Newfire Launches Internet's Only Game-Speed 3D Player; Standards-Based 3D Player for Internet Consumers Rated as Web's Fastest Interactive 3D Engine

Business Wire, Jan 27, 1997

SARATOGA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 1997--Newfire Inc., creators of revolutionary 3D technology for Internet consumers and multimedia content creators, today unveiled Heat(TM), the Internet's only game-speed 3D player. The first 3D engine to break the Internet's 3D performance barrier, Newfire Heat is based on Internet standards as VRML 2.0 and Java(TM). Heat will be available free of charge in March at http://www.newfire.com .

Newfire Heat incorporates the company's revolutionary Visible Scene Management technology, which accelerates 3D content playback by carefully eliminating unseen polygons. In performance tests, Heat was clocked at four to eight times faster than any other 3D Internet player. The revolutionary new player also matches or beats the performance of today's customized PC and game console titles.

With the new Heat 3D player, performance-hungry Internet surfers can interact in real time with engaging 3D games, immersive training simulations, fly-through design visualizations and dynamic 3D Web pages. Heat enables content creators to reach millions of Internet consumers with a new generation of immersive content.

"Internet consumers have long been forced to interact with annoyingly slow 3D content," said John Ison, President and CEO of Newfire Inc. "With Heat, Newfire breaks through the Internet's performance wall with a 3D engine that delivers the speed and interactivity that consumers expect from today's hottest PC and console games."

VISIBLE SCENE MANAGEMENT FUELS HEAT

Newfire expects Heat will initially be used for online games, where the requirements for 3D graphics are the most demanding. Heat also will also enable interactive 3D content in other marketplaces which will benefit from high-performance interactivity.

Using VRML 2.0 - a major improvement over the original VRML 3D specification - as a foundation for its software, Newfire has developed a powerful interactive 3D playback engine. Companies which create content for playback on Newfire Heat can trim their development costs by as much as a third because Heat serves as the 3D engine. Newfire's upcoming authoring tools will further reduce development costs, while optimizing content for high-performance playback. And because VRML 2.0 was specifically designed for low-bandwidth network playback, VRML 2.0 content is comparable with today's Internet JPEG and animated GIF files.

With Heat, consumers will experience large-scale, fully texture-mapped 3D worlds at resolutions of up to 640-by-480 pixels. Newfire's innovative Visible Scene Management technology carefully filters rich 3D content, sending only the visible elements of a scene to the rasterizer. As a result, unseen polygons are eliminated from the software, dramatically improving rendering performance.

AVAILABLE FREE IN MARCH

In March, Newfire will distribute Heat - designed as a plug-in for Netscape Navigator(TM) and soon for Microsoft(R) Internet Explorer(R) - free via the Internet (at http:www.newfire.com) and through OEM partners. Pre-release versions are available to qualified content developers as part of the Newfire Ignition(TM) content developers program.

To apply for a pre-release copy of Newfire Heat and Newfire authoring tools and to download new product specifications, content developers should register at http://www.newfire.com .

ABOUT NEWFIRE INC.

Newfire, Inc. develops software products and technologies that break the Internet's 3D performance barrier, and that greatly reduce the cost of creating commercial-quality interactive 3D applications and titles. Newfire products are based on leading Internet standards, including VRML 2.0 and Java. Originally founded as Axial Systems, Inc., Newfire is the industry's first 3D Internet software company to earn venture capital funding. Newfire is privately held and has headquarters in Saratoga, Calif. Visit Newfire at http://www.newfire.com .

CONTACT: Catapult Partners

Cassie Roduner, 415/524-1720

cassie@catapultinc.com