dacs.doc electric

We see them everywhere. Computer-generated effects appear in TV commercials, movies, logos, Web pages--they're even seamlessly integrated into Ally McBeal. And we've all wondered, "Is it just high-end software packages that's generating all these effects?" and "Would I ever be able to do some of that stuff?"

The answer to both questions is a thumbs-up "yes," according to presenter Ralph Messana from NewTek, who mesmerized a rapt general meeting audience at the Southbury Hilton on June 9 with a dazzling display of Inspire 3D, his company's latest--and most affordable-- animation and special effects software.

Though we may have always assumed that the graphics animation of these effects is created by gifted artists in Hollywood on expensive workstations, Ralph proved us wrong by creating an impressive assortment of them right at our meeting from his laptop.

It seemed like Ralph designed his presentation just for us--DACS user groupies and ordinary folk--showing us how we might use the new package (it came on the market just a month ago) to enhance business applications, logos, graphics presentations, and Web pages. His examples and demos were DACS relevant and the audience responded enthusiastically. At the start of the meeting only a few knew anything about animation or NewTek. But by the end, we all had a realistic grasp of how Inspire 3D could help us. And I am quite sure that the lives and careers of at least a few of us will be changed because of it.

Over the history of the computer industry there have been several unique technical developments that have produced cults of devoted followers. The first took place probably in the mid '60s when Burroughs built a series of mainframes in which memory for programs and data was stored in a stack architecture rather than as conventional random access. In the 80s came Apple's innovations and the first of the MAC True Believers. Then in the early '90s NewTek developed a software program for generating composites of videoclips, computer-generated graphics, and sound clips enhanced by special effects and transitions, outputting everything to standard videotape.

NewTek developed electronics for a computer to work with TV signals and packaged everything in the Commodore Amiga PC. Calling the system the Video Toaster, they kept the price low enough for two guys in a garage to set up shop and do some real cool stuff. The Video Toaster so spawned a new generation of computer artists and catapulted the careers of many, who remain faithful NewTek devotees.

In the mid '90s Commodore went belly-up. But NewTek survived and adapted to Intel, RISC, MAC, and SGI platforms. The company upscaled its signature software to Hollywood standards and called it LightWave 3D, which is now used by many professionals in Twinkletown but particularly by those who rode to town on the Video Toaster. LightWave generated many of the effects in the movie Titanic, but its $2K price tag, though cheap by professional standards, is definitely out of the ballpark for the rest of us.

Happily, NewTek is going back to its Everyman roots. The company took LightWave 3D, stripped out the more advanced features (which few people use anyway), and repackaged it as Inspired 3D. Selling it for less than $500 (actual street price about $370), NewTek is pitching its economy player at the creative team upstarts who can now play their own ballgame.