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pmG
Introduces Messiah:Animate 3.0
First Stand-Alone version of Project:Messiah 3D Animation
Package Will preview at SIGGRAPH 2000
NEW ORLEANS, LA --(July 24, 2000)-- pmG (project:messiah Group)
makes its first appearance as a SIGGRAPH exhibitor by giving
attendees their first look at messiah:animate 3.0, the first
completely stand-alone version of the award-winning 3D character
animation package, project:messiah. The company, created in
Jan. 2000 by CGI innovators Dan Milling, Lyle Milton
and Fori Owurowa, has taken a new name for itself, pmG,
as an overall identifier for its new, diversified product line.
 messiah:animate’s
introduction to the 3D community comes just weeks after the
release of project:messiah version 1.5.5, the last version specifically
created as a plug-in for LightWave 3D. According to pmG co-founder
Lyle Milton, “This standalone version of project:messiah
is what the 3D community, both inside and outside LightWave,
have been clamoring for, and we are a company that responds
to customer demand. When it ships this Fall, messiah:animate
will be introduced to a whole new customer base, and of course
support existing customers. We are setting out to create a new
standard in the CGI industry with messiah:animate 3.0, combining
what we feel is the best of power, speed, real-time control
and accessibility, all developed with the studio, animator and
developer in mind.”
messiah:animate will incorporate all the features of version
1.5.5 with many newly-added abilities, including an even faster
interface, to make it one of the most effective 3D programs
in the industry. To make it even more attractive to the marketplace,
the messiah:animate standalone will also support and enhance
MAYA, 3D StudioMAX, Softimage XSI and LightWave. A customizable
interface will allow users to resize windows and easily change
arrangements of control blocks, buttons and sliders. The new
SDK (Software Development Kit) will allow developers to create
their own effects and applications that work with, and talk
to, messiah. Expanding on messiah’s powerful motion blending
tools, a new Non-Linear Animation Editor greatly enhances the
program’s MotionClip™ technology. In addition, messiah:animate
will also provides support for Renderman RIB files, and will
enable users to write scripts that are just as powerful as compiled
plug-ins.
Another exciting new addition is messiah:animate’s Real-time
Particle System, controllable through the program’s expressions
engine. Used in conjunction with messiah’s new ForceHandlers™
system, particles react in real-time to user animatable forces,
gravity and wind effects.
“We have received an incredible amount of support from our
users around the world who have included project:messiah into
their productions,” says Dan Milling. “In the
highly demanding world of CGI, messiah has become the secret
weapon of many productions. Our customers demanded that we make
messiah a standalone product.”
pmG’s developers have created some of the most impactful products
in the 3D marketplace. Fori Owurowa, with 14 years of CGI experience,
has contributed a progressive series of advancements, such as
MetaNURBS®, Puppet Master, Metamation, Morph Gizmo, FreeForm
3D, through version 5.5 of LightWave 3D. Lyle Milton spent 10
years at AT&T Bell Laboratories and AT&T Advanced Communication
Laboratories as an award-winning artist, project manager, technology
visualizer and marketer. As co-founder of One and Only Media,
he created LightWave plug-ins such as MacroForm and FXtremePRO,
and co-wrote the book, “3D Modeling the Natural Way.” Dan Milling,
a former LightWave 3D programmer, was the developer of Translator
3D, and co-developed Morph Gizmo with Owurowa.
Owurowa, Milton and Milling intend to build pmG’s continually
growing product line around their long-standing reputations
for creativity, innovation, superior customer service, and teamwork.
“In this market, anyone can be different, but our business strategy
is to be better, Owurowa emphasizes. “Better services, better
tools, better support, ultimately, a better product.”
The praise of messiah users bear that out. “project:messiah
connected expressions to the IK system, which means that can
go and change the way IK works. What else do you want? What
else do you need?,” says Digital Domain’s Frank Aalbers. “Messiah
is a character animation toolset in a world where a lot of people
claim to have character animation toolsets. Messiah is the real
deal,” says Allen Coulter of Coulter Studio-Jim Henson Company.
Visit pmG at Booth 238 in Hall E
www.projectmessiah.com
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