FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - VR Toolbox, Inc.
Contact: Walter Neals, Vice President for Marketing
e-mail: walter@vrtoolbox.com
VR TOOLBOX, INC.(TM) ANNOUNCES THE UPCOMING LAUNCH OF ITS NEW LINE OF
SOFTWARE PRODUCTS FOR QUICKTIME VR(TM) .
Pittsburgh, PA, August 31, 1998 -- VR Toolbox, Inc.(TM) officially
announced today that it will launch its new line of software products in
just a few weeks. In September, VR Toolbox will begin shipping VR Pano
Worx(TM) and VR Object Worx(TM) for the Mac OS(TM). And coinciding with the
release, the company will offer a competitive upgrade offer to celebrate
the product launch. These two products are authoring tools that produce the
two basic elements of QuickTime VR(TM), panoramic movies and object movies.
VR Pano Worx creates QTVR(TM) panoramic movies while VR Object Worx
generates QTVR object movies. These two programs will be followed by VR
Scene Worx(TM) and The VR Worx(TM), a multi-node scene designer and a
complete suite of tools, respectively.
Highlights of VR Pano Worx include:
- Automatic "Streaming" of panos while downloading.
- New URL Hot-Spotter allows dedicated URLs to hot spots to be created
while you build the pano within the program.
- Enhanced control over the latest QuickTime settings.
- Generates panoramas from multiple images or a single panoramic image.
- Can import images from virtually all popular image file formats. Also
supports Photoshop(TM) acquisition plug-ins so images can be scanned or
downloaded (from digital cameras) directly into the program.
- Support for all QuickTime(TM) 3.0 codecs.
- Can generate partial panoramas as well as 360 panoramas.
- Built in image editor for touch-ups and text captions. Integrates with
external image editors such as Photoshop.
- Interactive control over playback attributes including initial, minimum
and maximum pan, tilt and zoom angles.
- Fast, easy to use interface guides the user through the entire process.
Highlights of VR Object Worx include:
- Automatic "Streaming" of object movies while downloading.
- Enhanced control over the latest QuickTime settings.
- Generates single or multiple row QTVR object movies.
- Can import images from virtually all popular image file formats. Also
supports Photoshop acquisition plug-ins so images can be scanned or
downloaded (from digital cameras) directly into the program.
- Automatic control of motorized object rigs such as the EME
ObjectWorker(TM) series and Kaidan's Magellan(TM) series.
- Control over virtually all QTVR 2.0 playback properties such as view
animation.
- Supports frame-based animation within single views of an object.
- Supports special effects such as synchronized sounds, text captions and
blue-screening.
- Outputs version 1.0 or 2.0 QTVR file formats.
Both VR Pano Worx and VR Object Worx will sell for $149.99 and will
initially be available directly from VR Toolbox. VR Toolbox will
commemorate this event with a special competitive upgrade offer on both VR
Pano Worx and VR Object Worx. Details on the offer will be posted on the VR
Toolbox web site at www.vrtoolbox.com. A reseller and distributor program
is being developed in order to make the product line readily available
worldwide. The entire product line will be available for both Windows(TM)
and the Mac OS. The first releases are aimed at the Mac OS with Windows
versions targeted to be available by the end of the year. VR Toolbox aims
to deliver precision, power and professionalism to all segments of the
Immersive Imaging market, including professional photographers, web
developers, multimedia producers, educators and hobbyists.
On September 7th, VR Toolbox will offer full working evaluation copies of
both VR Pano Worx and VR Object Worx. These free demos will be available
for download from the VR Toolbox web site at www.vrtoolbox.com. VR Toolbox
will continue to offer eval copies of new products and upgrades, as they
become available.
VR Toolbox, Inc. is a young company, who made its debut on July 21, 1998 at
SIGGRAPH 98 in Orlando, Florida. The company's focus is the development and
marketing of software tools for QuickTime VR. The goal of VR Toolbox is to
produce the most powerful, highly advanced and intuitive QTVR programs
available anywhere. VR Toolbox, Inc. has acquired this technology from its
creators, Florida-based Econ Technologies, Inc. Pittsburgh-based VR
Toolbox, Inc. promises to continually strive to be an exciting, important
and influential force within the Immersive Imaging industry and its
emerging technologies. VR Toolbox's financial strength comes from the same
source as that of its sister company, Emery Manufacturing & Equipment,
Inc.(TM), makers of high line object rotational devices and hardware for
the Immersive Imaging photographic professional.
"We want to emphasize our commitment to the QuickTime VR community," says
Walter Neals, Vice President for Marketing. "VR Toolbox is dedicated to the
development and evolution of our products, including providing timely
upgrades and exploring new ideas in QTVR. This company has both the
capabilities and resources to push the envelope of Immersive Imaging."
Apple Computer, Inc.(TM) developed QuickTime VR as an integral aspect of
its QuickTime media layer. Through Apple's vigorous support of the
technology's adoption as an industry standard, QuickTime is succeeding in
becoming the cross-platform standard, worldwide. And now, with Apple's
recent release of QuickTime 3.0, QuickTime VR v2.1 and streaming QuickTime
Plug-In v2.0, that standard's acceptance is being achieved. QuickTime VR is
an extension of Apple's basic QuickTime technology and supports two
different types of views, QTVR panorama movies and QTVR object movies.
Interest by the Press in reviewing VR Toolbox products and/or including the
products in relative articles and features will be given high-priority
support. Please contact Walter Neals at walter@vrtoolbox.com.
Distributor, Reseller and Dealer inquiries are welcome.
Visit the VR Toolbox web site at http://www.vrtoolbox.com.
VR Toolbox, Inc.
P.O.Box 111419
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
e-mail: walter@vrtoolbox.com
http://www.vrtoolbox.com
