(November 23)  NewTek announced today its first professional

hardware and software digital video and animation solution for Windows NT called Frame Factory.  It is a joint hardware/software integrated solution for digital video capture, animation, and manipulation for under $4,000. Frame Factory is a suite that allows 3D animation, real time video capture and playback, 2D animation, 2D and 3D video manipulation, and video processing.

"With the introduction of the Frame Factory, NewTek is making video production history again," said Tim Jenison, President of NewTek. NewTek started the desktop digital video revolution with the introduction of the Video Toaster in 1990.  "With the obvious push in the market for hybridization of 3D animation, 2D manipulation, and video tools, NewTek has once again proven itself ahead of the pack by developing these tools internally over the past four years rather than playing catch up by acquiring outside technologies."

With Frame Factory, customers will receive a feature-rich uncompressed ITU-R-601 video I/O board, LightWave 3D, and Aura-all optimized to work together and take advantage of the Windows NT operating system. Frame Factory will give users complete control over the entire process of their work including modeling, texturing, painting, animating, rendering, compositing, and final output. All of this comes from one desktop system.

"Traditionally, digital content creators have been restricted to the amount of control they have over their projects when it comes to final output," says Jenison. "NewTek's Frame Factory gives users the control they need, the clear crisp quality of uncompressed video, and the best selling software in the industry, all at a price far below any other solutions available. The Frame Factory continues NewTek's mission to provide professional solutions at affordable prices."

Frame Factory is a complete 2D/3D digital content creation solution that includes a full-featured uncompressed ITU-R-601 video I/O board, LightWave 3D 5.6, and Aura.

"Frame Factory sets new level of price performance standards for the industry," stated Brad Peebler, vice president 3D graphics group, NewTek. "Users get a complete suite including LightWave 3D the number one tool in television and film for 3D animation and special effects and Aura the first true video paint box for windows NT. They now have all the tools they need to have complete control of the animation process, including real time output at the utmost quality."

Years of research, in-house development and an extensive knowledge of the video production process have made NewTek's LightWave 3D software the most widely used production tool in the television and film industries, according to Jon Peddie Associates, a San Francisco-based independent research firm.

"Based on their market share in the both film and broadcast industries, NewTek clearly has a premier solution for 3D animation and modeling," said Wanda Meloni, senior analyst with Jon Peddie Associates. "LightWave 3D has the largest installed base far and above any other 3D package on the market according to our recent study on 3D applications. With the company's success in the animation market, we predict they will excel in the NT video marketplace."

Key features of Frame Factory include:

- A superior quality, 3/4 length single-board solution for real time capture and playback of uncompressed ITU-R-601 video without artifacting.

- Integration with LightWave 3D v. 5.6, a feature-rich 3D modeling and animation program, for the direct import of captured video into LightWave 3D.

- Uncompressed video, which ensures quality and continuity in the capture process, eliminating the concatenation, or additive compression loss, often associated with compressed video.

- An enhanced version of Aura.

- The ability for the import/export of Video Toaster/Flyer clips for increased interactivity between the two systems.

- Windows NT stripes drives for simultaneous use, eliminating the need for a RAID controller to achieve the Frame Factory's 21 MB/s data transfer rate.

- The us of the NTFS file system, which does away with the 2 GB file size limit.

- Video I/O, including component (YUV), S-Video and composite with SDI optional.

- File format compatible with other leading 2D and 3D software programs.
(IFF, JPG, TIFF, TGA, PIC, SUN, Alias, RAW, BMP, Cineon, Pshop, RLA, SGI, YUV)

LightWave 3D and Aura
LightWave 3D is one of the industry's most powerful photorealistic 3D animation systems for personal computers and workstations, enabling users to create stunning images and animations. The 5.6 version includes HyperVoxels', NewTek's breakthrough rendering technology for greatly simplifying the creation of organic effects and naturally flowing phenomena, from viscous fluids to extremely detailed rocky surfaces. LightWave 3D 5.6 combines the most comprehensive feature set of any 3D program with a sub-$2,000 retail price, providing workstation performance at a PC price.

Aura is a fast, sophisticated painting and animation program aimed at professional video and animation artists working in production broadcast or multimedia environments. It dramatically enhances the creative capabilities of any non-linear editing system, character generation program or 3D animation system. Aura is a unique balance of paint tools, compositing, cel animation, 2D animation, special effects and character generation, and combines many of the best features of all of these in one very powerful paint system. Aura lets users add motion, color, 2D and 3D elements and special effects, create titles and composites using any digital image and is also ideal for rotoscoping, video painting and layering.

"Frame Factory is an uncompressed accomplishment of digital magic, which will allow us to expand into a new definition of the highest technology," said Paul Goldberg, owner, Hollywood New York LTD.

Pricing and Availability
NewTek's Frame Factory for Intel is $ $3,995 and will be available worldwide through authorized dealers within a few weeks.

Minimum System Requirements
Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pak 3
Pentium II 233MHz with MMX (BX Motherboard)
96 MB RAM
Drive System capable of 21MB/sec sustained data rate
Available Bus-Mastering PCI slot.

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