allowing changes from image A to image B -- nFX technology is n-dimensional. Because of this, nFX allows users to create new images with variations along any dimension or feature the author or artist wishes the user to control. This and vector graphics lets users create totally new images in real time. Second, nFX technology actually learns to draw new images from examples. nFX models are developed from a small set of examples created by professional artists. User-created images are new and unique, but maintain the same overall style and level of quality as the original examples. Finally, nFX technology takes into account the effects that individual changes have upon the complete picture. For example, in Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96, as the user changes Bill from "shifty" to "honest," his eyes, brow, mouth and other facial features Facial Features See also anatomy; beards; body, human; eyes. gnathism the condition of having an upper jaw that protrudes beyond the plane of the face. — gnathic, adj. automatically take on a new, natural (or unnatural) form. Politicians can be "bought" with Cartoon-O-Matic Election '96 for Windows 95 for $14.95 plus S&H. To order, call 1-800-845-9522 (Uncle Sam Uncle Sam, name used to designate the U.S. government. The term arose in the War of 1812 and seems at first to have been used derisively by those opposed to the war. Possibly it was an expansion of the letters "U.S. wants YOU! to order this software). nFX Corporation is a venture-backed, Santa Clara-based firm bringing real-time, interactive "Living Graphics" to multimedia programs and the World Wide Web. Founded in 1993, nFX is a spin-off of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge; coeducational; chartered 1861, opened 1865 in Boston, moved 1916. It has long been recognized as an outstanding technological institute and its Sloan School of Management has notable programs in business, . CONTACT: Access Communications
Access Communications Co-operative Ltd. Robin Rootenberg or Jennifer Walker 415/904-7070 ext 282/283 rrootenberg@accesspr.com jwalker@accesspr.com |
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