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NewTek Produces First 64-bit 3D Animation for the Microsoft Launch of Windows XP® Professional x64 Edition

Seattle, WA, - April 25, 2005

Bill Gates keynote features LightWave® 64 animation

NewTek, Inc., creators of Emmy award-winning LightWave 3D® announced today the creation of the first 3D animation modeled, animated and rendered entirely in a native Windows 64-bit environment. Using Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and the beta version of LightWave® 64 on a 64-bit AMD Opteron TM with 32GB of RAM, Rob Powers, lead creature animator on James Cameron's "Aliens of the Deep" created an extremely rich and beautifully textured undersea environment with hundreds of complex sea creatures which was featured in the Bill Gates keynote address at Microsoft Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2005.

The final rendered animation was completed in one render pass on the 64-bit system. The animation includes extensive amounts of complex geometry along with: volumetric lighting with multiple layers of ray trace refraction and transparency in addition to particulate matter, enhanced details in texture maps on high resolution texture maps, area lights, and global illumination and individualized custom creature animations within a detailed background environment. Working in the 64-bit environment eliminated the need to break the scene into multiple layers as required by the bandwidth limitations of 32-bit hardware and software. The final rendered animations which showcase a comparison between 32-Bit and 64-Bit can be viewed at www.newtek.com.

"64-bit technology removes so many barriers that I was able to go crazy pushing the limits of what I could do right in camera beyond anything I could ever imagine," said Rob Powers. "The sheer magnitude of options that open up with increased memory access and system speed provided with 64-bit technology allow an artist to produce complex visual effects beyond anything you would attempt with a 32-bit solution. Frankly, I have to entirely rethink how I approach production."

"When we were preparing the WinHEC keynote address, we wanted a dynamic and visually compelling presentation that would thoroughly illustrate the advantages of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition," said Jay Kenny, Windows product manager, Microsoft Corp. "NewTek's LightWave 64 was the ideal solution. NewTek and Hollywood visual effects artist Rob Powers delivered for us with the first 3-D animation ever created using 64-bit technology exclusively on Windows x64 Edition. The presentation was not only dynamic and illustrative of the power of 64-bit technology; it was stunning, which is why we've elected to showcase it."

LightWave's 64-bit version leverages the increased memory available with 64-bit systems plus the power of the new processors and faster RAM access to provide digital artists with a streamlined workflow that allows them greater flexibility and creative freedom. Content creators can complete their work in less time, or do more complex work than could previously have been done within a given time and budget. The ability to utilize much more RAM allows the artist to create more complex and realistic scenes as well as to produce images at higher resolutions for film, high-definition television, and print.

Pricing and Availability

The 64-bit version of LightWave 3D is not currently available for commercial sale but will be free for LightWave® [8] registered owners. Qualified registered owners of LightWave® [8] are eligible to apply to participate in the wide-beta program; please direct inquiries via email to lw64beta@newtek.com. LightWave [8] for Windows and Macintosh platforms is available through NewTek resellers worldwide for a suggested retail price of $2799 (Aust$ Inc GST). Current LightWave users may upgrade to LightWave [8] for a suggested retail price of $899 (Aust$ Inc GST).

LightWave 3D® Competitive Upgrade is available for $899 (Aust$ Inc GST), for registered owners of Maya™, Softimage™ XSI, 3ds MAX®, Electric Image™, Strata Studio Pro™, Cinema 4D™, Truespace™, Hash Animation Master™, Autocad®, Pro/Engineer® and SolidWorks®. Proof of ownership of an eligible package is required to qualify. Registered LightWave® Version 8 owners will also be able to purchase an additional seat of LightWave® at the $899 (Aust$ Inc GST).

Newtek in Australia and New Zealand

NewTek products proudly distributed in Australia and New Zealand by New Magic Australia.

About New Magic Australia Pty Ltd

About NewTek

With headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, NewTek is a leading provider of full-featured video editing, live production, presentation, animation and special effects tools including LightWave 3D®, winner of the 2003 Primetime Emmy® Engineering Award, TriCaster™ and VT[4]™. NewTek launched the desktop video revolution in 1990 with the release of the legendary Video Toaster®. The company's products are used worldwide on projects ranging from home video to feature film. Recent television and film projects using NewTek software include Sin City, The Aviator, Flight of the Phoenix, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Aliens of the Deep, "I, Robot", Spiderman 2, The Last Samurai, Battlestar: Galactica, Firefly, Smallville, Star Trek: Enterprise, Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight, Recent game titles include Doom III, Unreal Tournament, Serious Sam for XBox, Age of Mythology, Civilization III, Dead to Rights, Baldur's Gate II, EverQuest and Escape From Monkey Island.