3d Studio Max Architecture to Be Available to Consumer Content Creation
Communities as Foundation Tool for Creating Game Content
SIGGRAPH, NEW ORLEANS, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Discreet, a division of
Autodesk Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), today announced that it plans to release a
powerful subset of its industry-leading 3d studio max(R) authoring tool to
game players for no charge on the web. The new product, code-named 3d studio
gMAX and based on the upcoming key release of 3d studio max, will serve as an
extensible content creation platform for professional and consumer use.
Discreet(TM) plans to license development rights for 3d studio gMAX to
qualified game developers on a per title basis. This initiative is aimed at
servicing the rapidly-growing consumer content creation communities that have
grown up on the web around franchise game series such as id Software's Quake
and Microsoft(R) Flight Simulator.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000518/SFTH083LOGO )
"As the leader in the 3D games tool space, Discreet has a clear
appreciation of the value consumer communities bring to the games they
extend," says Phillip Miller, senior director of Discreet software products.
"We also know that many of our largest game development customers use 3d
studio max as the content editing foundation for their games -- linking it
directly to their game engine with custom plug-ins and user-interfaces. With
gMAX, we intend to further accelerate game development by releasing an
extensible product that can not only be used to build the game itself, but can
then be shipped with the title for use by the creative gamer community."
Discreet is announcing its new product initiative today for the benefit of
game developers who plan to release custom level editing tools with game
titles next year. Discreet intends to promote 3d studio gMAX as a means of
extending game title longevity through consumer customizations, simultaneously
reducing game developer reliance on proprietary tools. This new product will
offer a targeted selection of standard 3d studio max features for level
layout, 3D polygon modeling, state-of-the-art real time texturing and
lighting, and basic animation. 3d studio gMAX is designed to be highly
flexible and customizable to meet the diverse demands of individual game
titles. Extensions to the new product can be made by qualified game
developers who are licensed by Discreet to create "Game Packs" -- collections
of plug-ins and scripts. gMAX is designed to support the same operating
systems as 3d studio max including Microsoft Windows, the dominant 3D
authoring environment for the consumer game content creation community.
"We are very excited about expanding our relationship with Discreet," said
Ed Fries, vice president of games publishing at Microsoft. "The 3d Studio
gMAX initiative will provide an excellent framework for all Windows-based game
developers to support. It allows our developers to focus on the game
experience without the necessity of creating, supporting and maintaining
editing tools. The possibility of supporting gMAX through our Flight
Simulator product line, and potentially other Microsoft titles, will
definitely expand the play-time and entertainment value that these games
offer."
"We are very pleased to be working closely with Discreet to bring 3d
studio max and NVIDIA's latest GPU technologies together for the benefit of
next generation game developers and consumers," said Sanford Russell, senior
director of partner management at NVIDIA. "Discreet's long term commitment to
openness and extensibility of 3d studio max offers great potential for
delivering the latest in real time graphics technologies directly into the
hands of game artists. Discreet's new initiative to deliver that same core
technology to consumers through 3d studio gMAX will provide unparalleled
capabilities to game players of all types."
"3d studio gMAX is a great step towards enabling gamers to edit and extend
their favorite levels and content," said Steve Smith, business development
director, Criterion Software Inc. "Criterion is already developing a range of
extensions that provide for seamless integration between 3d studio max and
RenderWare based games. Discreet's 3d studio gMAX initiative should allow our
investment in the 3d studio max SDK to extend to the 170+ games studios around
the world that are developing games using RenderWare, offering gamers a
richer, deeper, more personalized game experience."
Discreet's experience and success in delivering 3d studio max to over
132,000 3D content creators should bring much needed stability and
predictability to the consumer content creation community through broad,
no-charge consumer access to the 3d studio gMAX foundation. Discreet intends
to play an active role in delivering and maintaining the gMAX application
within the consumer space through its web-presence and software development
infrastructure. Discreet's initiative will also address the larger issue
surrounding 3D authoring in general -- training. By providing familiar tools
to the vast number of consumer content creators, Discreet intends to foster
and grow the talent pool of 3D-savvy artists and game designers.
Game developers can easily continue work today for use in 3d studio gMAX
by writing custom interfaces within version 3.1 of 3d studio max. The new
product's platform will be compile-compatible with the next major release of
3d studio max, allowing customizations to migrate to 3d studio gMAX Game Packs
with minimal effort. Discreet plans to license the right to develop and
distribute Game Packs for a flat, per-title fee to qualified developers, and
to optionally license the right to distribute 3d studio gMAX with their title.
Licensed game development teams will be able to use and extend gMax as a
game-level building tool for internal production of a specific, named title,
and then deploy the corresponding Game Pack. Discreet plans to release
development versions of gMAX following the first customer shipment of the next
major release of 3d studio max this winter. When the first set of supported
Game Packs is released, Discreet plans to have no-charge downloads of 3d
studio gMAX available to consumers.
Product Licensing and Availability
For more information on licensing and availability of 3d studio gMAX,
please contact Discreet Sales at http://www.discreet.com, or call 800-869-3504 or
514-393-1616 for more information.
About Discreet
Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in digital content
creation, management and distribution tools. Discreet develops systems and
software for visual effects, 3D animation, editing and production used in the
creation of digital moving pictures for feature films, video, HDTV, broadcast
graphics, interactive games and the Web. Discreet products are used
extensively in film and video post-production, games and multimedia, broadcast
graphics, programming and on-air event coverage. For more information,
contact any Authorized Discreet Reseller, call Discreet at 800-869-3504, or
visit http://www.discreet.com. Autodesk shares are traded on the NASDAQ national
market under the symbol ADSK.
NOTE: Discreet is a division of Autodesk, Inc. 3d studio max is a
registered trademark, and Discreet is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc./Discreet
Logic, Inc. in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product
names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.
SOURCE Discreet
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.autodesk.com
Photo Notes:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000518/SFTH083LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467
CONTACT:
press, Megan Prest of Edelman, Silicon
Valley, 650-968-4033, ext. 2730, or megan_prest@edelman.com, or
Karen Jezdinsky of Edelman, Toronto, 416-979-1120, ext. 252, or
karen_jezdinsky@edelman.com, both for Discreet
|
