Discreet Licenses 3D Tracking and Motion Estimation Technology from REALVIZ

SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France --(April 4, 2000)-- REALVIZ S.A. announced that it has entered into an agreement with Discreet, a division of Autodesk, to license key technology from the REALVIZ Image Processing Factory software applications. Discreet has licensed 3D tracking algorithms from REALVIZ MatchMover and motion estimation algorithms from REALVIZ ReTimer. The REALVIZ application technology, based on over ten years of research from France's leading group of scientists at INRIA, will be incorporated into select Discreet's Academy Award winning visual effects and compositing system, inferno*.

"REALVIZ stands apart among companies who have tackled the complexity of 3D tracking and motion estimation -- the results are powerful, precision algorithms that bring accuracy and speed to artists' ability to solve difficult production tasks," said Mike Hughes, vice president of product development for Discreet. "We're extremely pleased to license REALVIZ's algorithms to bring their value to inferno*, and chose REALVIZ because of the exceptional quality represented in their technology."

"The agreement extends our track record for bringing industry-leading tools to our clients and adding unmatched value through the integration of these tools directly into their workflow," continued Hughes. "Discreet has long been committed to providing a broad range of fully featured tools accessible to artists in the context of the imagery. The UI design and integration augment the value of the software beyond a simple 'one plus one equals two' -- here, it is definitely a case of 'one plus one equals infinitely more.'"

The Discreet implementation involves embedding specific algorithms from REALVIZ into Discreet's inferno* system, building Discreet user interfaces to enable interaction with the algorithms and tweaking of the results so that users, in characteristic Discreet convention, can quickly, easily and precisely extract the full value of the algorithms.

REALVIZ introduced its Image Processing Factory suite of effects applications last year. The applications include MatchMover, ReTimer, Stitcher and ImageModeler. MatchMover and ReTimer will be integrated into certain of Discreet high-end products later this year. MatchMover is a 3D tracking solution that processes 3D camera motion and facilitates easy integration of 3D objects and live action elements. ReTimer, for motion estimating, creates highly accurate in-between frames along "motion vectors" and enables the changing of the speed of an image sequence in post-production.

Other Image Processing applications available separately from REALVIZ include Stitcher, which enables the creation of high resolution 360 degree panoramas from a series of images, and ImageModeler is an Image Based Modeling application for creating 3D photo-real textured models quickly and easily from photographs.

"It is a true validation of the power of our products to know that REALVIZ software is being licensed by a world leader in visual effects software," commented Emmanuel Javal, Vice President of Marketing, REALVIZ. "We are thrilled that core technology from REALVIZ ReTimer and MatchMover are being integrated into inferno*, an Academy-Award winning compositing system, and will be exposed to artists at the world's leading effects and post-production studios."

About Discreet

Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., develops systems and software for visual effects, 3D animation, editing, and production used in the creation of digital moving pictures for video, HDTV, the Web, broadcast graphics, interactive games, and feature films. Discreet products are used extensively in film and video post production, animation, games, multimedia, broadcast on-air graphics and programming, and on-air event coverage. For more information, contact Discreet at 800-869-3504, or visit www.discreet.com.

About REALVIZ

REALVIZ develops and markets interactive 2D image processing and 3D modeling tools for computer graphics professionals in film, broadcast, gaming and multimedia. REALVIZ(R) Image Processing Factory (IPF) applications enable users to easily and cost-effectively process 2D photos, video and cinematic footage into computer-generated images, sequences, 3D camera tracks and 3D models for use in the creation of 3D animation and special effects. REALVIZ products are already in use by some of the world's leading production and post-production houses, including Glassworks, FrameStore (England), Sony Imageworks, ILM, Tippet Studios (CA, USA), Imax Corp (Canada), Buf Compagnie, Mac Guff Ligne, Dubois (France), NHK, Image Corp., Namco Ltd., Sony and Toyota (Japan). For more information, visit REALVIZ at http://www.realviz.com.