wondertouch to Demonstrate particleIllusion Plug-In for Adobe After Effects at Siggraph 2004

Tighter Integration into After Effects to Deliver Motion Graphics and Visual Effects Professionals Easier, Quicker Access to Powerful Particle Effects Solution

LOS ANGELES (August 10, 2004) - At the Siggraph 2004 convention, wondertouch™, a leading software developer specializing in affordable, high performance particle effects tools for the visual effects industry, announced it will demonstrate beta technology of its particleIllusion™ 3.0 plug-in for Adobe After Effects . Cited for the speed and interactivity of its interface which allows artists to quickly and efficiently deliver effects in real- or near-real time, the particleIllusion plug-in will provide motion graphics and visual effects professionals with easy access to the powerful particleIllusion 3.0 software engine from directly within the After Effects environment. Adobe After Effects offers creative control to efficiently produce motion graphics and visual effects for film, video, multimedia, and the Web, and the availability of the particleIllusion plug-in is expected to meet with widespread enthusiasm from the Adobe After Effects community of creative professionals. The software is scheduled for release early in the fourth quarter of 2004.

Previews of the particleIllusion plug-in for Adobe After Effects will take place in the wondertouch booth (#912) each day of the Siggraph convention.

Alan Lorence, president of wondertouch, states the initial release of particleIllusion brought immediate requests from the After Effects user community for a plug-in version of the software. "Although particleIllusion is used today quite successfully as a companion product to After Effects by many of our customers, being able to create the same amazing effects from within After Effects will result in a big workflow advantage," said Lorence. "For the many professionals that have invested time and effort mastering the After Effects environment, and have not had the time or desire to learn another interface, being able to access particleIllusion from within the program they are most comfortable with makes particleIllusion an attractive option that they would not have previously considered, and allows wondertouch to reach a new audience of user."

"Graphical particles are a hot topic today in motion graphics design, and wondertouch's particleIllusion provides a number of great looks - with over a thousand emitter presets available for download from wondertouch's web site as starting points. We're quite excited about adding the particleIllusion plug-in to our toolbox, and we expect many other After Effects users are as well," said Chris Meyer, CyberMotion.

"While as a standalone product particleIllusion 3.0 is already blazingly fast, there's no substitute for having access to its more than 1,100 preset effects directly within After Effects. Using the particleIllusion plug-in, users will no longer need to re-render footage each time a change in AE is made. This, coupled with After Effects' own advanced toolset, which includes masking, motion tracking, and expressions, will both speed up workflow and provide users with even more creative power than one could get from either program alone. As a daily user of particeIllusion, I'm excited that it's reaching even higher levels as a production-worthy tool," said Aharon Rabinowitz, animation designer at New York City-based, All Bets Are Off Productions and advanced After Effects instructor at Pratt Manhattan's Center for Continuing and Professional Studies.

About particleIllusion 3.0

particleIllusion is the industry-leading standalone, sprite-based 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 over 1100 preset effects such as smoke, fire, explosions, water effects, sparkles, colorful artistic effects, and many others. With OpenGL hardware acceleration, particleIllusion provides real-time (or near real-time) previews of most effects and ultra-fast rendering of final output.

particleIllusion 3.0, the latest version of the software, is installed at leading worldwide production facilities where it has been used to create visual effects on hundreds of feature films, television episodes, broadcast commercials, computer game titles and Web graphics projects. Recent projects shaped by particleIllusion include feature films "The Manchurian Candidate" (HATCH), "Van Helsing" (Pacific Title and Art Studio), "Hellboy" (Eden FX, HATCH) and the forthcoming "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (Pacific Title & Art Studio); the Beastie Boys "Ch-Check it Out" (Northern Lights Post) HD music video; interactive games "The Simpson's Road Rage" (Radical Entertainment) and "MX Unleashed" (Rainbow Studios); and television shows "Star Trek: Enterprise" (Eden FX), "The 2003-2004 NBA season on TNT" and the upcoming "NASCAR on TNT" (Turner Studios).

Pricing and Availability

The particleIllusion plug-in for Adobe After Effects (Windows and Mac OS X) is expected to ship early in the fourth quarter 2004; pricing to be determined. All versions of particleIllusion can be purchased directly from the company at www.wondertouch.com.

About wondertouch

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

Additional information on wondertouch can be obtained on the Web at www.wondertouch.com