Avid Technology and mental images Sign Long-term Agreement for Broader Development and Promotion of mental ray Rendering Technology
-- Agreement to Expand Availability of mental ray Software to Drive New Industry Standards --

TWEKSBURY, Mass. (April 13, 1999) - Avid Technology, Inc. and mental images GmbH & Co. KG today announced that they are extending the mental images and Softimage relationship by entering into a long term technology acquisition, license, and research and development agreement. This agreement allows Avid and mental images to collaborate on technologies to advance rendering capabilities for the Softimage line of products. In addition, the mental ray® software will now be available on an OEM/VAR basis from mental images to all interested independent software vendors, allowing a broader base of 3-D developers to incorporate mental ray into their own applications.

mental ray is recognized as an enabling technology for delivering exceptional rendering quality output in the production of films, videos, commercials and games, as well as in numerous industrial design applications. mental ray combines advanced ray-tracing capabilities and superior geometric accuracy with full API based programmability for the simulation and creation of an unlimited number of visual phenomena.

"The availability of mental ray on an OEM/VAR basis will result in a wider industry adoption of the technology, bringing the benefits of this advanced rendering engine to a greater number of users," said Rolf Herken, President and Director, R&D, mental images. "This will further the acceptance of mental ray as the industry standard for photorealistic, programmable rendering, and for building interactive rendering applications."

Avid's Softimage development group and mental images have collaborated on the development of mental ray since 1993. Avid has further extended these developments as part of the SOFTIMAGE "Twister" interactive rendering technology that contains the mental ray 2.x engine as its core.

"The forthcoming release of Sumatra featuring the 'Twister' interactive rendering technology is fundamentally built upon mental ray 2.x, and is the direct result of extensive development efforts to take full advantage of the mental ray architecture and functionality. This release will provide users with the ultimate tool for finishing 3D animations with a visual quality ranging from photorealistic rendering to any desired non-photorealistic style," said Hugues Leveille, vice president and general manager of 3-D and computer graphics products. "The foreseeable adoption of mental ray by other application developers will ensure the further evolution of the mental ray API based on a wide range of developer and customer needs, which in turn will subsequently drive the penetration of 'Twister' into new markets, making mental ray the de-facto standard for rendering."

Availability
Beginning immediately, developers and vendors of 3D applications may contact mental images to obtain further information on licensing mental ray on an OEM/VAR basis from mental images.

About mental images
mental images, founded in 1986, is a recognized leader in providing rendering technology to the entertainment, computer-aided design, scientific visualization, architecture and other industries that require sophisticated images. For more information, please visit mental images' web site at www.mentalimages.com.

Avid Technology, Inc., which acquired Softimage Co. in 1998, is an international, industry-leading provider of digital audio and video tools for information and entertainment applications. The company'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.

(c) 1999 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Avid and Softimage are registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc., or its subsidiaries or divisions. mental images and mental ray are registered trademarks of mental images GmbH & Co. KG. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.