Dear Sir or Madam, This year's SIGGRAPH lost none of its attraction for the many visitors who passed through its doors. Thousands of enthusiasts and experts converged on Boston to revel in the atmosphere of the world's largest and most prominent graphics exhibition and conference. Exhibitors were delighted by the response from industry specialists and general public visitors alike to the new technologies on show. Worthy of special mention were the elaborate booths of giant companies usually not known particularly for 3D or for their interest in SIGGRAPH - companies such as Google, Microsoft and Intel. Thus the key message I took home from SIGGRAPH 2006 was clearly and inescapably "the large software producers have finally 'discovered' the 3D business". I rate this as the break-through "tipping point" of the 3D industry. Finally there seems to be a recognition that a mass-market for 3D exisits and that average consumers desire and can benefit from the vast array of 3D products now available. Of course this watershed represents a market validation for existing 3D software companies, increased awareness and further opportunities. However, big new players also represent added competition so only the highest quality, most flexible and best performant solutions are likely to thrive in this evolving landscape. Our BS Contact VRML/X3D has the proven capability to play in this new "major league", confirmedby overwhelmingly positive customer feedback and discussions with potential new clients both locally and overseas. At the Intergeo 2006 tradeshow in Munich we will once again demonstrate the efficacy of our solutions, particularly in the areas of GIS and stereoscopic visualization. Please pay us a visit. Yours |
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News |
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 With "Moorhuhns legacy" companies aim to reach their target markets. What started with Moorhuhn - an extraordinarily successful computer game in Europe, developed for a Whisky manufacturer - "sticky advertainment" is now increasingly being utilized to taget specific markets. Daimler Chrysler for example already spends 20 percent of its total budget for the new Dodge Caliber on non-traditional advertising. This includes websites and Internet banner ads but also in-game advertising and product placements. Other large brands such as Coca Cola and the sporting goods manufacturer Nike are also interested in this new form of advertising for the youth markets it can reach. This marketing strategy is still in its infancy but US management firm Yankee Group predicts rapid growth from, at present, 200 million USD world-wide to approximately 800 million by 2009. In a similar vein, US tire manufacturer Goodyear has recently developed an interactive 3D game that combines test-track racing fun with education about different tires in their range, The Goodyear game is powered by 3D software solutions from Bitmanagement.
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 Celebrating a quarter century of the IBM PC. 65 years ago, in 1941, German Engineer Conrad Zuse from Berlin developed his Z3, the world's first freely programmable calculating machine based on binary arithmetic. Today, the Z3 is recognized as the first functional computer in the world. It took a futher 40 years before IBM launched the first personal desktop computer. This product, called the IBM PC 5150, was slow by today's standards and cost $1750. Nevertheless it displayed many of the hallmarks familiar to users of modern computers - an Intel 8088 16 bit processor with a 4.77 megahertz clock speed, a small amount of memory, a display and a keyboard, but no hard drive. Philip Donald Estridge, the father of the 5150, may not have predicted the ubiquity of the modern PC and the amazing technological advances resulting in mobile machines with well over 1000 times the speed of yesteryear and undreamt of capabilities. In recent years this speed has translated into stunning performance and quality of real-time 3D delivered over the Internet.
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Evolving market for stereoscopic displays. The market for stereoscopic displays finally seems to be emerging with fierce competition between manufacturers as evidenced by falling prices, increasing quality, flexibility of stereo application and the consolidation of new technologies and smaller companies into larger market players. Displays of the future must be flexible for a diversity of application requirements and as consumer demand and production ramp up, economies of scale will kick in, driving prices further within reach of the mass market. |
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 SeeFront presents new 3D display for autostereoscopy. At the SIGGRAPH 2006 exhibition, Hamburg-based company SeeFront GmbH demonstrated its new 3D autostereoscopic display to an enthusiastic audience keen to experience glasses-free 3D stereo. This new product was conceived to meet the needs of professional single users and grants a particularly high freedom of movement for the viewer, without loss of the stereo effect. Company founder and CEO Christof M. Grossmann says the display is a cost-effective solution for diverse application needs, emphasizing the fact that SeeFront's technology is compatible with high-resolution TFT panels in every size up to 30".
