Play Incorporated Unveils New Electric Image 3D Software With Hybrid Modeler And New Price Point

Electric Image 2.9 Drives Professional Animation, Modeling and Rendering To New Markets

San Francisco – Today at MacWorld Expo, Play Incorporated unveiled a new version of its award-winning professional 3D animation software, Electric Image 2.9, which includes the highly anticipated Electric Image Modeler and a significant price reduction from $7,500 to $2,295. Previously, Electric Image software was available in separate versions for broadcast and film users. Play’s new Electric Image 2.9 includes unlimited resolution rendering and hybrid surface/solid modeling capabilities, providing Mac users with a complete high-end professional 3D package at a breakthrough price point.

Electric Image software is widely recognized in the broadcast and motion picture industries as having the most advanced 3D rendering technology. It is often used in the creation of blockbuster movies, such as "Star Trek : First Contact", "Star Wars Special Edition", "The Mask" and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." Besides its impact on Hollywood’s top feature films, Electric Image software is also widely used for broadcast television graphics, such as NBC’s "Dateline", FOX’s "The X-Files", and TNT’s "Babylon 5", and in the creation of videogame titles for the Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation and Windows PCs.

"Electric Image 2.9 provides current users a solid upgrade with new animation features, surface and solid modeling capabilities and even faster rendering speeds. But our goal at Play is also to empower more people to create compelling 3D graphics," said Dwight Parscale, CEO of Play’s 3D Division. "With this new price point, Mac users everywhere can now have access to Hollywood’s favorite 3D software."

Electric Image 2.9 offers many advantages to 3D animators, textures are rendered on objects in 3D views and advanced lighting can be viewed through the use of interactive Phong rendering. Textures can be placed on objects interactively, LightWave project files can now be imported completely to take advantage of Electric Image’s rendering quality and "the world’s fastest 3D renderer" now renders up to 15 percent faster.

The highly anticipated Electric Image Modeler offers an innovative hybrid approach with both solid and surface modeling capabilities, which is extremely powerful for creating a variety of complex objects. The Modeler’s ÜberNURBS™ make modeling as easy as sculpting in clay, or stretching and pulling on a piece of taffy. Advanced Boolean operations allow for the ability to cut holes into, combine or intersect models in one simple step. Objects can be combined to create infinitely thin lines and planes.

Electric Image 2.9 will be available for $2,295 MSRP in Q1 ’99. Upgrades from version 2.8 of ElectricImage Animation System and ElectricImage Broadcast to version 2.9 are free to current users.

Play Incorporated is a privately held corporation, founded in 1994 by computer and video industry pioneers with the goal of bringing high-end video and graphics capabilities to personal computers. Its first product, the award-winning Snappy Video Snapshot, is the best-selling computer video add-on of all time for the PC. Play’s industry-acclaimed Trinity is a Windows-NT based television studio-in-a-box which replaces $125,000 worth of dedicated gear for about $7,000. Contact: 800.306.PLAY or http://www.play.com.