Full Integration of Products is a Significant Value for 3ds max Users
SIGGRAPH - July 29, 2003 - mental images®, the Academy Award® winning software company, and Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., today announced they will fully integrate and bundle mental images' highly respected mental ray® rendering software library with Discreet's 3ds max® 6 content creation and visualization software. The forthcoming release of 3ds max 6 will dramatically increase mental ray's install base, further asserting mental images as the leading provider of rendering technology for entertainment content creation and industrial product and architectural design visualization.
The advanced features of the new mental ray 3.2 rendering technology include physically correct photorealistic rendering options such as global illumination, caustics and extremely accurate lighting calculations. mental ray's unique, extremely efficient memory management technology, and the ability to render and compose arbitrary sets of 3D scene elements in separate passes with sub-pixel level resolution, permits rendering of even the most complex scenes on the smallest desktop and laptop computers. Highly requested features such as support for hierarchical subdivision surfaces, IES light profiles, HDR images, as well as light mapping optimizations are also included. For more specific information on mental images and the mental ray software, please visit the company's website: www.mentalimages.com.
"mental images' innovative technology, to be included in Discreet's 3ds max 6 software, will enable our users to achieve an unprecedented level of photorealism," said Chris Ford, Product Line Manager, Animation Products of Discreet. "At Discreet, we constantly strive to provide our customers the most advanced products possible. The inclusion of mental ray 3.2 demonstrates our commitment to cutting edge technology and gives our users a wider range of flexibility and the ability to turn visions into reality."
"We are excited about the vast potential created by joining mental ray 3.2 with 3ds max 6," says Rolf Herken, President and Director R&D of mental images. With over 80% of the world's 3D game developers, a considerable share of the world's 3D animation and visual effects designers, and its vast number of seats in use for industrial product and architectural design visualization, 3ds max has a huge and enormously influential user base. We are proud to join forces with Discreet and provide the most precise, powerful, and programmable rendering software at the lowest possible price to all users of 3ds max to further blur the line between imagination and simulation.
About mental images
mental images, founded in 1986, is the recognized international leader in providing rendering software to the entertainment, computer-aided design, scientific visualization, architecture, and other industries that require sophisticated images. The main product of the company is the high performance photo realistic rendering software mental ray which is capable of running on a wide variety of platforms ranging from workstations and networks of workstations to parallel supercomputers, producing images of unsurpassed realism. mental images GmbH & Co. KG is a privately held company based in Berlin, Germany, with a subsidiary in San Francisco, California.
About Discreet
Discreet empowers media professionals to realize the visual experience and transform their most evocative and ambitious visions into reality. Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management and delivery-across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, web/interactive, and design visualization. Discreet is based in Montreal, Quebec and is a division of Autodesk, Inc, the world's leading design and digital media creation, management, and distribution company. Product and corporate information: www.discreet.com.
Trademarks:
mental images® and mental ray® are trademarks or registered trademarks in the United States and other countries of mental images GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin, Germany. 3ds max® is a trademark or registered trademark in the United States and other countries of Autodesk, Inc. Other product and company names in this document may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Press contacts:
Rachel Yarmey
Sparkpr
e-mail: rachel@sparkpr.com
Telephone: +1 (415) 962-8200 x241
Discreet Public Relations
Kevin G Clark, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications
e-mail: kevin.g.clark@autodesk.com
Telephone: +49 (30) 31 59 97-0