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 Second survey of 3D GIS market. The "Graphic Information Systems" department of the Fraunhofer Institute published the first free market view for the 3D GIS market in July 2006. The study examined 3D GIS technical capabilities in the early growth phase. Building on the results of this first investigation, the institute have launched a followup survey with the aim of identifying current application areas of 3D GIS technologies. Interested public facilities, enterprises and scientists are invited to participate in the survey.
idw-online.de/pages/de/news168170 |
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UGS acquires "Geolus Shape" search engine from sd&m. UGS, a leading manufacturer of CAE software, recently acquired "Geolus Shape" from sd&m AG. The software has been officially renamed to "Geolus Search" to better reflect its primary function of "shape" or 3D model search. The search engine supports models in a number of CADCAM formats, including the ISO standard VRML and aids in locating specific CAD parts within a large model or CAD assembly database. This facilitates the reusing of existing CAD parts, stimulates innovation and reduces product development costs for manufacturers.
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 Accredited Masters in "Virtual Reality" . Beginning in the winter semester of 2004/05 the Department of Media at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf has been offering a masters course in virtual reality. This specialized information technology course adds a new core stream of study to the university's already broad media curriculum. The course has been accredited for five years by ASIIN, the official German educational accreditation agency responsible for mathematics, engineering, computer and natural sciences.
idw-online.de/pages/de/news169604 |
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 Digital IMAGE launches new stereo projector. Digital IMAGE (Overrath, Germany), a developer and supplier of products for virtual reality systems, has launched a new stereo projector named the Cube3D2, that sports high-resolution, single-chip DLP (Digital Light Processing) active stereo in a 21 x 23 x 28 cm form factor. Other notable features of the Cube3D2 include a brightness of 2500 ANSI lumens and the display of crystal-clear images at 1400 x 1050 pixels with a refresh rate of 120 cycles per second.
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Applications |
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Bertelsmann to launch interactive 3D animated globe. The European media giant, Bertelsmann, is developing a comprehensive 3D world atlas based on the powerful new features of BS Contact Geo. End-users have the freedom to explore all areas of the globe in super-high 3D resolution by zooming in to specific locations and flying over accurate, real-world terrain. A particularly interesting example is the flight to Mount Saint Helens in Washington state, circling around the active volcano at close range. Due to the inclusion of complete bathymetry data, users will also be able to experience deep ocean trenches and other marine formations usually off limits in reality. The high-performance 3D software of Bitmanagement provides the necessary realism and interactivity to the atlas application. The atlas launch is scheduled for late 2006.
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 Westermann publishing house bets on E-Learning. The Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) in Magdeburg has teamed up with the school book publishing house Westermann in Braunschweig to jointly develop e-learning modules for professional training in metalwork. For example with the e-learning modules, metalworking students can interactively learn how to operate a drill press safely in virtual reality. The e-learning modules are delivered via CD-ROM and complement the traditional paper-based school books and essential face-to-face practical training. The 3D element of the project is powered by BS Contact VRML/X3D from Bitmanagement Software.
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 MotoGP ’06 – two-wheeled racing for the Xbox 360. The long wait for owners of the Xbox 360 game console is almost over - MotoGP '06 is slated for a Christmas release. Players race against computer and online opponents to win the MotoGP championship and along the way gain points for skillfully negotiated turns and maneuvers. Result: MotoGP' 06 ensures a thrilling driving experience and captivates with stunning visual realism.
http://www.xbox.com/games/motogp06 |
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Announcements |
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 Dual physics options for BS Contact VRML/X3D. Bitmanagment now supports rigid body physics via either the commercial AGEIA engine or the open-source ODE (Open Dynamics Engine). Thus Bitmanagment achieves another milestone in the evolution of its flagship real-time 3D solution BS Contact VRML/X3D. Integration of these engines enables customers to create sophisticated physical simulations involving rigid bodies, gravity, friction and other Newtonian forces. The AGEIA solution ensures customers have access to the highest performance physics currently available, with optional hardware acceleration available in the form of the AGEIA PhysX Accelerator add-on card.
