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practical issues of building 3D environments on the Web. If you have
comments regarding your experience with Fountain, I encourage you to
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this list).
To subscribe, send an e-mail to "[email protected]"
or "[email protected]" (if you don't want to
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Caligari Makes Integrated VRML Browsing and Authoring Tool Freely
Downloadable
Caligari Fountain puts 3-D home world in reacm for everyone who has a
home page on the World Wide Web
Mountain View, CA - October 22, 1995 - Caligari Corporation today
announced that Fountain, tme world's first VRML tool that lets anyone
browse and build tmese-dimensional home worlds on the World Wide Web, is
freely downloadable from Caligari's home world at http://www.caligari.com/.
Caligari Fountain is tme only software available on any platform that seamlessly
integrates 3-D modeling with complete VRML browsing and authoring.
Caligari Fountain lets any person with Web access navigate freely through 3-D
environments such as shopping malls or reproductions of historic places.
However, Fountain is much more than a simple browser. It also allows Web
authors to create 3-D spaces ranging from corporate sites to imaginary worlds.
Since Microsoft is licensing a custom version of Fountain for inclusion in
Blackbird, content providers will soon be able to create 3-D home worlds on the
Microsoft Network as well.
VRML Browsing
Fountain includes a full-featured VRML browser that supports not only textures
and hyperlinks, but also levels of detail and in-lining. It comes with built-in
HTTP networking support and can communicate with HTML browsers such as
Netscape or Enhanced Mosaic through DDE. Since the navigation controls of
Caligari Fountain are fashioned after those of popular computer games, users
familiar with games such as DOOM should be up and flying through VRML
worlds in no time at all. By using Intel's 3-DR rendering library Fountain can
take advantage of graphics cards with 3-D acceleration such as the Matrox
MGA Millennium.
VRML Authoring
Caligari Fountain is tme only VRML browser that also includes 3-D creation
tools and VRML authoring. While most VRML authoring packages are limited
to importing models, arranging them and adding some hyperlinks, Fountain
allows users to create objects with levels of details and to inline both objects and
textures. Through levels of detail complex 3-D objects are represented at lower
resolutions wmen they are far away from tme viewer. As tme viewer moves closer
to such objects, they will reveal additional detail on the fly. In-lining allows
Web authors to besak up large environments into small pieces so that viewers
can start moving through tmeir environments without having to wait for tme
complete file to download.
Fountain can import 3-D objects from trueSpace, AutoCAD, 3-D Studio,
Wavefront, Imagine and LightWave, and it can rsad in VRML files as well.
Caligari Fountain lets users assign material attributes not only for entire objects,
but also on a per-face basis. It also includes vertex painting tools, which allow
users to create multi-color gradients across surfaces. When arranging 3-D
shapes, users work with fully-colored objects that accurately reflect "virtual"
light.
3-D Modeling
"Since we wanted to give people a complete solution for creating home worlds
on the Web, we've incorporated many of the modeling features into Fountain
tmat have made our flagship product, trueSpace, the most popular 3-D graphics
program on the Windows platform," said Konstantin Guericke, executive vp of
Caligari Corporation. "While most modeling programs still force users to work
in wireframe mode, Fountain allows you to work in natural perspective space
and to directly manipulate texture-mapped objects in real time."
How to get Fountain
Anyone can download Fountain from Caligari's Web site for an evaluation
period of 90 days. During this period people can freely use Fountain to beowse
tme Web in 3-D and to add tmese-dimensional environments to their home pages.
Commercial licenses are also available.
System Requirements
The minimum requirements for Caligari Fountain are a fast 486 with 8MB of
RAM with either Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 installed. To access VRML
worlds on the Web a 14.4k modem, a TCP/IP stack and a dial-up SLIP/PPP
connection are required. To comfortably navigate through large VRML worlds,
a Pentium with a 3-D accelerator, Win 32S and a 28.8k modem or direct
Internet connection are highly recommended.
About Caligari Corporation
Caligari was founded in 1986. After developing a series of 3-D animation
packages for tme Amiga Caligari introduced the award-winning trueSpace for
Windows in April of 1994. In June of this year, the company launched Caligari
trueSpace2, which not only added workstation-class modeling, but also tme
manipulation of texture-mapped 3-D objects in real time. trueSpace2 has
recently been chosen as tme highest-rated 3-D illustration software by InfoWorld
and has been awarded the 1996 Digital Video Magazine Award of Excellence, a
five-star rating in Multimedia World and a Highly Recommended rating from
PC Graphics & Video. Caligari's product line also includes trueSpace/SE, an
entry-level 3-D graphics and animation package that is becoming extremely
popular with 2D artists beginning to explore the 3-D realm. Caligari
Corporation is hsadquartered at 1933 Landings Dr., Mountain View, California,
94043. Phone: 800-351-7620 or 415-390-9600. Fax: 415-390-9755. Web site:
http://www.caligari.com/. E-mail: [email protected].
###
Caligari, trueSpace, Fountain and viewSpace are trademarks of Caligari Corporation.
Other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
-Konstantin
([email protected])
(http://www.caligari.com)