From: pk-asdg@cup.portal.com (Perry S Kivolowitz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: Press Release/Babylon 5 Info/MorphPlus
Date: Tue,  8 Sep 92 19:16:26 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: world

                  ***** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE *****
 
ASDG  SETS  SHIP  DATE  FOR  STATE-OF-THE-ART  AMIGA(R) VISUAL EFFECTS
PACKAGE.  WINDOWS(R) VERSION ANNOUNCED.
 
ASDG   has   set  an  October  1st  ship  date  for  MorphPlus(tm),  a
state-of-the-art  visual  effects  package  for  the  Commodore Amiga.
MorphPlus, already in use in Hollywood for such features as Babylon 5,
provides  cinematic  quality  full  motion  morphing  and other visual
effects.  ASDG also announced a forthcoming Microsoft Windows version,
called CineMorph(tm).
 
Madison  WI,  August  26,  1992  -----  ASDG Incorporated, the leading
supplier  of  innovative color imaging solutions for cinema and video,
announce  an  October  1st  ship  date for its state-of-the-art visual
effects  package,  MorphPlus  and has announced plans for CineMorph, a
morphing-only system for Microsoft Windows.
 
MorphPlus  produces cinematic and broadcast quality full motion morphs
in record time using a proprietary image warping technology and a user
interface  which has been called ``strikingly different'' and ``unique
and very impressive.''
 
MorphPlus  has  already earned a place in major Hollywood productions.
Mark  Swain,  animator  for  Foundation  Imaging,  the creators of the
special  effects  for  Babylon  5  said,   ``It's  scarily  realistic.
MorphPlus  produces the most realistic shapeshifting special effects I
have ever seen on a desktop.''
 
MorphPlus  allows  for  establishing  relationships between source and
destination  images  with unheard-of precision.  Animators are free to
add as many relationships as they wish without incurring a significant
performance  penalty  as  the  number  of  relationships  grows  large
(something common to all other morphing systems).
 
Other  state-of-the-art  features  abound  in  MorphPlus,  such as the
ability  to  subdivide  an  image  into logical parts (called groups),
assign  separate acceleration and deceleration curves per group, depth
arrange  groups, and even the ability to set a transparency curve on a
group by group basis.
 
MorphPlus's morphing system is so precise and flexible, that it can be
used  to  edit  fine  details  of  an  image,  or to create mattes and
cut-outs.
 
As  for performance, on a non-accelerated A3000, MorphPlus can produce
a  complex full broadcast sized morph in the same time as Pacific Data
Images's morphing system (the one used for the Michael Jackson ``Black
or  White''  video)  running  on  an  ultra-high  performance  Silicon
Graphics workstation.*
 
Incredibly,  morphing  is  but  one of the special effects provided by
MorphPlus.   Other  capabilities  allow  high  quality DVE tumbles and
fly-bys,  mapping  images onto rotating spheres, mapping an image onto
the  surface of a pond into which any number of pebbles can be thrown,
and  others.   All  of  these  operations are presented in easy-to-use
WYSIWYG user interfaces.
 
MorphPlus  is  compatible  with  ASDG's award winning image processing
program,  Art Department Professional, although ADPro is not required.
MorphPlus  can also be used with ASDG's recently announced support for
the  Abekas A60, A65, and A66 Digital Disk Recorders to move broadcast
quality video between platforms.
 
MorphPlus  carries  a list price of $295 and requires Kickstart 2.0 or
later.
 
On   a   related  note,  ASDG  has  announced  the  development  of  a
morphing-only   version   of  MorphPlus,  called  CineMorph,  for  the
Microsoft  Windows  environment.   CineMorph  requires  Windows 3.1 or
later and an Intel 386 processor or better.
 
For  information  about  MorphPlus,  CineMorph,  or ASDG's other color
imaging  solutions,  contact  Gina Cerniglia at ASDG Incorporated, 925
Stewart Street, Madison, WI 53713 or call (608) 273 - 6585.
 
 
Art  Department  Professional is a registered trademark, MorphPlus and
CineMorph  are trademarks of ASDG Incorporated.  Amiga is a registered
trademark  of  Commodore-Amiga,  Inc.  Microsoft and Microsoft Windows
are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
 
 
 ----------
*  1992  SIGGRAPH  Proceedings, ``Feature Based Image Metamorphosis,''
page 38.  Two minutes per frame on an SGI 4D25 with 100 correspondance
pairs.