Industry-Leading, High-End 3D Animation Software and Services Now Available
On Highly Scalable, Affordable 64-Bit Sun Systems
PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ --
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) bolsters its growing presence in the
digital content creation market today through its announcement with Side
Effects Software that the award-winning Houdini 3D application will be made
available on the Sun Solaris(TM) Operating Environment.
The announcement brings together one of the industry's most powerful 3D
animation and visual effects software products with the renowned scalability
and price/performance of Sun's Solaris platform and UltraSPARC(TM)
architecture. Providing digital content creation (DCC) companies with a new
robust, 64-bit alternative platform, the Sun-Side Effects announcement further
enhances Sun's end-to-end digital media partner solutions, from content
creation to asset management and content distribution.
Based on its pioneering procedural approach, Houdini is used by leaders in
the animation, media and entertainment markets, helping to create such highly
regarded visual effects sequences as those found in blockbuster feature films,
including The Matrix, The Mummy Returns, Hollow Man, X-Men, and
soon-to-be-released Lord of the Rings. By porting Houdini to the Solaris
platform, animators and other digital media customers have the benefit of
vendor accountability and support from Side Effects Software and Sun
Microsystems. In addition to the productivity benefits offered by Houdini's
animation software, customers also have access to more hardware options,
including the sub-$1,000 entry level Sun(TM) Blade 100 workstation, the power
graphics Sun Blade 1000 workstation, industry-leading Sun servers, and a wide
range of Sun storage solutions.
"Sun is accelerating its momentum in the digital content creation market
by working with the industry's leading application providers and by delivering
professional quality 3D graphics and computing solutions at extremely
competitive price points," said Robbie Turner, vice president of Client and
Technical Market Products for Sun. "By working with Side Effects, an
industry-recognized leader in 3D animation, Sun is able to bring the power of
the Solaris platform and advanced 64-bit UltraSPARC architecture to top
animation studios and convergence media companies around the world."
"Our customers have been looking for more choices in their 3D animation
hardware solutions, and porting Houdini to Sun's Solaris Operating Environment
makes this a reality for them," said Paul Salvini, CTO of Side Effects
Software. "It is our goal to continue making our software solutions more
useful, efficient and powerful for our growing customer base. Having already
added support for Linux and 64-bit processors in 1999, porting to the Solaris
platform was very straightforward. The development tools on Sun are
outstanding and they contributed significantly to our productivity during the
porting effort."
"We have been using Houdini in production as one of our primary visual
effects tools for years," said Scott Ross, Chairman/CEO of Digital Domain, an
award-winning visual effects company for films, television and theme parks.
"The Houdini port to Sun's Solaris platform provides us with a very compelling
alternative, particularly in terms of product support, price and performance.
We've consistently received outstanding technical service from Side Effects
and we are very familiar with Sun's market strength and solid reputation for
end-to-end system support, which makes for an extremely valuable proposition
for us."
Product Availability
A beta release of Houdini is expected to be available in the fall of 2001.
Plans for the porting effort include availability on the Sun Blade and Sun(TM)
Ultra workstations and will support a wide range of Sun's graphics accelerator
options, including Creator3D, Elite3D, and the high-end, professional-level
graphics board, Sun(TM) Expert3D.
About Houdini
Houdini is an award-winning 3D animation software package that includes a
comprehensive set of capabilities for digital content creation including
modeling, animating, compositing, characters, textures, shading and rendering.
Houdini is used for animation and visualization at a number of world-class
facilities including TRW, Northrop, Boeing, Sydney VisLab, Primal Pictures and
Doug Struthers Studio.
Houdini's unique and award-winning Visual Procedural Network technology
facilitates quick learning, rapid experimentation and the ultimate in
production flexibility. Its revolutionary, fully non-linear architecture lets
artists work the way they think. The powerful new customizable interface has
been designed to handle the most sophisticated production environments with
efficiency.
About Side Effects Software, Inc.
Established in 1987, Side Effects Software is a world leader in the
development of advanced 3D graphics and special effects software for use in
film, broadcast and game development. Today, Side Effects Software leads the
field of non-linear animation with its unique, award-winning, Houdini
technology. Houdini is used by numerous digital content creation leaders
including Digital Domain, DreamWorks SKG, Electronic Arts, Namco, Nickelodeon,
Rhythm & Hues, Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment, Walt Disney Feature
Animation and Weta Digital Ltd. More information about Side Effects Software
and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sidefx.com .
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- The Network Is The
Computer(TM) -- has propelled Sun Microsystems,Inc., to its position as a
leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that
power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to take their businesses to
the nth. With $18.3 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than
170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com .
NOTE: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Sun Blade, Sun Expert3D,
Solaris, and "The Network Is The Computer" are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and in other
countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or
registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and
other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an
architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered
trademark in the United States and other countries exclusively licensed
through X/Open Company, Ltd. Houdini is a registered trademark of Side Effects
Software Inc.
CONTACT: Frank E. Smith of Sun Microsystems, Inc., +1-650-786-7215, or
franke.smith@sun.com; or Tony Cristiano of Side Effects Software, Inc.,
+1-310-319-9876, or tony@sidefx.com .
SOURCE Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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Related links:
http://sun.com
CONTACT:
Frank E. Smith of Sun Microsystems, Inc.,
+1-650-786-7215, or franke.smith@sun.com; or Tony Cristiano of
Side Effects Software, Inc., +1-310-319-9876, or tony@sidefx.com
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