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 Bitmanagement to present the new features of BS Contact Geo. At the Intergeo conference in Munich, Bitmanagement will take the opportunity to present their new release 3D visualization software BS Contact Geo, developed specifically for use in 3D GIS and geographic applications. New features include the nodes GeoSphere and GeoMap, plus the BSTile format for extremely high-resolution tiling texture support. Geo-specific navigation modes for "fly" and "examine" have also been implemented. Other features currently in development include vehicle and roads simulation and a range of importers and exporters for various geo and GIS formats.
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 Bitmanagment announces geo suite of tools. In support of geo application workflows, Bitmanagment will present a suite of tools at the Intergeo conference in Munich (October 10 to 12), co-ordinated with the release of BS Contact Geo. The suite includes "BS GeoFormer" for modelling terrain and landscapes, "BS Tiler" for optimizing huge terrain images and heightfields, "BS Reducer", for geometric reduction of complex terrain and CAD assemblies, and "BS TrafficSim" to simulate realistic roads and vehicles on real-world terrain. This last tool is suitable for traffic analysis, planning and real-time crisis management operations.
www.bitmanagement.de/documents/bs_intergeo_invite.pdf |
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New products |
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 Introducing BS Reducer for Internet ready CAD models Bitmanagement Software is proud to announce a new addition to the product line. BS Reducer enables the interactive reduction and optimization of extremely large, high-detail 3D CAD models for rapid data sharing and easier publishing to the Internet. It is aimed at all those who work with CAD data and often require it in a more manageable, distributable form. BS Reducer is capable of reducing the filesize and polygon count of complex 3D models by over 90% whilst retaining geometric integrity.
www.bitmanagement.de/products/bs_tools.en.html |
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Technical News |
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 New ViewVolume node for extended viewport control The new ViewVolume node enables content authors to more easily customize 3D scenes to better suit a given output device. For example the new node is better suited to the task of aligning and calibrating CAVE displays than is the conventional Viewpoint node. This node will find broad application in the many customer projects that target high-end, specialized displays or require more fine-grained control of the viewport.
www.bitmanagment.de/technische-neuigkeiten/ViewVolume |
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New Features |
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 Bitmanagement presents BS Contact VRML/X3D 7.0 in Boston. At this year's SIGGRAPH conference in Boston, Bitmanagement demonstrated the lastest release of its 3D software, BS Contact VRML/X3D. Bitmanagement joined with other Web 3D Consortium members to share a corporate booth in order to highlight the co-operation and cohesion that goes into developing solid international standards for the Web. Of prime interest to exhibition attendees were the BS Contact capabilities of shaders, lighting and shadows, real-time phyisics and the possibility of using the player either as a standalone application or as a web browser plug-in. In its plug-in form BS Contact VRML/X3D 7.0 works with the major three browsers - Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera.
www.bitmanagment.com/pressreleases/siggraph2006 |
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Service |
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 Bitmanagement expands partner network. The software company has been progressively expanding its network of global partnerships, most recently in Asia with the addtion of EDMS, Hong Kong, a provider of services for geospatial systems, remote sensing and internet mapping. EDMS brings with it specialized technical capabilities as well as local knowledge and contacts within the Asian marketplace. Other partners in the Bitmanagement network are specialized in virtual and augmented reality applications, 3D content creation, stereoscopic solutions and displays. In addition there are sales and support partners, which act as intermediaries between Bitmanagement and its ultimate product end users. The network extends Bitmanagement's reach across all five continents.
http://www.bitmanagement.com/company/bsprograms |
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Fairs / Exhibitions |
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 Bitmanagement present new GIS software at Intergeo. Bitmanagement will present its new software "BS Contact Geo", developed specifically for the visualization of digital data in the GIS sector at the largest trade fair for geographical information systems (GIS). The software has already proven itself within a number of customer projects in the realms of geo data visualization, conversion and evaluation. BS Contact Geo enables the interactive, real-time 3D visualization of large terrain and GIS datasets, sourced from a variety of formats. Visit us at Intergeo in Munich - hall C2, booth 26.38. |
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For any questions, comments or suggestions in relation to
the Bitmanagement business letter please send us an e-mail. Please visit our forum if you have a technical issue
you’d like to share or discuss with other 3D professionals.
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This business letter is an offer of: |
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