FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PUPPETTIME AND PROSOFT ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO ADVANCE WEB 3D STORYTELLING
Web 3D Company Blends Entertainment And E-Commerce For Mass Market Content
Creation
SAN FRANCISCO (April 10th, 2000) – PuppetTime, Inc. And Prosoft
Engineering, Inc. today announced a strategic development partnership. The
companies signed a Letter Of Intent (LOI) that provides PuppetTime access
to Prosoft’s innovative engineering resources to accelerate development of
PuppetTime’s patent pending Web 3D storytelling technologies across
platforms and across the Internet.
“We see a vast market potential for 3D on the Internet,” says Greg Brewer,
CEO of Prosoft Engineering, “While others focus on e-commerce visualization
and web character solutions that require professional skills to create,
PuppetTime advances a whole new concept of entertainment that gives
non-professionals access to the expressiveness of 3D animation. Prosoft
Engineering is excited to be able to partner with PuppetTime and help open
the door into this whole new industry.”
“The key to Web 3D is easy-to-use content creation tools,” says Deeje
Cooley, CTO of PuppetTime, “Just as the visual metaphor of folders and
menus brought powerful computers to the masses, the metaphor of cinematic
storytelling will empower a whole new generation of 3D movie makers.”
Sophistication Made Easy
PuppetTime Producer is an easy-to-use 3D character animation program that
implements the concept of digital actors. Users can create visually
compelling 3D animations in minutes simply by selecting characters, typing
dialog, recording sounds and voice-overs, and choosing actions. 3D modeling
or animation experience is not required because the digital actors, or
puppets, are predefined and know how to draw and animate themselves. For
instance, puppets have a number of animated emotional states built in,
which are easily chosen from a simple list. Puppets also automatically
create their own mouth shapes (visemes) from dialog text, using a
Text-To-Speech technology. The user can then overdub his or her own voice
speaking the dialog, giving the puppet characters unique inflections and
personalities. Sound tracks can be imported for use as sound effects and
background music. Still images can be imported as backgrounds. The program
also supports multiple puppets and cameras for true cinematic freedom.
Availability and Pricing
The shareware version of PuppetTime Producer is available for US$89.00 from
the company’s website at (http://www.puppettime.com). Academic pricing is
available at $495.00 for a 10-seat license, with additional seats at $49.00
each. Volume and site licenses are also available. Additional characters
are currently available free of charge.
About the Partners
PuppetTime, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, develops and
markets Web 3D animation software for web content design, creative
visualization, business presentations, and education curriculum development.
Founded in 1985, Prosoft Engineering, Inc. has helped some of the largest
names in Software develop their most successful products. Prosoft
Engineering offers a wide range of software development and testing
services for Macintosh, Windows and Unix. Headquartered in Pleasanton,
California, Prosoft Engineering maintains a web site at www.prosofteng.com.