neptune* Creates, Delivers and Publishes Rich Media With New Workflow

LAS VEGAS, NAB, April 10 -- At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Discreet embraces the conference's theme of "convergence" with strong product and company announcements regarding content creation, Web streaming, and rich media delivery across the Internet. Discreet's onscreen onair online(TM) theme was underscored today with the premiere of neptune*, Discreet's code-named Internet product initiative for desktop content creation and Web streaming. Along with neptune*, additional Discreet Web initiatives include recent technology partnerships with: Pulse Entertainment for 3D animation streaming; Ideaworks Vecta3D-MAX plug-in technology for outputting vector animations directly to the Macromedia Shockwave Flash format; Entera Inc. for streaming media serving; and a frost* initiative with Spiderdance for interactive broadcast Web delivery.

neptune* -- Rich Media, the Discreet Way "Content creation" and "Web streaming" are familiar, accepted concepts now at the forefront of broadcast and post-production business plans, as initiatives like remote training, remote client approval, Web-based branding, and Web-based messaging and services increase in demand by employees, customers, clients, and worldwide Web viewers.

With neptune*, Discreet delivers rich media to the Web by leveraging the company's expertise in editing, effects, animation and workflow. neptune* encompasses Discreet's skill at designing well-engineered products and presenting the functionality within an elegant, ergonomic user interface and workflow. Discreet's goal is to deliver all media types -- animation, graphics, effects, and 3D animation -- from a user-friendly, desktop-based content creation environment, while simultaneously easing the additional and less-glamorous aspects of preparing the content for delivery. neptune* embodies functionality common within most Web-streaming products, but with key Discreet differences and added benefits that streamline the create-to-publish experience.

"Our mission is to enable the easy creation and distribution of high-quality streaming media on the Internet," said Godfrey Sullivan, general manager and executive vice president of Discreet. "Discreet's neptune* technology delivers an efficient and truly professional solution for our customers to create, author and publish high-quality streaming media content."

neptune* Functionality and Workflow Current Web streaming offerings decouple the content creation phase from the encoding and streaming phase. In traditional workflow, content is designed, encoded in multiple versions and file formats -- like Windows(R) Media Player, RealNetworks(R) or QuickTime(R) -- and then delivered to Web masters for incorporation and delivery across the Internet. Content creators collaborate with systems administrators to find the perfect "quality-to-bandwidth" ratio to ensure creative content is streamed with the highest quality and reliability.

Discreet's neptune* represents a breakthrough in functionality and workflow. The product has Discreet's rich content creation tools, but also includes delivery optimization processing and the ability to embed server-specific system administration information for seamless Web mastering. With neptune*, artists use Discreet's industry leading editing, effects and animation tools to master a project. Using neptune*'s delivery optimization processing, the artist can then create multiple versions of their content in popular industry standard Web formats. Versions can be created in batch, and processed in an unattended background task, allowing the artist greater productivity benefits and continued creative design.

Pre-Screening? Now It's Pre-Streaming neptune* incorporates compression and bit rate management tools, where users can design and preview quality levels of their work based on user-selectable compression and bandwidth rates. Using a new "compressionist" interface, artists "pre-stream" video against selected codec parameters. Video scenes that will not compress acceptably are identified and can be substituted with higher-quality frames to produce a final product with excellent video streaming quality. Web video quality can be viewed and optimized for target bandwidth rates, from traditional modem speeds to DSL and other broadband rates. This unique ability to pre-stream and interactively modify end-results before the encoding process gives artists complete control over video quality while ensuring the streamed project is optimized to reach the widest population of Web surfers.

"Discreet's new streaming technology is much more than an aggr egate set of encoders that prepare Web video in streaming formats; there are many packages that do perform this isolated function," states Phil Price, founder of Click3X. "Discreet is creating a create-to-publish pipeline that takes many of these complexities out of your hands while automating them so you can concentrate on creating different, exciting streaming media for all the different bandwidths."

A Friend to the Webmaster neptune* also includes an intelligent Web-publishing interface, where users provide straightforward instructions to aid the webmaster in simplifying the streaming process. Artists can embed systems administration information such as destination server, HTML pages, and URL information, along with all project meta-data associated with the Web video, providing the webmaster with all the necessary data required for server-based delivery. neptune* will also provide a template-based customizable ASP page design allowing quick easy access to Web video, an ideal feature for clients viewing broadcast, advertising agencies, and post-production content. Discreet's consideration for the administration aspects of Web streaming underscores the company's unique ability to automate the entire create-to-publish experience, giving Discreet Web customers both a creative and efficient workflow for delivering rich media to the Web.

Product Availability Initially, neptune* will be integrated with Discreet's award winning NT-based nonlinear editing system, edit* v6, due for shipment Fall 2000. Discreet is also examining additional implementations of this product, including licensing alternatives and will provide more information on neptune* in the near future. For more information visit http://www.discreet.com, email product_info@discreet.com or call 800-869-3504 or 514-393-1616.

About Discreet
Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in digital content creation, management, and distribution tools. Discreet develops systems and software for visual effects, 3D animation, editing, and production used in the creation of digital moving pictures for feature films, video, HDTV, broadcast graphics, interactive games, and the Web. Discreet products are used extensively in film and video post-production, games and multimedia, broadcast graphics, programming, and on-air event coverage. For more information, contact any Authorized Discreet Reseller, call Discreet at 800-869-3504, or visit http://www.discreet.com. Autodesk shares are traded on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol ADSK.


SOURCE Discreet Web Site: http://www.discreet.com