Press Release/Babylon 5 Info/MorphPlus
Perry S Kivolowitz
ASDG SETS SHIP DATE FOR STATE-OF-THE-ART AMIGA(R) VISUAL EFFECTS
PACKAGE. WINDOWS(R) VERSION ANNOUNCED.
ASDG has set an October 1st ship date for MorphPlus(tm), a
state-of-the-art visual effects package for the Commodore Amiga.
MorphPlus, already in use in Hollywood for such features as Babylon 5,
provides cinematic quality full motion morphing and other visual
effects. ASDG also announced a forthcoming Microsoft Windows version,
called CineMorph(tm).
Madison WI, August 26, 1992 ----- ASDG Incorporated, the leading
supplier of innovative color imaging solutions for cinema and video,
announce an October 1st ship date for its state-of-the-art visual
effects package, MorphPlus and has announced plans for CineMorph, a
morphing-only system for Microsoft Windows.
MorphPlus produces cinematic and broadcast quality full motion morphs
in record time using a proprietary image warping technology and a user
interface which has been called ``strikingly different'' and ``unique
and very impressive.''
MorphPlus has already earned a place in major Hollywood productions.
Mark Swain, animator for Foundation Imaging, the creators of the
special effects for Babylon 5 said, ``It's scarily realistic.
MorphPlus produces the most realistic shapeshifting special effects I
have ever seen on a desktop.''
MorphPlus allows for establishing relationships between source and
destination images with unheard-of precision. Animators are free to
add as many relationships as they wish without incurring a significant
performance penalty as the number of relationships grows large
(something common to all other morphing systems).
Other state-of-the-art features abound in MorphPlus, such as the
ability to subdivide an image into logical parts (called groups),
assign separate acceleration and deceleration curves per group, depth
arrange groups, and even the ability to set a transparency curve on a
group by group basis.
MorphPlus's morphing system is so precise and flexible, that it can be
used to edit fine details of an image, or to create mattes and
cut-outs.
As for performance, on a non-accelerated A3000, MorphPlus can produce
a complex full broadcast sized morph in the same time as Pacific Data
Images's morphing system (the one used for the Michael Jackson ``Black
or White'' video) running on an ultra-high performance Silicon
Graphics workstation.*
Incredibly, morphing is but one of the special effects provided by
MorphPlus. Other capabilities allow high quality DVE tumbles and
fly-bys, mapping images onto rotating spheres, mapping an image onto
the surface of a pond into which any number of pebbles can be thrown,
and others. All of these operations are presented in easy-to-use
WYSIWYG user interfaces.
MorphPlus is compatible with ASDG's award winning image processing
program, Art Department Professional, although ADPro is not required.
MorphPlus can also be used with ASDG's recently announced support for
the Abekas A60, A65, and A66 Digital Disk Recorders to move broadcast
quality video between platforms.
MorphPlus carries a list price of $295 and requires Kickstart 2.0 or
later.
On a related note, ASDG has announced the development of a
morphing-only version of MorphPlus, called CineMorph, for the
Microsoft Windows environment. CineMorph requires Windows 3.1 or
later and an Intel 386 processor or better.
For information about MorphPlus, CineMorph, or ASDG's other color
imaging solutions, contact Gina Cerniglia at ASDG Incorporated, 925
Stewart Street, Madison, WI 53713 or call (608) 273 - 6585.
Art Department Professional is a registered trademark, MorphPlus and
CineMorph are trademarks of ASDG Incorporated. Amiga is a registered
trademark of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. Microsoft and Microsoft Windows
are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
----------
* 1992 SIGGRAPH Proceedings, ``Feature Based Image Metamorphosis,''
page 38. Two minutes per frame on an SGI 4D25 with 100 correspondance
pairs.
Kevin Taddeucci
> ***** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *****
> ASDG SETS SHIP DATE FOR STATE-OF-THE-ART AMIGA(R) VISUAL EFFECTS
> PACKAGE. WINDOWS(R) VERSION ANNOUNCED.
> ASDG has set an October 1st ship date for MorphPlus(tm), a
> state-of-the-art visual effects package for the Commodore Amiga.
> MorphPlus, already in use in Hollywood for such features as Babylon 5,
> provides cinematic quality full motion morphing and other visual
> effects. ASDG also announced a forthcoming Microsoft Windows version,
> called CineMorph(tm).
Saw this at WOC. All I can say is !!! FANTASTIC !!!
----------------------------- ------------------------------------
| Kevin J. Taddeucci | e-mail: kev...@hpsad.sad.hp.com |
| Hewlett Packard Firmware QA | HPDesk: Kevin TADDEUCCI /HP5300/A0 |
| Telnet: 794-4192 | HP Mailstop: 2LR-N |
----------------------------- ------------------------------------
Perry S Kivolowitz
>> ASDG SETS SHIP DATE FOR STATE-OF-THE-ART AMIGA(R) VISUAL EFFECTS
>> PACKAGE. WINDOWS(R) VERSION ANNOUNCED.
>
> Saw this at WOC. All I can say is !!! FANTASTIC !!!
>
Thank you Kevin. What you saw on the video tape was produced with software
that was weeks old. The finished product far exceeds the capabilities you
saw.
On Friday night, at the close-of-show, we held a press conference at
which the vice president of The Post Group, the largest post production
company in the world, spoke on our behalf. He said that he had the two
other morphing program now available. And he chose ours, which he received
last, as the best choice for professional needs.
He cited the speed difference (immense), the ease of use (much easier),
and the precision (he mentioned that with MorphPlus you could match
individual hairs if you wanted to).
In a very short time (October 1st), our product will be shipped.
You'll be able to judge the veracity of his remarks for yourself.
And we look forward to the public's critical response.
SHUK C YIP
>
>On Friday night, at the close-of-show, we held a press conference at
>which the vice president of The Post Group, the largest post production
>company in the world, spoke on our behalf. He said that he had the two
>other morphing program now available. And he chose ours, which he received
>last, as the best choice for professional needs.
>
What is the other program? Mirage and ImageMaster!?