FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PUPPETTIME, INC. ANNOUNCES PREVIEW RELEASE OF PUPPETTIME DIRECTOR
New Internet Company Demonstrates Easy-To-Use 3D Storytelling
Technology, Invites Potential Customers To Make Requests
SAN FRANCISCO (March 25th, 1999) – PuppetTime, Inc. announced today
that it has released a preview of its revolutionary 3D storytelling
application, PuppetTime(R) Director, on its web site
http://www.puppettime.com/. PuppetTime Director allows users to
manipulate 3D puppets using PuppetTime’s patent-pending 3D digital
actor plug-in architecture, which is built on top of Apple’s
QuickTime. Downloading the free preview will allow Mac users with
QuickTime to create and view 3D movies. Playback for Windows users is
also available.
“The core philosophy at PuppetTime, Inc. is to bring the power of
storytelling to the rest of us,” says Deeje Cooley, PuppetTime’s
founder and CTO, “Everyone has a story to tell. Children are natural
storytellers, while executives and professionals incorporate
storytelling into their daily business practices. PuppetTime will
make 3D animation accessible to all.”
PuppetTime Director is easy to use and requires no previous 3D
modeling or animation experience. The PuppetTime technology is a
framework for scriptable 3D digital actors, called puppets. Each
puppet is a self-contained plug-in, with interactive controls, that
knows how to render and animate itself in 3D. A user can create a 3D
movie by entering dialog, selecting predefined actions, and moving
puppets around a stage. Additional plug-ins for new characters,
stages, costumes, and props will be available on the company’s
web-site.
PuppetTime itself is built on top of QuickTime, which is the dominant
cross-platform multimedia architecture. By leveraging QuickTime,
PuppetTime can be combined with other media types, like video, sound,
text and music. PuppetTime movies store only commands and meta-data,
so they are quite small, and easily stream-able across today’s
standard modem connections.
PuppetTime’s COO, Tal Fried, feels their technology is needed
because, “the biggest barrier to consumer 3D animation is the steep
learning curve. Nobody wants to spend hours learning a how to create
3D characters and then learn how to animate those characters to tell
a story. With our technology, anyone can create fully animated 3D
stories with just 3 click of their mouse.”
There are many uses for PuppetTime’s technology. For children,
PuppetTime Director can develop writing skills, increase
understanding of social studies, and foster personal growth. For
entertainment professionals, PuppetTime Director can help during
pre-production to pre-visualize scenes in movies, TV shows, theater,
and advertisements. PuppetTime hopes their web-site will foster a
community for 3D storytellers to share their creations. In time the
web-site will also host live productions of original works and
webisodic content.
Visitors to the web-site are encouraged to make requests for new
features and characters (accessible from the front page in the
“Requests” section). Mr. Cooley says, “the initial response to
PuppetTime has been phenomenal, and we’d like to ensure we’re
delivering real customer value. Tell us what you need to tell us your
story.”
Screenshots are available at
(http://www.puppettime.com/screenshots/). Requests can be made at
(http://www.puppettime.com/requests/).
For more information, contact
Deeje Cooley
415-244-0828
mailto:deeje@puppettime.com
http://www.puppettime.com/