Digital
Media FX News Archives
Sunday
- September 23, 2001
- Xbox Promotions Heat Up
- Maya for Mac OS
X Ships
- Weekend Box Office Estimates
- News Link of the Day
- F/X Guru Baker Muscles up for Hulk
Xbox
Promotions Heat Up
(by digitalmediafx.com) Microsoft is taking up a lot of space
in gaming stores to stack racks with empty hardware and software
boxes, making it look like Xbox is available now, even though
it won't ship until November 15, 2001. The displays include actual
cases for every single game expected to ship with the system,
actual Xbox hardware boxes, and empty boxes of all add-on products.
Stacked on normal software shelves, versus displays, the empty
material takes up as much space, in many cases, as actual Playstation
2 products that are currently available.
Microsoft
is expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the next
10 weeks to heavily promote Xbox.
> Return
to the top of page
Maya for
Mac OS X Ships
(edited press release) Alias|Wavefront, an SGI company, began
shipping Maya for Mac OS X last Thursday.
With this
first release of Maya for Mac OS X, all of Maya Complete becomes
native to the Macintosh. Features unique to this version include
support for QuickTime, tear off menus in the hot box, and a fully
Aqua interface.
"Maya
is the largest, most technically sophisticated program to be built
for Mac OS X. We couldnt have done it without Mac OS Xs
support of OpenGL, the high level Carbon API, and Aquas
transparent overlay windows," states Andrew Pearce, Director
of Maya Technologies at Alias|Wavefront. "We are very excited
to be releasing Maya as a Mac OS X application one week ahead
of our scheduled ship date. We look forward to seeing how the
combination of Maya and Mac OS X will enable the graphics community
to grow into 3D."
Alias|Wavefront
launched a special order promotion at Macworld New York this July
which will continue until the end of the year. Those ordering
the Mac OS X version of Maya before December 31, 2001 will be
entitled to receive twelve-months of maintenance, which includes
product upgrades and support.
The retail
price of Maya Complete for Mac OS X is $7,500 USD, the same price
as Maya Complete for other platforms. International pricing will
vary. The core features of the Mac OS X version of Maya are the
same as those in Maya for other platforms.
> Return
to the top of page
Weekend
Box Office Estimates
(by digitalmediafx.com) Here are estimates for the top 10
movies at the box office over the weekend. None of them are heavy
in visual effects or animation:
1. Hardball
- $8.2 million
2. The Others - $5.2 million
3. The Glass House - $4.4 million
4. Rush Hour 2 - $3.7 million
5. The Musketeer - $3.5 million
6. Rock Star - $3.2 million
7. Two Can Play That Game - $3.2 million
8. Rat Race - $3.0 million
9. Jeepers Creepers - $2.8 million
10. American Pie 2 - $2.6 million
> Return
to the top of page
News Link
of the Day - F/X Guru Baker Muscles up for Hulk
According to CNN:
"Veteran
f/x artist Rick Baker is about to turn green, agreeing to tackle
the makeup f/x efforts for The Incredible Hulk once his
duties on Sony's alien sequel Men in Black 2 are completed..."
Click
here for the full story.
> Return
to the Top of the Page
> Click
Here for a Printable Version of this Page
> Return
to September News Archives
> Return to Today's
News
> Return to
the Digital Media FX Front Page
|