Books That Work Releases Visual Home Deluxe: MMX Technology-Enabled Home Design Software

Business Wire, Jan 8, 1997

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 1997--Books That Work, the leading publisher of home and garden software, today announced Visual Home Deluxe.

This new and enhanced version of Books That Work's Internet-enhanced home design tool Visual Home (for Windows 3.1 & 95) boasts features exclusively designed to run on PCs with the Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology.

Visual Home Deluxe offers all the design capabilities of Visual Home. Users can create their own floor plans, furnish each room with 3D models, and take a virtual tour through their design. Visual Home Deluxe also delivers the added power and realism provided by Intel's MMX technology.

"We're excited to be a part of the leading group of software companies - and the only home and garden design software company - utilizing this break-through technology," said Stuart Gannes, CEO and Publisher at Books That Work. "Books That Work's implementation of MMX technology is very impressive," said Claude Leglise, vice president, Content Group, Intel Corp. "The added power and realism make for one of the most compelling home design applications I've ever seen."

Exclusive MMX technology-enabled features for Visual Home Deluxe include:

-- High quality, 65,000 color scenes to provide the most realistic 3D rendering available.

-- Smooth walk-throughs of 3D scenes to experience your home designs as if you were actually there.

-- The ability to save walk-throughs as Video for Windows .AVI files so that you can share tours through your designs.

-- Internet capabilities that allow you to collaborate on designs with your architect, interior designer, contractor, friends, and relatives.

Visual Home Deluxe is available on CD-ROM for Windows 95 and requires an Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology. It can be purchased at retail computer and software stores nationwide for around $60. (Visual Home is also available for non-MMX technology-enabled PCs.)

About Visual Home Deluxe And MMX Technology

MMX technology greatly increases the speed at which your computer processes information. Utilizing the power of MMX technology, Visual Home Deluxe provides users with the ultimate realistic, 3D experience. 3D scenes, now rendered at lightning speed, display extremely sharp colors and textures, and smooth motion rendering.

Visual Home Deluxe allows you to convert a virtual tour of your 3D home into your own walk-about movie. Taking advantage of the high speed file compression and decompression times provided by MMX technology, Visual Home Deluxe lets you save your designs to an industry standard .AVI movie file. This new feature makes it easier than ever to document, explore and compare your favorite designs.

Share Your Designs

Now with Visual Home Deluxe, you can share your designs with anyone, anywhere, in real time. Visual Home Deluxe's design sharing capabilities allow two networked MMX machines to access a single file simultaneously. This exclusive feature makes it possible for you to collaborate on your designs with your architect, interior designer, friends and relatives. Once you've created the home(s) of your dreams, you can connect to another MMX enabled machine with Visual Home Deluxe, and walk through your dream design(s) - together!

About Visual Home

Visual Home is the first Internet-enhanced 3D home design CD-ROM for consumers. Visual Home provides the largest - and the only expandable - collection of 3D models, and floor, wall, and fabric coverings of any product in its class. The CD contains more than 2,000 3D models of furnishings and appliances and 1,000 material textures. Plus, the Visual Home Web site (http://VisualHome.com) offers additional new models and materials for downloading. These "Digital Collections" are 3D models of branded, actual manufacturers' products that can be used in Visual Home designs. They include the latest products from companies such as General Electric, Delta Faucet, Merillat Cabinets, and many more.

With Visual Home, you can see how a new appliance, or cabinet will fit into your existing home before it arrives on the delivery truck. Visual Home also provides hot links to hundreds of home product manufacturers and service providers Web sites. With a mouse-click, Visual Home becomes your specialized browser to home remodeling information, worldwide.

A Fast, New Approach

Visual Home features a revolutionary new way to input designs into a computer. QuickDesign Wizard makes it possible to create a room layout in just four simple steps. This feature takes you through the process of determining your rooms, arranging a floorplan, and adding doors and windows so that you can quickly get to the creative stage of refining your layout, adding furnishings, and decorating.

System Requirements

Visual Home Deluxe requires an Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology, Windows 95 with 16 MB RAM, 3 MB free hard disk space, a VGA monitor capable of displaying 256 colors or more, and a CD-ROM drive. A 14.4k bps modem for optional Internet connection and a sound card are recommended.