Station X licenses animation software

Santa Monica, California-based Station X Studios is licensing theproduction version of its proprietary animation software tools, code named"Project: messiah," as a commercial software product. The high-endanimation production software, developed to animate the studio'sforthcoming live-action/CGI feature film DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: THE MOVIE, canbe used on computers utilizing the Microsoft Windows NT operating systemwith either Intel compatible or Alpha compatible processors. A Mac versionis also in the works. The product will be available for a limited time at aspecial price of $395 per seat. "While it may seem counter-intuitive tosell proprietary technology to your direct competitors, becoming asignificant software company was always part of our business strategy.Besides, Station X still has exceptional creative and technical in-houseassets to help us keep our edge in digital animation and effects," saysFori Owurowa, president of Station X. Some of the advanced features ofProject: messiah include: easy character setup; real-time interactivity;local/world coordinates on-the-fly; forward/inverse kinematics;procedural/key-frame animation blending; and interactive soft-bodydynamics. Effects can modify multiple objects so users can animate oneskeleton and let it operate on an entire army. Designed for Windows 95/98or NT Intel or Alpha CPU, the package's system requirements also includeeight megs of available disk space, 32 megs of RAM, CD-ROM drive, andNewTek's LightWave3D or Inspire. Station X Studios, which opened its doorsin 1997, specializes in photo-real 3D/digital animation and visual effectsutilizing state-of-the-art supercomputers powered by Compaq Computer(formerly Digital Equipment Corp.) Alpha CPUs running Microsoft's WindowsNT operating system.