DKP Studios Scores with wondertouch's particleIllusion to Create Engaging Particle Effects Sequences in UPN's "Game Over"

particleIllusion to Boost Workflow Creativity and Creative Control in Bringing Prime Time Television's First CGI-Animated Series to Life

LAS VEGAS (April 19, 2004) - At the NAB 2004 convention, wondertouch™, a leading software developer specializing in affordable, high performance particle effects tools for the visual effects industry, today announced that Toronto-based DKP Studios, one of Canada's leading computer animation, compositing and visual effects studios, is deploying its particleIllusion software to quickly and efficiently deliver groundbreaking particle effects in real- or near-real time in the production of "Game Over," prime-time television's first fully computer-animated series, airing on UPN.

DKP is serving as the CG animation and visual effects provider on the highly acclaimed series for which it recently completed the first six episodes. particleIllusion, adopted into theGRID™, DKP's production pipeline nearly one year ago serves as one of the studio's principal particle effects solutions and is being used extensively on "Game Over" to create cigar smoke, steam, and lighting effects, and also as a way to texture 3D particle sprites with sequences of particleIllusion generated textures.

"particleIllusion has been integrated into theGRID seamlessly and has proven indispensable in maximizing workflow efficiency," said Terry Dale, vice president of production at DKP. "As we continue to move ahead with future visual effects installments on "Game Over," being able to turnaround great looking particle effects in a very short time is mission critical."

"DKP ranks as one of Canada's premier facilities known for turning out entertainment product that is both award-winning and technically ahead of the curve," said Alan Lorence, president of wondertouch. "Working in an all CG environment places additional demands on a studio to take full advantage of the latest software advances in order to generate quality effects quickly, under extremely tight deadlines. We are pleased in this tremendous vote of confidence in particleIllusion to provide the DKP production team with the ability to work more efficiently and with more control."

particleIllusion Proves A Team Player On "Game Over"

"Game Over" airing on UPN depicts the humorous daily activities of a regular suburban family living inside a video game world. "Game Over," produced by Carsey-Werner-Mandabach and created by David Sacks ("The Simpsons," "The Tick") is populated by action heroes, monsters and personalities similar to ones found in top videogames. The show features an all-star cast of voice talents, including "Seinfeld's" Patrick Warburton and Oscar winning actress Lucy Liu.

Warren Lawtey, FX Department Head states that particleIllusion's integrated workflow with 3D applications, such as Maya and Houdini, on "Game Over" gives the studio enhanced 3D particle texturing capabilities. "Our criteria for selecting whether to use particleIllusion in a sequence depends on how integrated the particles need to be in the 3D environment. Often times, we use the programs in conjunction with each other and rely on particleIllusion to create textures that get mapped onto particles in a 3D application."

Lawtey adds that particle Illusion's powerful texturing of 3D particles is demonstrated in the first episode of "Game Over" when one of the lead characters drives his race car into a wall resulting in an over the top, catastrophic explosion. A sequence of fiery particleIllusion particles was rendered out and worked into a loopable texture that was then applied to 3D sprite particles in Maya. "We created the effect in a fraction of the time that it would have taken to create it entirely in 3D," details Lawtey. "Using this technique in particleIllusion allowed us to get the exact results we were looking for. Around here we consider the software a godsend!"

About particleIllusion

particleIllusion is a standalone particle effects application designed as an easy-to-use, low-cost, high performance tool to quickly and simply add particle effects to any image, animation, or video footage. particleIllusion features an ever-growing collection of hundreds of preset effects such as smoke, fire, explosions, water effects, sparkles, colorful artistic effects, and many others. particleIllusion features OpenGL hardware acceleration to provide real-time (or near real-time) previews of most effects and ultra-fast rendering of final output. In use the past three years at leading worldwide production facilities, particleIllusion has been used in hundreds of feature films, TV episodes, and broadcast commercials.

About DKP

Based in Toronto, DKP Studios, has gained an international reputation for excellence for the high-end, digital visual effects it has produced for feature films, television, video features and commercials. DKP has completed special effects for some of Hollywood's top studios, including 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and New Line/Alliance Films. The company is also responsible for effects and animation for over 3000 commercials, including award winning spots for such clients as Suzuki, Ford, Pepsi, GMC, Polaroid, Michelin, Bose, PlayStation and Fisher Price. IDT Entertainment acquired DKP Studios, on March 16, 2004.

About wondertouch

wondertouch is a software developer specializing in particle effects for the visual effects industry. The company's flagship product, particleIllusion, is focused towards the needs of creative professionals working in the film post-production, film pre-visualization, standard and HD video and commercial broadcast industries.

wondertouch founder Alan Lorence was the original programmer for Impulse's Illusion software. After acquiring rights for Illusion in July 2002, the company was established to continue the development, sale and support of the product under the name 'particleIllusion.'

wondertouch software products are currently available directly from wondertouch. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo.