FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - VR Toolbox, Inc.
Contact: Walter Neals, Vice President of Marketing
e-mail: walter@vrtoolbox.com
VR TOOLBOX, INC.(TM) SHIPS ITS NEW LINE OF SOFTWARE PRODUCTS FOR QUICKTIME
VR(TM) . THESE AND UPCOMING PRODUCTS TO BE FEATURED AT PHOTO PLUS EXPO IN
NEW YORK.
Pittsburgh, PA, October 22, 1998 -- VR Toolbox, Inc.(TM) officially
announced today that it will begin shipping its new line of software
products the week of October 26, 1998. The shipping coincides with VR
Toolbox's presence at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York's Jacob Javits Center,
October 29-30, 1998. The first VR Toolbox products to ship are VR
PanoWorx(TM) and VR ObjectWorx(TM) for the Mac OS(TM), and will be featured
at the PhotoPlus Expo. They are authoring tools that produce the two basic
elements of QuickTime VR(TM), panoramic movies (VR PanoWorx) and object
movies (VR ObjectWorx). VR Toolbox will be sharing Booth # 527 with its
sister company, Emery Manufacturing & Equipment, Inc.(TM). EME is the maker
of the VR ObjectWorker(TM) line of high-end rotational object rigs for the
Immersive Imaging professional, and will provide ongoing demonstrations of
both the VR ObjectWorker 1000 and 2000 at the Expo.
At the PhotoPlus Expo, VR Toolbox will unveil and demonstrate its next two
products, VR SceneWorx(TM) for the Mac OS and VR PanoWorx for Windows(TM).
VR SceneWorx is a multi-node scene designer, which combines elements such
as QTVR panoramic and object movies, as well as still images and linear
movies into a comprehensive interactive experience. VR PanoWorx for Windows
represents the most comprehensive and intuitive QTVR pano tool that the
Windows environment has ever seen. VR PanoWorx for Windows is the first of
the product line to be released for the Windows environment, with the rest
of the line to follow in the next few months.
Also during PhotoPlus, VR Toolbox and EME are supporting and participating
in the seminar series on QuickTime VR, with presentations by David Wagner
of Virtually Real, Inc. and noted industry consultant Bob Goldstein. These
seminars are certain to be popular events, with sessions for professionals
and entry-level programs, as well. "Our participation in the seminar series
at PhotoPlus demonstrates our dedication to the QTVR community, and our
focus on supporting this emerging technology as it grows," says VR Toolbox
Vice President Walter Neals.
Still to come is VR Toolbox's suite of QTVR tools, The VR Worx(TM),
combining all the company's QuickTime VR solutions in a unique studio
environment. Soon to be released, the company touts it as the ideal tool
suite for the user who requires all that QuickTime VR has to offer. Like
the other products in the VR Toolbox collection, it will debut for the Mac
OS, with the Windows version quick to follow.
Highlights of VR PanoWorx 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 ObjectWorx 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 PanoWorx and VR ObjectWorx will sell for $149.99 and will initially
be available directly from VR Toolbox. 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 and
the Mac OS. The first releases are aimed at the Mac OS with Windows
versions beginning to ship by December. VR Toolbox offers full working
evaluation copies of its software, available for download at
www.vrtoolbox.com.
VR Toolbox, Inc. is a young company, that 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. 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. 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.
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.
We invite the press to visit us at PhotoPlus Expo, October 29 -31, in booth
#527 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, and receive NFR copies of our
software. We also welcome the opportunity to have private interviews with
members of the press, both during the show and afterward. For a scheduled
interview at the PhotoPlus Expo, please contact Walter Neals at
walter@vrtoolbox.com before October 28, 1998.
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