Tewksbury, Mass. -- Avid Technology's next generation 3D animation system, code-named "Sumatra," was unveiled at SIGGRAPH '99, with shipping expected by the year's end.

With this upcoming release, the company takes the next major step in animation, introducing the world's first truly nonlinear animation (NLA) environment. This includes features that will revolutionize the way people work in 3-D production including seamless NURBS modeling, animation mixing, interactive rendering, render passes and comprehensive scripting using industry-standard languages. Building upon the same concepts that made Softimage 3D the most productive tool in production, this new system goes a step further in breaking down the barriers to effective animation. A highly efficient workflow, powerful and intuitive tools, and a flexible suite of modeling and animation controls combine into a system designed from the ground up for the digital artist.

Also, Avid's new release of Softimage 3D 3.8 SP2 is shipping. The forthcoming service pack release of its industry-leading modeling, animation and rendering system includes Mental Ray v.2.1 rendering software and offers improved image quality and significantly faster previewing and rendering.

Softimage DS, the company's versatile, integrated post-production studio for creating and finishing graphics and effects-centric projects had new performance and functionality levels introduced at Siggraph. This next version has now entered its beta phase and is expected to ship by the end of the year. Key features include: increased performance, extensive user interface improvements, a newly integrated advanced 3-DVE, titling enhancements including 3-D titling support, an interactive process tree for building composites, high-resolution media support, "Mix and Match" Compositing, high-speed editing with swift menus, warping and morphing based on Elastic Reality and Toonz plug-in software extensions.

Avid is also introducing Softimage Media Illusion Version 6.0. The latest version of this resolution-independent digital compositing and effects system delivers extensive performance and workflow improvements including a new animation editor, on-screen motion paths for 2-D animations, motion tracker enhancements and full Y2K compliance.

Finally, Avid will demonstrate Avid Unity Media Net 1.0, which connects editors, artists, sound-designers and effects specialists throughout a digital facility to the same network, significantly improving workflow, raising productivity and enhancing creativity by eliminating many of the mundane, mechanical tasks associated with managing today's part linear, part nonlinear post-production process. Included in Avid Unity MediaNet are advanced media transfer utilities and the very latest in server-assisted shared storage and networking technologies, providing support for a wide-range of applications and platforms. Avid Unity MediaNet 1.0 will also feature direct connection of the Macintosh platform, as well as network attachment to Windows NT and SGI IRIX platforms.

About Avid Technology, Inc. Avid Technology, Inc., of which Softimage is a subsidiary, is an international, industry-leading provider of digital audio and video tools for information and entertainment applications. Avid's products are used by a variety of customers worldwide including film, television and interactive content producers, TV news broadcasters, corporate communicators and consumers. For more information, visit Avid's Web site at www.avid.com or the Softimage site at www.softimage.com .