Kinetix Ships 3D Studio MAX R2 to Customers Worldwide; Already in Production Use with 30 Commercial Plug-Ins Available, Powerful Release Includes More Than 1,000 New Features.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 1997--Kinetix(R) today announced the worldwide availability of 3D Studio MAX(R) R2, the next major release of the world's best-selling 3D animation and modeling software for PCs.

Shipping this week to customers around the globe, 3D Studio MAX R2 software answers the needs of the most demanding film and video production environments with more than 1,000 new features and enhancements. Kinetix also announced that 30 third-party plug-ins will be available for the MAX R2 solution when it ships on Thursday.

"3D Studio MAX R2 is reaching a marketplace hungry for production-proven, workstation-class 3D software whose architecture is designed specifically for the remarkably popular Windows NT(R) platform," said Jim Guerard, general manager of Kinetix. "Kinetix worked closely with its most demanding customers and partners to significantly broaden MAX's contribution to film and video studios, and the result is a powerful testament to that collaboration."

3D Studio MAX is the world's best-selling professional 3D modeling and animation solution with an installed base of more than 35,000. The 3D Studio MAX R2 application boasts an increase in features of well more than 100 percent over 3D Studio MAX, and features support for every leading 3D graphics API, including OpenGL(R) and Direct3D(TM). 3D Studio MAX R2 software's list of new features and core capabilities matches the most advanced solutions for film and video production and interactive content authoring.

"3D Studio MAX R2 should serve as an example to any software company that claims to address the needs of film and video professionals," said Alan Marques, Digital Effects Supervisor for Magic Camera, a visual effects facility in the U.K. whose current projects include the feature film Lost in Space. "MAX R2 gives us hundreds of new capabilities, as well as a Software Developers Kit with which we've easily written a host of immensely valuable custom plug-ins. It's no wonder we are switching from expensive UNIX(R) workstations and software to PCs running 3D Studio MAX R2."

THIRTY PLUG-INS AVAILABLE FOR MAX R2

Thirty commercial third-party plug-ins will be available for 3D Studio MAX R2 software when the solution ships this week, while another 29 are expected to ship in the next 60 days. Widespread third-party support for the 3D Studio MAX R2 application is a result of a long-term collaboration with the company's software partners throughout the development of MAX R2. Several developers this week are shipping no-cost upgrades to plug-ins originally designed for 3D Studio MAX software and recompiled for MAX R2. Meanwhile, several more are debuting completely new plug-ins that take advantage of the depth and breadth of the 3D Studio MAX R2 architecture. Kinetix expects dozens of additional free plug-ins will be recompiled for MAX R2 software in the next several weeks as all sites receive the new MAX Software Developers Kit (SDK) with Release 2.

3D Studio MAX R2 software also will ship with more than 1,200 pages of printed documentation and tutorials, as well as a powerful new online help capability included on the MAX R2 CD. Based on Microsoft HTML Help, MAX R2's online help will provide users with a digital library of help information. Kinetix designed the MAX R2 help system to enable users to quickly and easily bring their existing online docs up to date by downloading changes and improvements from the Kinetix Web site. Users will be able to download documentation updates when Microsoft completes its delivery of HTML Help.

Available this week, 3D Studio MAX R2 is currently priced at $3,495 U.S. for a single-user license. Upgrades from 3D Studio MAX Rel. 1.x are priced at $795 U.S., and upgrades from 3D Studio VIZ(TM) are priced at $2,495 U.S. Users of 3D Studio DOS can upgrade to MAX R2 for $3,000 U.S.

ABOUT KINETIX

Kinetix develops and delivers affordable content creation tools for professionals such as film and video producers, video/computer game developers, Web content developers, architects, engineers, and designers. The leader in PC-based professional 3D modeling and animation tools, Kinetix provides a full range of products for the application development process, from 2D and 3D creation to assembly and delivery. With headquarters in San Francisco, Kinetix is a division of Autodesk(R), the fifth largest PC software company in the world with three million customers in 150 countries. 3D Studio MAX, the company's flagship product, won more than 25 industry awards in 1996. Kinetix products are sold through dealers and distributors worldwide. Visit Kinetix on the World Wide Web at http://www.ktx.com

CONTACT: Kinetix

Melisa Bell, 415/547-2258

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